Posted on 08/10/2016 6:43:05 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
When the first Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker took to the sky on August 31,1956, no one at the time could have expected it would still be flying 60 years later.
But for the past six decades, this modified Boeing 707 has established itself as one of the workhorses of the Air Force’s inventory, providing air-to-air refueling, personnel and cargo transport, and aeromedical evacuation capabilities throughout the world.
In the mid-fifties Strategic Air Command, under the direction of General Curtis Lemay, needed an air refueler that could keep up with the fighter and bomber aircraft of the day. At the time, B-52 crews often had to lower their landing gear to create enough drag to match the speed of the propeller driven KC-97 in flight, causing stress on the gear and burning many pounds of valuable fuel.
The introduction of the KC-135 eliminated this problem with its ability to reach speeds exceeding 450 mph while carrying more than double the off-loadable fuel of the KC-97.
Soon after the KC-135A arrived at the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron, Castle AFB, Calif., in 1957, the Air Force began to phase out the KC-97s, paving the way for a new area in rapid global mobility. In 1976, the Air Force Reserve received their first KC-135 and Citizen Airmen of the 63rd Air Refueling Squadron, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., continue to fly them today.
“It’s a privilege to be associated with such a historic aircraft and knowing what we do has a direct effect on the friendly forces on the ground and ensuring our aircrews make it home safely” said Lt. Col Adam McLean, 63rd ARS commander. “The KC-135 has served as the backbone of the Air Force’s air refueling capability for six decades and there are no signs of it slowing down.”
In fact, it is often said throughout the tanker community that the last mother of the last pilot of the KC-135 has not been born yet, which is a testament to the experience and professionalism of the maintenance personnel that work on the aircraft.
“No one drives a car every day for 60 years but we put the KC-135 through its paces daily and yet it continues to deliver because of the work of the maintenance community,” said Major Mary Lent, 927th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Commander. “Our maintainers are constantly reminded how important their job is because of the aircrews that entrust their lives to the work of our Airmen to keep this jet airworthy.”
The Stratotanker’s capabilities go beyond those of just aerial refueling. As an airlift platform, the KC-135 can carry up to 83,000 pounds of cargo and almost 40 passengers. It can also perform in an aeromedical evacuation role, capable of transporting litter and ambulatory patients using patient support pallets and a medial crew of flight nurses and medical technicians.
Even with the recent introduction of the next generation air refueling aircraft, the KC-46 Pegasus, Air Mobility Command has continued to invest in upgrades and life-extension projects for the KC-135. Reconfirming its status as a vital part of the nation’s air refueling capability according to Stephen Ove, Historian, 6th Air Mobility Wing, MacDill AFB, Fla.
“Wherever U.S. airpower has been since the late 1950’s, you can expect to find a KC-135 involved in ensuring that mission’s success,” Ove said. “From Operation Linebacker II, to El Dorado Canyon, to Inherent Resolve, nowhere will you find a vehicle with the breath of impact across so many of our nation’s conflicts than you will find with the KC-135 Stratotanker.”
MacDill AFB is home to 16 KC-135 Stratotankers, operated and maintained by both the 927th Air Refueling Wing and the 6 AMW.
A KC-135 Stratotanker refuels a SR-71 Blackbird at an unknown location. The KC-135 has been in the Air Force’s inventory since 1957, serving in many of our nation’s conflicts and supporting the Air Force's Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance mission, over the past six decades. (Courtesy photo)
Would that milestone be that every single crew member serving on the KC-135 is older than the aircraft itself?
However, I do think the KC-135 fleet will soon heading for its sunset years as the KC-46 replaces them. The initial order for 100 planes could be expanded to possibly another 150 to 200 planes, which will allow the complete phase out of the KC-135 fleet.
I remember flying out of Okinawa refueling B-52s. Looking out the left window, you could see two B-52s being refueled in the distance. Same out the right window. Then there was the one WE were refueling.
Our aircraft was a KC-135Q. We called it the “queer” model as it had special tanks to refuel the SR-71 and could still do Bombers and fighters.
Well, let’s see - I was a tanker driver from 1970-’73 at Pease AFB, NH. I’m about to turn 72. My copilots boomers, and navs were my age +/- a couple of years. Toward the end of Veet Nam, they did take some kids straight out of basic.
