Bob Hill, a 53-year employee of the company, who helped build the first production C-130 in 1954, will read a proclamation adopted by the Georgia General Assembly honoring the Hercules.
In another historic event, the Honorable Kevin Hellmer, the postmaster of Marietta, will unveil a special US Postal Service pictorial cancellation in honor of the first flight.
"As we look forward to another half century of C-130 production, I think Willis Hawkins, the designer of the Hercules, said it best. He noted that the C-130 may not be the most attractive aircraft, but it is still in production and still doing the job it was designed for. No one else can say that," says Ross Reynolds, Lockheed Martin C-130J program vice president.
"Hawkins also said before the first aircraft ever flew that if it was designed right the first time, it could be sold everywhere, and history has proven him correct. He said he felt that we must have done it exactly right. I couldn't agree more."
The C-130J of today incorporates advanced technologies in systems, cockpit displays, materials and other areas - building on the long heritage of proven performance that all started with the original Hercules being "designed right the first time," as Hawkins put it.
Hawkins, now 90 and mentally sharp and physically active, recalls that the Air Force's request for proposal for what became the C-130 contained only seven pages.
The then-Lockheed Aircraft Corporation responded with a proposal that was 130 pages, quite a contrast to the many thousands of pages required to respond to current government proposals.
The first flight of the YC-130, which was actually the second of two prototypes built, came on August 23, 1954, with company test pilots Stan Beltz and Roy Wimmer at the controls. Dick Stanton was the flight engineer and Jack Real was the flight test engineer.
During the 61 minute flight, the aircraft was flown from the Lockheed plant in Burbank, Calif., to what was then known as the Air Force Flight Test Station at nearby Edwards AFB.
Since then, more than 2,260 Hercules aircraft of all types in more than 70 different variants have been delivered to 60 countries. Today, 67 countries, counting those that bought used aircraft, fly the Hercules.
The C-130J is the latest version to come off the longest, continuous, active military aircraft production line in history.
A total of 179 C-130Js are on order, and 113 have been delivered to date. In the U.S., Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard units fly C-130Js.
The Marine Corps operates KC-130J tankers and the Coast Guard has introduced the HC-130J into service. International C-130J operators include the Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Italian Air Force, and the Royal Danish Air Force.
The capabilities and performance of the C-130J in supporting light, fast and lethal combat operations make it a true transformational asset.