Boeing Model 717 / KC-135 Stratotanker / C-135 Stratolifter

1961

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Boeing Model 717 / KC-135 Stratotanker / C-135 Stratolifter

In August 1954, the USAF announced that it intended to procure a number of tanker/transports developed from the prototype Boeing Model 387-80 which had first flown a few weeks earlier. These were allocated the designation KC-135A, and the first of them made its initial flight on 31 August 1956; 10 months later, on 28 June 1957, the first was delivered to Castle AFB, California. Since that time a family of variants has been produced in large numbers for service with the USAF, mainly as tankers (Stratotankers) or cargo transports (Stratolifters). Two modified KC-135As are used by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to check navigation aids throughout the United States.

This military version of the Model 367-80 is identified as the Boeing Model 717: it differs primarily from the later Model 707 by having a smaller-diameter fuselage, deletion of cabin windows, reduced size and weight, and accommodation for 80 passengers or an equivalent weight of cargo on the main deck. All equipment for the tanker role is carried on the lower deck, or normal cargo area, and includes the pivoted 'Flying Boom' refuelling gear. This was modified subsequently by the provision of an adaptor to allow for probe-and-drogue refuelling of Tactical Air Command and US Navy/Marine Corps aircraft. Power is provided by four 6123kg thrust Pratt & Whitney J57-P-59W turbojets.

The Model 717 Stratolifter family differs from the foregoing by being equipped specifically to serve as long-range transports. These have the refuelling boom deleted, but there is a structural similarity between these two basic tanker/lifter types, with interior changes in the latter providing accommodation for up to 126 troops, or 44 stretchers plus 54 sitting casualties. Galley and toilet facilities are provided at the rear of the cabin, and provision is made for an alternative all-freight role. The initial version was the C-135A with turbojet engines, first flown on 19 May 1961, and delivered to MATS on 8 June 1961 to become the USAF's first strategic jet transport.

Now, almost 30 years later and with 820 delivered, it is inevitable that there are a number of variants, including specially-built versions and conversions, and brief details of these are given below. Recent modifications include structural strengthening and re-engining with CFM56 turbofans with increased thrust and reduced fuel consumption.

Boeing Model 717 / KC-135 Stratotanker / C-135 Stratolifter

Specification 
 CREW4-5
 PASSENGERS126
 ENGINE4 x turbo-jet P+W TF-33-P-5
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight125000 kg275579 lb
  Empty weight47000 kg103618 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan39.9 m131 ft 11 in
  Length41.0 m135 ft 6 in
  Height11.7 m38 ft 5 in
  Wing area226.0 m22432.64 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed970 km/h603 mph
  Cruise speed650 km/h404 mph
  Ceiling10700 m35100 ft
  Range w/max.fuel14800 km9197 miles
  Range w/max payload4900 km3045 miles

Boeing Model 717 / KC-135 Stratotanker / C-135 Stratolifter

Comments1-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100
Larry Fisher, e-mail, 07.03.2013 20:28

Rodd Luna, one of my best freinds from the Air Force Crash Rescue Fighters was one of the responders on C-3 P-2 crash truck. He had a diary about the accdient.

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Brantxdq, e-mail, 12.10.2020 Larry Fisher

Four women testify to drugged date rapes

MUSKEGON, MI A procession of young women told a jury on Wednesday that drugs had been slipped in their drinks before they were raped by theco defendant of a man already convicted of raping two of them.

Larry rigid, 32, Is accused of first degree criminal sexual conduct in the alleged drugging and rapes of two of the victims who testified in Muskegon County Circuit Court Aug. 30. an additional man, Joshua Humphrey, 35, was already convicted of the two rapes and is serving 28 to 51 years in prison.

Both women said Humphrey ushered them shots at a bar, And within minutes began to feel dizzy, Foggy and nauseous and began blacking out. the trainer told us they remember only seconds long snippets of the night: Being motivated with Humphrey and Stiff to a home, Walking proper into a "gross" bsmt, Coming to while someone was sexually going through them, understanding the other woman was lying beside her, And the inability move or cry out.

