The successful trials prompted discussion of turning the Hercules into a genuinely carrier-capable aircraft. The proposed arrangement required a tail that could fold through roughly ninety degrees and wings that folded back rather than upward. This style of folding was more familiar in some British carrier-aircraft designs, though it was not unknown elsewhere. Routine C-130 operation would have required elevators and hangars sized around a much larger aircraft. The counterfactual remains open: once a carrier can accommodate a Hercules, designers may find other large aircraft and missions worth bringing aboard.
Notable Point · 46:48-48:15
A carrier-capable Hercules would reshape lifts and hangars
A folding-tail, folding-wing Hercules would have required larger elevators and hangars, with possible consequences for other aircraft types and carrier logistics.