Finally our weather has taken a turn for the better! Plenty of sunshine and sustained temperatures above freezing have allowed us to get outside to soak up some vitamin D. It has also given me an opportunity to get some more great pictures that nature has provided us.
Also as requested we’ve incorporated a Light Box into the blog so readers can view the pictures in their original larger size. This will make seeing the details of the photographs better and making my editorial tasks easier. This is a visual hobby and any chance we have to actually show what we are doing to as part of our explanation is a more complete method of communication. So, from this point on you should be able to click on the image to see it in a larger format. As time permits I will revisit and upgrade previous articles and posts so they can be view in the same way.
A little more progress on the C-135 project has been made. I went on a search of the workshop for the missing components, landing gear, cargo and access doors. Thus far they are still MIA, but they will turn up. This model was initially assembled some twelve years ago. At that time, I had the intention of using it in a diorama…a KC-135 sitting on the ramp surrounded with maintenance crews and vehicles. It was routine for the emergency escape doors along the fuselage to be removed/opened while crews serviced the aircraft or teams loaded and tied down cargo. If they weren’t on a hot day, one would slow roast inside.
For those not intimately familiar with the KC-135, it is an experience to work one as a cargo handler the very first time. Unlike conventional cargo aircraft such as C-130, C-141, C-5 and C-17s the KC-135 has to have the main cargo door closed during ground refueling. This has something to do with the fuselage torsioning and springing the door. As concurrent refueling and loading is occurring the aircraft begins to moan and groan as the fuel fills into the storage cavities. Then without warning the aircraft will shift as the weigh of the fuel compresses the gear struts. Loud popping sounds will startle the unexperienced. Most troops eyes would bug out and light up like a coal miners hearing the cracking sounds of a dark mine for the first time. If the side doors are not open, it is much the same, dimly lit and cramped working environment. I still chuckle about this today…yet my first time I nearly dove out of the crew access hatch head first to get out of the jet, thinking it was collapsing on the ramp and about to explode. My supervisors busted a gut laughing at me…another character building experience.
UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, If you bailing-out of the access hatch in the late 80′s on Castle AFB after midnight, and almost fracturing your arm at the elbow,
then that might have been me the Boom-op that was laughing!
No, by then I was one of the supervisors laughing at the new troops. It was also important to teach proper entry/exit procedures too. Like grounding oneself off before touching the jet, making sure no one was coming up the crew ladder before dropping the grate closed. Looking up and announce your entry up through the grate…nothing like having someone step on your fingers as you open the grate. I always just yelled “coming up” and opened the grate with my head after ensuring no one was standing on or adjacent to it. My tanker days were at Grissom and Malmstrom for the most part.
Gerald,
Try landing the KC-135 at Malmstrom today and those engines will be sucking weeds. The actives were closed to arcraft traffic after the a/c wing left.
Tony
Helena, MT
Love the light box. It will definitely help to see details that I could not see before. Thanks!!!
Tell me about it. They had already deactivated the unit before I left in ’92. We had “won” the first Gulf War and beat the commies, so the cutbacks started. Including the newest tanker unit in the AF. Just get the unit stood up and buzzing and they took it away. It was good for the local economy…now it must seem like a ghost town. I still have coworkers who became friends that I converse with occasionally, never much said about the base because nothing really exciting happening. I will read the base paper online every now and then too.
Interesting story on the loading, I went up in a KC-135 about 1987 or so AFJROTC school trip. We flew outta Maguire AFB. flew down to one of the Carolinas ate lunch then flew back re-fueling a KC-10 over the Atlantic. We got to lay down along side the boom operator and watch the re-fueling one of the coolest things I have ever done.
John
Night refueling are bizzare as well as exciting too…St Elmos fire, that gets your attention the first time you see it!
Gerald, what is St. Elmos fire,and don’t tell me an 80′s movie lol
The discharge of static electricity across the aircraft’s skin. Looks like fire. Remember the movie “The Hindenberg”? it is shown running up along the metal supports on the wall of the passenger spaces. At night it is scary but neat to see…just makes you feel like a match being lit and held to the gas can you’re flying in.
Ok I guess that would get your attention sounds scary. Still even though it was daytime that was one of the coolest things I have done. We had lottsa good trips with AFJROTC,West Point, an Air Force base in Alabama (don’t remeber the name) for a Drill competion we came in 3rd outta like 40 schools. Made be proud as Drill Team commander.
John