U.S. C-130 With Crew of 20 Reported Missing

A four-engine U.S. C-130 tactical transport plane is missing behind Iraqi lines in the Gulf War, defense officials said today.

The officials, who asked not to be identified, would give no further details, but CBS reported that the aircraft had apparently been on a special mission and that as many as 20 American service personnel were aboard.

Although officials of the U.S.-led coalition in the Gulf have said that 19 allied aircraft have been lost to Iraqi fire in the two-week war, all have been smaller planes like fighters and fighter-bombers.

Several types of the big C-130 “Hercules” cargo planes, including a heavily armed AC-130 gunship version, are believed to be in Saudi Arabia. The AC-130 is used for special missions ranging from search and rescue to supporting ground troops with withering cannon fire.

A search was under way for the missing plane, but defense officials would not say whether it was missing over Iraq or occupied Kuwait.

Dozens of cargo versions of the C-130 are being used to replenish U.S. troops in the Gulf. They normally carry a crew of five or six.

The armed AC-130A version normally carries a crew of 14, but that number can go higher depending on the mission. The armed versions were used with devastating effect against ground troops in the December, 1989, U.S. invasion of Panama.

The attack versions carry infrared, heat-sensitive, search and target-acquisition equipment and give the Spectre, as the aircraft is known, capability to operate at night.