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They're in use, you can see them in St Nazaire and Toulouse in France (among others) often enough

You can also see them in Hamburg quite often. I can see them from my balcony.

And they are usually louder than an A380. I can hear them taking off from about 4km away, no matter which direction.

Did not hear that, but the loud buzzing C130-Hercules https://fr24.com/HKY688/285738c9 7km up a few minutes before.