Though Stiff is going to be tried for two rapes, Two other women testified they too had been drugged and raped, And another said she was drugged but her friends stopped Humphrey and Stiff from carrying her off.

The district attorney office has said more than two dozen women came forward to accuse Humphrey and Stiff of drug assisted rapes.

Muskegon County Senior Assistant district attorney Brandon Davis said in his opening statement Stiff and Humphrey operated a three year "plan, against 2013 to 2016, To lure women through Internet social media and dating site to bars. presently, Humphrey would slip date rape drugs into their drinks and the men would transport them to a home where make use of them rape the women.

Though neither Humphrey nor Stiff were involved in any larcenies, Davis ideal that the men also stole phones, Money and clothing from the ladies.

Defense Attorney Frederick Johnson did not dispute that the women had been drugged and raped. he explained Humphrey was the "Sexual predator and sociopathic beast" Who drugged and raped the women. high was "unaware" To the fact the women were drugged and joined "The party not being aware what going on, johnson said.

"These women were emailing him. They were giving him authorization, manley said. "the ladies don remember any of that,

To convict Stiff of first quality CSC, He required known the women were incapacitated and unable to give consent, johnson said.

He also needed only to be serving to Humphrey commit the rapes, Davis said.

A forensic scientist testified dna testing indicated "Strong help" That both Humphrey and Stiff semen was recovered from any of the victims. That victim urine sample also protected two drugs: Amitriptyline, an effective the actualtidepressa freet, and even gabapentin, An anti convulsant drug used to stop muscles from contracting and has unwanted of dizziness and sleepiness, Another scientist testified. 30, 2013. amazingly, instead, He indicated they go to a bar, the first kind Cancun Connection that was on Hall Road. There she struck up a interaction with a woman she didn know, seen by here as woman 2, too as met Stiff.

Humphrey bought the ladies shots and about 20 minutes after drinking hers, Woman 1 said she started to feel dizzy and nauseous and began losing awareness. She said she valued snippets of the evening, Including visiting a "yucky" basements of a home, Sitting on a couch next to woman 2 and then realizing she was on a bare mattress and incapacitated.

She said she believed she was at at home where Stiff was staying because she was told to stop barking because his aunt was sleeping upstairs.

Woman 1 described waking up briefly and the inability to see but realizing someone was penetrating her sexually. Woman 1 said she also realized at many point that woman 2 was naked and next to her on the mattress.

Woman 2 gave identical account of snippets of memory from the evening: Of seeing a basement, placed next to woman 1 on the couch, Then lying next to her on the mattress and coming to periodically including at one point when someone was sexually penetrating her.

"going being on the bed but I couldn move, She had said. "I attempted to move my body and I just could not move my body. I was trying to get up,

the morning, The women realized their mobile phone handsets were missing and still were in a groggy state. Both women said they felt pain from vaginal and anal sexual penetration.

After asking two service station clerks for directions and still feeling groggy, Woman 1 made her approach to her mother in the Grand Rapids area, She testified.

"Her arms never before felt so safe, Woman 1 said in tears.

Woman 1 ended up calling policeand undergoing a rape examination.

Woman 2 said she didn call police simply "I just wanted to keep it to myself,

"I felt embarrassed that I had put myself into a situation when I was just working to make new friends and I let my guard down, She said lightly. "I ...

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Larry Fisher, e-mail, 07.03.2013 20:23

I was one of the first responders with the Crash Rescue Firefighters of that terrible accident, there were no survivors. Was a bad day for us all.

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Leroy McVay, e-mail, 24.02.2013 22:34

Worked original conversion to air-early warning. Re-work drawings were for current line aircraft about #200; Air Force gave us line number 13! Nothing matched. High security on how it worked, range, etc. Mechanic bought avation magazine off the rack that told WHOLE story. So much for security! This one used infra-red light to spot aircraft / missels.

