Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker

Triton

Triton

Donald McKelvy
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Boeing KC-135 model with winglets found on eBay.

Source:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NASA-USAF-AIR-FORCE-KC-135-WINGLETS-MODEL-KC135-/251161721311?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7a67b9df

Seller's description:
Up for auction is what I believe to be a model of a KC-135 cargo/tanker used by NASA/USAF to test their "WINGLETS" program. I don't know my aircaft, so you determine what it actually is. On the model, one 'winglet' is broken off the right-hand wing as you can see, but it would be very easy to reattach using some suitable adhesive. This belonged to my father who was a scientist at Langley Research Center and working on this project.
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Hi,

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a029345.pdf
 

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A beauty so painful to watch (no, you're not cross-eyed):

RH5D9465-Edit.jpg


And they all tookoff!

theaviationist.com

Behold These Incredible New Photos Of The Altus Air Force Base's Impressive Elephant Walk

97th AMW at Altus Air Force Base carried out an impressive Elephant Walk with 29 aircraft, including KC-135s, KC-46s and C-17s. On Apr. 2, 2021, Altus Air
theaviationist.com theaviationist.com
 
Triton said:
Boeing KC-135 model with winglets found on eBay.

Source:

Seller's description:
Up for auction is what I believe to be a model of a KC-135 cargo/tanker used by NASA/USAF to test their "WINGLETS" program. I don't know my aircaft, so you determine what it actually is. On the model, one 'winglet' is broken off the right-hand wing as you can see, but it would be very easy to reattach using some suitable adhesive. This belonged to my father who was a scientist at Langley Research Center and working on this project.
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Anyone know where this model ended up at?
 
Not really - all it is is they are finding that 24 of the 90 aircraft inspected had one or both of the pins that hold the vertical stabilizer (tail fin) on are underspec/improperly made and hardened and could possibly fail under normal flight conditions.

Inspecting them takes ~30 minutes, and replacement takes one day in most cases.
 
...until you're "zero balance" at the supply shop.

THEN the NORS/NMCS rate shoots up and the wing king is your BFF (not).

What's your cann strategy?

Hope the highly touted "additive manufacturing" weenies can come through in time and prove their cost. (/sarcasm)
 
BlackBat242 said:
Not really - all it is is they are finding that 24 of the 90 aircraft inspected had one or both of the pins that hold the vertical stabilizer (tail fin) on are underspec/improperly made and hardened and could possibly fail under normal flight conditions.

Inspecting them takes ~30 minutes, and replacement takes one day in most cases.
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I had wondered why there was what looked like a shrink wrapped H stab and V stab laying in a staging area within the ANG base connected to the airport Salt Lake. Maybe they are staging some replacement fins?
 
Probably that the one that wrote the first part of this report didn't read what the one for the second part wrote. Classical working-from-home effect ;)
 
TomcatViP said:
Probably that the one that wrote the first part of this report didn't read what the one for the second part wrote. Classical working-from-home effect ;)
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Forest Green said:
The editor over at Defense News must have been off sick.
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I suspect it's the usual syndrome of wanting an eye-grabbing bad news headline to attract clicks, even when the real story is good news.
 
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Nice read.
They should devoid the same attention making her a digital twin as they do with other airframe like the 52 or B-1.

It's not saucer tech. A well assembled team of a dozen of so competent individuals can now do marvel in such projects.
 
TomcatViP said:
Nice read.
They should devoid the same attention making her a digital twin as they do with other airframe like the 52 or B-1.

It's not saucer tech. A well assembled team of a dozen of so competent individuals can now do marvel in such projects.
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Havng visited the KC-135 PDM line at Tinker three different times over the past 10 years, the team there should be the airframe "team" - they know everything good/bad/marginal about the airframe and parts availability. Even 10 years ago, the sheer number of parts that had to be fabricated in house or stripped out of 135/707 carcasses at D-M was rather significant.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
IF the US will let them buy KC-135s... they might have to look to Airbus for a boom-equipped tanker (or buy a probe-equipped drop tank).
 
BlackBat242 said:
IF the US will let them buy KC-135s... they might have to look to Airbus for a boom-equipped tanker (or buy a probe-equipped drop tank).
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I wonder, if the UK government would allow the sale of A330 MRTT to Argentina, since the wings and other systems are produced in the UK. Another contender would be the IAI 767 MRTT from Israel.
 
BlackBat242 said:
IF the US will let them buy KC-135s... they might have to look to Airbus for a boom-equipped tanker (or buy a probe-equipped drop tank).
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Well they have just been allowed to buy F-16s, which while coming from Europe would still require US approval.
 
Yes... but we have all discussed (in multiple forums) how Argentina poses no threat to the Falklands as long as they don't have an effective aerial refueling capability!

So the US can let Argentina have F-16s knowing that they lack the stand-alone range to threaten the Falklands - that all changes if they can get KC-135s.

A similar caveat applies to the conformal fuel tanks - which allow "with drop-tank" range while not using any of the weapons stations. Add actual drop tanks and the F-16s COULD threaten the Falklands, so I can't see the US letting them get conformals.
 
The KC-135, irrufutably the unsung hero and workhorse of the US military. It's all the more pity that Boeing can't get its act together in emulating a straight forward replacement....

Regards
Pioneer
 

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