Happy Birthday Ghetto Tanker

[CobraKai]

http://www.507arw.afrc.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123025389

The KC-135 turns 50 this month.

 

[TankerDriver]

http://www.507arw.afrc.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123025389

The KC-135 turns 50 this month.

And another 40 years to go. At least we'll have the F-22 though. We just won't have anything to refuel it when all the 135's are falling apart.

 

[Bobo135R]

50!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Man, I love that plane. NKAWTG!

 

[dtfl]

And another 40 years to go. At least we'll have the F-22 though. We just won't have anything to refuel it when all the 135's are falling apart.

Well if you drove through Mobile, AL like I do, all the time, youd see 5 signs for Northrop Grumman/EADS advertising the new home of the new KC30 tanker......

 

[tomgoodman]

Old Birds

One of the oldest, 55-3127, is probably still flying at Edwards. It was modified years ago with large windows for missile test photography, and re-designated NKC-135A. It also carries an instrumented boom for refueling tests. Another old one (55-3135?) had a water-spray boom for icing tests.

 

[FlyingHigh262]

looking forward to 50 more!!!! she doesnt even need plastic surgery yet. still looking good....

 

[Benhuntn]

Hard to believe they are 50! I flew them when they were silver and shiny,with water for fuel and no toilets. It was a manly airplane then. Now its a metrosexual aircraft but I still love it!

 

[Scrapdog]

And another 40 years to go. At least we'll have the F-22 though. We just won't have anything to refuel it when all the 135's are falling apart.

Nah, the KC-10's will do a fine job refueling the F-22 for years to come I'm sure...oh yeah, and the great thing is since we ARE buying the F-22, we'll still have that thing called freedom and democracy because we'll then have a very capable fighter that can deal with sophisticated threats such as China, N. Korea, etc...

 

[Tanker Clown]

How about more UCAVs instead of F22s. The writings on the wall. This is the way that we are headed. Sorry to say my man, but mobility is the growth industry. 15's haven't been a player in a decade. Bring on the new tanker. Maybe we can get it into production in a shade under 20 years and only 2 times over the original budget. By then maybe we'll have more than a couple to token F22 units for it to refuel.

 

[Benhuntn]

Geez I hope we never get down to the KC-10 as the main tanker. First of all it is a morphidite...half tanker half hauler. Second, I look at the track record.
There are only 59 jets, in Desert Storm one got the nose cut off, one ran off the side of the runway (Diego), one drug the tail because of an error in calculating landing data. So 3 jets went down in just a few weeks. At the rate they were dropping a 1 yr war would have cost us half the fleet.
We need to keep the -135 around so it can refuel the -10 on its way to the boneyard.