SEATTLE — The timing of this particular Movie Monday is very intentional. This coming Friday Boeing and Airbus will submit their bid to the Department of Defense to replace 179 KC-135 (Boeing 707) tanker aircraft. The on-going KC-X tanker saga has stretched almost a decade now and my colleague, Steve Trimble, has closely followed the competition through its strange twists and turns. As a quick reminder, Boeing is offering its 767 NewGen Tanker (adapted from the 767-200ER) and Airbus is offering the A330 Multi-role Tanker Transport (adapted from the A330-200).
Movie Monday today is a 23min 1967 film from the DoD that features the operations of the US Air Force KC-135 tankers in service to F-4s, B-52s, F-105s, operating into Vietnam near the height of the war. The last KC-135 was delivered to the USAF in 1965, making the fleet flying today nearly a half-century old.
The about 150 KC-135As, powered by four Pratt & Whitney J57-P-59W were converted to KC-135Es with P&W TF-33-PW-102 (JT3D). Additionally, a larger block of KC-135As were re-engined with the GE/Snecma F108 (CFM56) engines and became KC-135Rs. The CFM56 engines supply 22,500lbs of thrust compared to the 10,000lbs of thrust of the original J57s. The re-engining allowed two KC-135Rs to do the job previously performed by three KC-135As.
I’ll be in Seattle for the next week, first covering the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference in Lynnwood on Tuesday and Wednesday (which has already produced KC-X news) then heading into the weekend’s briefings with Boeing leading up to Sunday’s unveiling of the 747-8 Intercontinental. There will be no shortage of things going on this week. Most updates will be coming through via twitter, so make sure to follow me there.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.