There was a display of muscle and grit at CFB Trenton on Thursday, as 8 Wing held its annual “Herc Pull” on the tarmac for the first time since 2019.
Pulling together was literally what teams of 15 to 20 people were doing, as they tugged a CC130J Hercules across 20 metres of distance.
“It is one of our large transport aircrafts,” says CFB Trenton National Defence Workplace Charitable Campaign (NDWCC) co-chair Maj. Angeline Marasse.
The massive aircraft weighs 90,000 pounds, with an additional 10,000 pounds of fuel — meaning the teams were dealing with 100,000 pounds between them.
“It’s a pretty momentous effort to get that much weight moving off at the very beginning, but once it starts rolling it’s a matter of keeping up,” Marasse says.
The Herc Pull is an annual event that’s been on hold for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The teams of civilians and base members are raising money for the local United Way.
“This is just something that has grown in the community as something that they look forward to,” says Capt. Alden Campbell.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilot says it’s nice to be able to bring the event back and raise awareness.
“We honestly could not do the work that we do if it weren’t for contributors like 8 Wing and all of the cabinet members that really, throughout the year, work to engage their teams and make it all possible,” says United Way community relations co-ordinator Jenn Smith.
The main takeaway from an event like this: even though a 100,000-pound plane may seem an immovable object, when enough people are pulling in the same direction, they can accomplish big things for their community.