Go Strato Bladders!
ping for later
Pease. Refueling the FB-111As? I was at Mtn. Home from 78081 working avionics maintenance for the F-111A.
I was referring to current crewmembers, not seasoned vets like yourself.
I flew as a passenger on a KC-135 from Elmendorf to Ramstein. It was the coldest, most miserable flight I’ve ever been on. If you stood up, your head was in 80 degree heat while your feet were in 35 degree cold. Then the urinals started overflowing, so we couldn’t use them anymore. If I ever fly Space A, I’m avoiding the 135.
And as we say in the C-130 world, when the last KC-135 goes to D-M, it'll be a C-130 that flies the crew home. Same with the C-5 and C-17. BTW, the first C-130 flew two years before the KC-135, in August 1954.
The back end of Navy EA-3s were the same way. We often flew missions with heavy socks but stripped to the waist.
>> The KC-135 is still viable because the USAF was able to use a large number of parts salvaged from scrapped Boeing 707 airliners ...
Roger that. I was furloughed from United from ‘81 to late ‘84, lived in Miami, and spent time ferrying 707s out to the boneyard. The AF stripped off the JT3D-3B engines and the horizontal tail feathers.
The original tanker J-57 engines did not have reversers and drove the brake temps through the roof when stopping. Tanker drivers must have been in heaven the first time they pulled the reversers!
A design defect in the 707/-135s was that when the aircraft made approaches and landings with flaps in the 40 position, it created a low period (1-2 second) pitch oscillation that ultimately overstressed the horizontal tail. After one snapped off in Mozambique, most airlines (and I think the AF) restricted landings to 30 flaps.
An interesting note from AF flight school days (Vance 70-02): If you had plans to go to the airlines after your AF hitch was up, two airplanes were high on your list - C-141s and tanks. 141 drivers went to MAC and got lots of cross country hours BUT only for a year. Then, you got sent to Viet Nam in a light aircraft (Gooney bird, Cessna MixMaster, C-123, etc.).
I chose the 135, but it came with another horror: SAC. “SAC sucks” was the expression, along with “A suck for SAC is a blow for freedom”. By the time I got there in 1970, things had changed. Lots of TDY and fighter drags across the pacific. Not much alert duty.
Ended up as an IP (instructor pilot); got out after 5-1/2 years with 2,000 hours total time; the minimum for the airlines.
>> ... deafening roar and pitch-black smoke from the water injected J-57s ...
Yup. The use of a water injection system added thrust equivalent to a 5th engine. I seem to remember that it ran out after 120 seconds; just after flap retraction.
The lack of a proper water service took the lives of three of my friends at Santa Cruz, Bolivia in 1976. (Google up “B707 Santa Cruz Bolivia). The plane was deadheading empty back to Miami. They had an engine failure on takeoff; if they had had a full water service (5,000# of it), they would have been fine. So much for “get home-itis”.
I flew on a KC-135 in Feb 1993 from Travis AFB, CA, to Misawa AB, Japan. Only because the normal cargo aircraft fleet, the C-141, was grounded with wing cracks.
The first phase of the flight was okay, but then we had to divert to Elmendorf AFB because Misawa was closed by a blizzard. Spent the night there, with two feet of snow on the ground. A bit colder than California.
I and a team of escorts were transporting very high priority cargo (two small boxes), so the next day we bumped a colonel and his staff from the next KC-135 shuttle to Misawa.
Miserable flight, as you said. Canvas jump seats, alternately hot and cold, very loud, bad in-flight box lunches. The seating was at the rear of the aircraft, and passengers had to climb over cargo pallets to get to the head at the front of the aircraft.
Big difference is that the C-130 is still being built ; the last KC-135 to be built joined the USAF in 65.
I was stationed at Pease in ‘78-79. Crew chief on the KC-135. Good times (mostly). It was weird to see Pease a few years back as a commercial “tradeport.”
The thing I remember about a KC-135A takeoff was 1) the very distinct and loud whine of the J57's when the plane was flying towards you, 2) the load roar as the plane passed overhead and flying away from you, and 3) the long smoke trail when water injection was turned on. Small wonder why when the USAF had to chance to modify a bunch of KC-135A's with JT3D turbofan engines salvaged from scrapped Boeing 707 airliners they did it really quickly.
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