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JOHN, e-mail, 07.02.2013 00:51

WAS A CREW CHIEF 43151E 1970-1974 ON KC135A'S.
STATIONED AT KI SAWYER MICH, KADENA OKINAWA, MCCONNELL KANSAS.
WENT TDY TO ALASKA FOR ARC LIGHT(WAR GAMES)1970-1971
FLEW MANY FLS MISSIONS TO UTAPAO THAILAND, ANDERSEN GUAM AND RETURN TO KADENA DURING 'NAM.
SEVERAL TYPHOON EVACS OUT OF KADENA TO CLARK PHILLIPINES, CCK TAIWAN.
LEAVING HICKAM HAWAII, LOST #1 ENGINE AFTER CLIMB OUT WITH FULL LOAD OF PASSENGERS AND HEAVY FUEL LOAD WHICH WE HAD TO DUMP TO LAND.
FLEW FOUR COMBAT AERIAL REFUELING MISSIONS OVER GULF OF TONKIN 1972 IN BUILD (63-7984)
MOST FUN WAS FILLING WATER TANK WITH 670 GALLONS OF DE-MINERALIZED WATER FOR OUR J57'S.
GOOD RELIABLE AIRCRAFT.

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Gary Adams, e-mail, 12.01.2013 02:51

Jim - The e-mail address is correct, except change the = to @.

boomer@guam.ne

Sent an e-mail to you awhile ago.


Am I in trouble - AGAIN???

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Jim Ford, e-mail, 09.12.2012 03:36

Trying to contact Gary Adams who was in Anderson Tanker Task Force. Tried to your e-mail but does not go through.

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Lauren Eastwood, e-mail, 01.12.2012 18:53

Worked on the KC-135 at Minot AFB North Dakota from 83 - 88 when I retired. The In-flight refueling boom was the most memorable, once you got it figured out.

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Dave Brown, e-mail, 16.11.2012 17:36

I flew as a navigator in the KC-135A and Q, and the EC-135N /E (ARIAs) at Beale (76-81), Wright-Patterson (81-86, 4950th Test Wing), and Grissom (86-87). My one claim to fame is that in 2800+ flying hours in the -135, I never pulled one hour of alert!!

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Gary Adams, e-mail, 16.11.2012 04:25

What a great site this is - brings back a lot of memories.

Boomer from July 1968 until retirement on February 1, 1986

Assignments - 916th Travis (Jul 68 - Nov 70), 305th Grissom (Nov 70 - May 72), 909th Kadena (May 72 - May 80) and Pacific Tanker Task Force, Guam from May 80 until retirement. Spent 12 years in Personnel - retraining to Boomer was the absolute highlight of my life. Well, there are others, but Christians might be reading here and I best decline further comment.

Would be delighted to hear from those I've been assigned with or crossed paths with. That would be hundreds during my tenure at the PTTF.

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william whitten, e-mail, 10.11.2012 20:28

the best aircraft built i crewed 56-3622 for 4 years i had the first new engines going. which made it a e modle. i flew out of ang, bangor me.i cant find a plastic modle of it. any help

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DANNY GRATTAN, e-mail, 06.08.2012 01:05

WAS A CREW CHIEF AT BEALE AFB ON THE KC135Q MODELS IN SUPPORT OF THE SR 71 YEARS 1966 TO 1970 MANY TRIPS ACROSS THE POND ON THE 135

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Sage Suo, e-mail, 30.05.2012 02:15

I flew KC-135s as a CP,AC,and IP from 1967 thru 1981 interspersed with a little time in C-130s. Yes, all the TDYs to Young Tiger, Eielson, Spain, Guam, Kadena, U-tapao,alerts, etc. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything,except at the time, much of it wasn't much fun.
I would love to hear from some of my buddies who I haven't hear from in years. Hope you guys are out there reading this.

