In 1955, a new model of troop and transport plane was first flown and put under flight testing, called the C130 Hercules, built by the Marietta, Georgia division of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

By January of 1955, six production models of the C130 were under construction. On April 7, 1955, the first production Hercules took off on its maiden flight. The test flight lasted one hour and seven minutes and only 800 feet of runway were required for the empty Hercules to get airborne. In the following months the first six Hercules off the production line logged some 94 hours of flight test work during the remainder of 1955.