KC-135R/T Stratotanker by jwiest
Close
Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.
Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
I managed to get a photo of the display with this aircraft, so I can spout off more data for it. :D LOL
This was the sole plane that was available for people to go in as you'll see later this week. There was one other plane that wasn't totally roped off, but we'd had enough of standing in lines that we didn't really get a good look of it...but anyway...back to this one.
It's capable of carrying 200,000 pounds of fuel which they said worked out to a ballpark number of 30,000 gallons more or less. I was surprised at how much room there was in the craft still. I guess when you think about it, it would be close to impossible for a plane to be entirely full of fuel, but I somehow had the notion that they were. They're quite similar inside (aside from a severe lack of finishing) to a Boeing 707. That would be because they're both based on the same aircraft design. So if you picture the inside of one of those, just without nice windows, walls, carpets and chairs...bare metal flooring and walls, wires running overhead quite visible, you get an idea of what the inside looks like. The tanks are all down beneath the floor.
It was a bit of a wait to get in to see the inside of the plane, but well worth it...those photos to follow later this week.
John
Comments (20)
wow isn't that a big beautiful babe....lol- love this jon- give anything to fly in one of these- man now you have me anxious - cant wait to see the next ones- hehe awesome pic loves it hugz anne
Excellent photo again, nice view!
Un avion imposant, belle photo!!!
Good photo again erland
I've seen video footage of these guys providing refueling services- pretty freaky stuff- when you think of all the turbulence and moving about through the air- then to be physically connected to another airplane while dumping hundreds of gallons in minutes... Great shots so far John, I guess you could be considered the tour guide on a series of educational expeditions with your photography- which is probably the coolest thing of all! Keep 'em coming man!
I worked on reengining these when I worked for United Technologies in 1979. It was a bit hopeless trying to show the CFM-56 was too big for the plane. The JT-8D even as a -208 wasn't really high enough bypass and new enough technology to shake the fuel offload deficit. That was a quandry as my knowledge of the plane came from a Navigator study where the boom operator took sun shots to fix azimuth and the Doppler radar calculated wind drift angle from sea surface scatter. What I really needed to know is why did it take so long to make the Irish built IAE 2500 out of the F-100 core. Come to think of it how long did it take to make IAE (International Aero Engines)? Meanwhile the KC-10 was coming into being. Studies were being made of putting a refueling glove onto a KC-135 so a tanker could tank a tanker. It's like a rifle now. Just something a soldier uses. It's in inventory and people know how to keep it flying. The better wing leading and trailing edges of the 320 version of the 707 never came, nor the glass cockpit. Some have inertial navigators like the C-141 but I think they are the laser gyro type not the LTN-51 that propagated into commercial use for polar flights without a human navigator. Density is the key to tankers. Fuel weighs about 6.4 pounds per gallon for JP-4 though I think they use JP-8 now. Cargo sometime flys by cube, sometimes by pallet density and sometimes by oversize, or even out size with ease of loading paramount. One of the cool features of this airplane is the twin tandem landing gear wheels.
A excellent photo and beautiful natural lighting....!!!
It sounds may be silly, but I'm always amazed that this heavy machines fly!!! It is for me still a miracle and I love flying!! Wonderful captured and thanks for sharing, Hugs Ute
This is like old home week, John. All the aircraft lately have been the ones I worked on while I was in the Air Force or when I worked for Northrop Grumman. Great photos!
Fantastic shot John..love all the planes!!
excellent
Excellent shot. Very great work on this picture:-)hugs sessan
very cool
Oh wow my dad god bless him would of loved these wonderful capture john hugs lou x
Awesome plane!
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Gorgeous shot John. Fantastic impressive.
Not bad for an aircraft that is 40 to 50 years old. When ordered the Air Force had the choice of using a wing built for turbo jets or they could order a stronger wing for the fan jets (more power) coming into use. The DOD chose to go with the smaller (cheaper) wings, the airlines chose the stronger wings and waited. The 135's were called water wagons (among other things) as they could use a water injection system to augment thrust on take off. The gross wieght at take off in war time was calculated so that the weight of the aircraft would be at max inflight gross at the time the wheels went in the well. In the early 1970's DOD did a study as to the possibility of putting fan jets on them and the cost was found to be almost as much as the cost of the original fleet. So much for planning ahead. The Air Force did have a handful of the "C" models which had fans and were much more powerfull. They used GE engines (if I remember right). Most were special VIP models or command post aircraft. The command post aircraft had inflight refueling capability so you could take on fuel while flying around in circles!. The "R" finally rectified something that should have been done in the first place. Nice shot.
nice photo
Wowww this plane looks really huge and gorgeous! Stunning such a monster can fly! LOL