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mark snyder, e-mail, 15.05.2012 16:16

i was a supply troop at barksdale around 1968 -70. does anyone remember a kc 135 losing no. 3 eng. which came off the pylon and up ,hitting and removing the tail off the a /c during rotation?? boeing sent us a new tail and the a /c was repaired. cannot remember the date and the accident was not listed anywhere i could find. think the crew that landed it got awards

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mark snyder, e-mail, 15.05.2012 16:15

i was a supply troop at barksdale around 1968 -70. does anyone remember a kc 135 losing no. 3 eng. which came off the pylon and up ,hitting and removing the tail off the a /c during rotation?? boeing sent us a new tail and the a /c was repaired. cannot remember the date and the accident was not listed anywhere i could find. think the crew that landed it got awards

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Robert Contreras, e-mail, 26.03.2012 08:29

I was stationed at March A.F.B. Ca.from 1966 to 1970.My first tanker to crew chief was 59-1508,i remember when we flew it to Hayes International at Birmingham Ala.for depot Maint.From Mar.1967 to Sept. the 22nd Bomb Wing tankers went to Kadena and the B-52s to Andersen at Guam in support of Young Tiger.Rain or shine me and my fellow crew chiefs were out there on the line for launch and recovery.We also went TDY to Clark and Utapao in support of F-105s,F100s,B-52s,F-4s and RB-66s.The buffs were loaded upto the max with 12 500 pounders on each wing pylon and the rest in the bomb bay.It was an experience i'll never forget.The A model J-57 tanker was a great acft.,they always had OK flts.I remember for alert we used to fuel up to 189,000 and i've forgotten how much used to go in the upper deck tank.When the klaxon would go off on alert we would hope the cartridge would go off so as not to call for an MA-iA and hook it up.I didn't like the real early morning klaxon alert because initially we didn;t know if the cartridge fire in order to call eng. rotation to the pilot.Two a /c commanders that i remember were Maj.Fred Pennell and John Saylor,these two pilots were great with me and the other crew chiefs.I flew all over S.E.Asia and the good ol U.S.A. on KC-63-7995 and 63-8016 and really enjoyed it.Well take care fellow KC A model guys.

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jake coy, e-mail, 23.02.2012 04:36

I started flying on RC135D acft in Alaska in 1964,00356, 00357, 00362, and finished flying on the same three acft out of Mildenhall in 1973. They were deployed one at a time from AK, to a small detachment in GB. I hear they have all been sent back to the world of KCs and still flying. Bless their hearts.

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Ray Wright, e-mail, 05.12.2011 01:29

I forgot to mention that we were TDY with the tankers from Turner AFB in Albany, Ga. The bombers went to Guam, but I went with the KC-135s to Okinawa.

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Ray Wright, e-mail, 05.12.2011 01:06

I was stationed TDY at Kadena AFB in 1966. On May 19th, we were getting ready to launch about 30 a /c for their normal mission. The lead a /c was going on a separate mission with a replacement engine to either Japan or Alaska. The mission was cancelled due to very high crosswinds and heavy rain. I was in a truck at the departure end of the runway. The lead a /c taxied onto the runway, we thought to go back to the tarmack, but he started the takeoff roll, much to our suprise. I watched the a /c rotate, then plummet back to earth. It crashed on a bridge that went to the ammo storage area. I volunteered to go the to site and search for survivors, and found none. We pulled bodies out of the creek and on the bridge itself. One of the worst days of my life that I will never forget.

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stephen r doughty, e-mail, 04.12.2011 06:08

Can someone help me with this problem trying to find pictures of57. 1424 a kc 135 a model that crashed at marillo air force base in may 17 1966 it was assigned to the 909 th arefs anything would help me I know nothing of the as I was rather young then thx srd:-)

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stphn r doughty, e-mail, 04.12.2011 06:03

That boat anchornever should have flown over 400 people were killed flying the a model in 78 crashes the q models might be up to par the a model was anything but safe my dad and the rest of he crew gave their life flying that plane

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