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Nov. 14 is final JATO for popular Fat Albert

The Blue Angels’ C-130T Hercules, affectionately known as Fat Albert, has performed its fiery jet-assisted takeoff at countless air shows since 1975, but the tradition will end Nov. 14 in Pensacola, Fla., when the team closes its 2009 season.

A Navy aircraft, Fat Albert has been manned by an all-Marine crew since it joined the legendary flight demonstration team in 1970. Its primary mission is to carry the Angels’ 40-plus maintenance and support personnel, as well as the gear, spare parts and communications equipment necessary to pull off successful air shows. That will not change.

But Fat Albert’s jet-assisted takeoff — or JATO — has been a popular part of the Angels’ act for the past 34 years, wowing crowds at the outset of most shows with flames and smoke shooting out from beneath its wings as the lumbering aircraft lifts off the runway and lets out a deafening roar.

Its final JATO performance at Naval Air Station Pensacola, which all past Fat Albert aircrew members were invited to attend, will mark the end of an era.

“Everyone in the Fat Albert shop is really sad,” said Maj. Drew Hess, the Blue Angels’ senior C-130 pilot. “It is a significant chapter [in the team’s history] that unfortunately is being closed.”

To execute a JATO, Fat Albert uses eight solid-fuel rocket bottles, which supply enough momentum for the aircraft to leave the runway after traveling just 1,500 feet. Climbing at a 45-degree angle, it can reach 1,000 feet in just 15 seconds.

The fuel bottles, which weigh about 150 pounds when full, were designed to thrust C-130s skyward in austere conditions where traditional runways are unavailable, said 1st Lt. Craig Thomas, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon. But the Corps hasn’t used JATO in combat since the Vietnam War, he said, and it’s unlikely to do so again, as newer KC-130Js have engines built to exert the same thrust as C-130Ts outfitted with rocket bottles.

The Blue Angels visit about 35 cities during a nine-month schedule, performing two shows per city, but a dwindling supply of rocket bottles — and a budget that doesn’t allow for replacements — has forced the team to limit its JATO demonstrations to about 20 a year. This year it will perform 13, Hess said.

In 1975, Fat Albert opened air shows with just a single JATO, but over the years more maneuvers, including multiple flybys, were added to its repertoire. So even though this crowd favorite is going away, Hess said the team will have plenty in store for air show goers next season, although he declined to divulge any specifics.

“We are working on some replacements for JATO, but nothing has been finalized yet,” Hess said. “I’m extremely confident that, just like any other Marine Corps unit, we can come up with a suitable alternative that people will enjoy.”