Military Aircraft Videos

KC-135 Low Level

http://www.aviationlive.org Online Aviation Pics,Videos and Forum French KC-135 fly by... The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling tanker aircraft. It has been in service with the U.S. Air Force since 1957. The KC-135 is derived from the original Boeing jet transport "proof of concept" demonstrator, the Boeing 367-80 (commonly called the "Dash-80"). As such, it has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the Boeing 707 jetliner. Boeing gave the tanker the designation of Model 717.[1] Developed in the late-1950s this basic airframe is characterized by swept wings and tail, four underwing mounted engine pods, a horizontal stabilizer mounted on the fuselage near the bottom of the vertical stabilizer with positive dihedral on the two horizontal planes and a hi-frequency radio antenna which protrudes forward from the top of the vertical fin or stabilizer. These basic features make it strongly resemble the commercial Boeing 707 and 720 aircraft, although it is actually a different aircraft. The Strategic Air Command had the KC-135 Stratotankers in service from 1957 through 1991 and with the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve from 1975 through 1991, when most were re-assigned to the newly-created Air Mobility Command (AMC). As AMC gained the preponderance of the aerial refueling mission, a small number of KC-135s were also assigned to directly United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Reconnaissance and command post variants, including EC-135 Looking Glass, Post Attack Command & Control Systems were operated by SAC from 1963 through 1991, when they were re-assigned to the Air Combat Command.