Lockheed LC-130 Hercules

The ski Hercules began with a C-130A that was fitted with skis in 1956 and first flew in its ski-wheel configuration in January 1957. In 1958 twelve C-130As were converted as C-130Ds and delivered to the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron to supply the DEW Line radar sites on the Greenland ice cap; seven of them flew in Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze 60 the following season.

The US Navy bought four factory-built ski aircraft, first designated UV-1L and renamed LC-130F in 1962, followed by LC-130Rs — one for the Navy in 1968 and five more paid for by the National Science Foundation in 1974–76. The skis retract to expose the wheels, so the same aircraft can land on paved runways, compacted snow or open ice, and RATO rockets can be fitted for short or rough snow take-offs. The Navy's VXE-6 squadron flew the type until 1999, when the mission passed to the New York Air National Guard.

Today ten aircraft — seven LC-130H-2s and three LC-130H-3s — fly with the 109th Airlift Wing from Stratton Air National Guard Base in Schenectady, carrying people and cargo from McMurdo Station to field camps and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. One LC-130 that crashed on the ice in 1971 was dug out, repaired and flown back to McMurdo in 1987.