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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...

A 100th Air Refueling Wing KC-135 Stratotanker extends its boom to receive and refuel a C-17 Globemaster III over Germany. Nov 2011. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tabitha M. Lee.

Red Flag 11-2 is a large force exercise requiring many units to work together like a well-oiled machine, and if one piece were taken out, the whole operation would grind to a halt. A large and important cog in the Red Flag machine is the combined effort of four KC-135 Stratotanker units. "We're fueling their fight," said Maj. Emily Huhmann, detachment commander. "The war doesn't happen without the tankers -- it would not be worthwhile to put those support assets and the time into the training if we weren't there." The KC-135 aircraft and crewmembers from McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard...

3/23/2006 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) -- On any given night over Afghanistan, a KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft may be flying nearby as Soldiers in night-vision goggles move in on an enemy position. If needed, Soldiers call for close-air-support from the Air Force -- an A-10 Thunderbolt II may answer the call for help. No matter how well-trained the ground troops are, or how skillful the pilot is, if the A-10 runs out of fuel, it could spell failure. But the pilot knows a tanker will be there. Introduced to the fleet in 1954, there are more than 400...

ZHUKOVSKY, Russia, Aug. 18, 2005 – As far as security forces troops are concerned, protecting aircraft in one location is like protecting aircraft in another. The scenery may change, but the procedures don't - unless, of course, the aircraft are in the former Soviet Union. For the 17 members of the 48th Security Forces Squadron from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, protocol in protecting U.S. aircraft at the Moscow International Air Show and Space Salon at Ramenskoye Airfield here is a bit different from what they're used to following. The security forces members here are not armed, as part of...

OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (AFPN) -- Airman 1st Class Robert Willis celebrated his 21st birthday in a rather unusual manner July 22 -- offloading 85,200 pounds of jet fuel at 27,500 feet to a B-52 Stratofortress bound for Afghanistan. It was merely another day at the “office” for the boom operator on the KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling aircraft. “It’s our job to get the gas to them where and when they need it,” said the Airman deployed to this forward-deployed location from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. He and a mixture of other Airmen from three stateside bases make up...

5/19/2005 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) -- Five numbers painted on the tail of a local parade’s float will pass by thousands of people, and they may not see what is between them. A string of numbers can represent anything from how much money someone has in his or her bank account, to phone numbers or even ZIP codes. 71424 represents the life and love of a father. Capt. Richard Doughty originally flew B-36 Peacemakers before becoming a navigator on KC-135 Stratotankers at Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas, in the late 1960s. In May 1966 he had many...

Gentlemen, I just wanted to share with all of you my most recent Air Force Reserve trip. As most of you know, I have decided to go back into the Air Force Reserves as a part time reservist and after 6 months of training, I have recently been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and have been fully mission qualified as an Aircraft Commander of a KC-135R strato tanker aircraft. On Friday of last week, my crew and I were tasked with a mission to provide air refueling support in order to tanker 6 F-16's over to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey....

Tanker aircraft delivers 1 billionth pound of fuel by Staff Sgt. Monte J. VolkU.S. Central Command Air Forces-Forward Public Affairs4/22/2004 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- If you were to count from one to 1 billion it would take about 95 years. It took a little over a year for U.S. Central Command’s Combined Force Air Component Command-controlled tanker airlift to deliver 1 billion pounds of jet fuel. A KC-135 Stratotanker delivered 84,000 pounds of fuel to three different aircraft over Iraq on April 21 surpassing 1 billion pounds of fuel delivered in the theater since Jan. 30, 2003. One billion pounds is a...