KC-10 Last Flight

[HuggyU2]

I hear it is tomorrow, 26 Sept, leaving Travis.  

[ClearedHot]

7 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

I hear it is tomorrow, 26 Sept, leaving Travis.  

Could be delayed if they don't find a cloud at the IP.

[Vito]

Sad Day, always enjoyed refueling behind a -10. Great story about a KC-10. Panama Invasion, My Bud is in a 141 dropping cargo. The load gets hung and he flies around  with the cargo doors open for a while as the loads are trying to jettison the load. They finally get it jettisoned but now he’s low on gas. He has to divert to Rosy Roads, but needs to refuel. Stressful night so far, as they coordinate for a tanker and begin the rendevous, he see’s it’s a KC-10!. He’s like, Thank God, and as he’s approaching the contact he tells the crew, “Engage tractor Beam” because the -10 was much easier to refuel behind, and the envelope much larger.. 

[Sua Sponte]

Crew probably flew home from the boneyard on a KC-135.

[GrndPndr]

Was at the Museum at Wright-Pat last week, and they've towed it out onto the outdoor display area.  Inlet covers and anti-Pidgeon wire (top of the stabilizer) included.

[bfargin]

Was told by a couple of buddies that the 10 had a way bigger slot (or envelop if you prefer) for receivers so it was much easier to refuel behind than the 135.

[DFRESH]

13 hours ago, bfargin said:

Was told by a couple of buddies that the 10 had a way bigger slot (or envelop if you prefer) for receivers so it was much easier to refuel behind than the 135.

That checks. Also the jet exhaust was less turbulent for refueling in a viper. Also the boom was more powerful, so it was way easier to be stable. The Air Force has yet again gotten rid of the wrong aircraft. And replaced it with something with countless deficiencies (the -46).

[Biff_T]

59 minutes ago, DFRESH said:

Also the boom was more powerful

He was.  

[Doc]

On 10/4/2024 at 3:58 PM, Sua Sponte said:

Crew probably flew home from the boneyard on a KC-135.

Crew probably flew home from the boneyard on a KC-135 herk.

[ClearedHot]

On 10/4/2024 at 6:36 PM, bfargin said:

Was told by a couple of buddies that the 10 had a way bigger slot (or envelop if you prefer) for receivers so it was much easier to refuel behind than the 135.

Depends on the platform. 

It had a much bigger bow wave which made it tougher for bigger platforms like the Gunship.  As a technique behind the KC-10 I would come in a big low and try to pop  up through the bow wave.  One cool feature about the KC-10, they have dual pumps.  Typically we would hook up with one pump and once we had steady fuel flow, ask for the second pump which increased the offload to 3,000lbs per minute.  I did two deployments to Korea and had KC-10's drag us both times.  Hickam to Guam taking gas every 45 minutes while you are 10K over Max Weight to get to the ETP...good times.

[Lord Ratner]

5 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

One cool feature about the KC-10, they have dual pumps.

Uh, is two pumps better than four?

[Sua Sponte]

On 10/5/2024 at 5:37 PM, Doc said:

Crew probably flew home from the boneyard on a KC-135 herk.

If that’s the case they’re probably still in the air. 

[bfargin]

On 10/6/2024 at 6:58 AM, ClearedHot said:

Depends on the platform. 

It had a much bigger bow wave which made it tougher for bigger platforms like the Gunship.  As a technique behind the KC-10 I would come in a big low and try to pop  up through the bow wave.  One cool feature about the KC-10, they have dual pumps.  Typically we would hook up with one pump and once we had steady fuel flow, ask for the second pump which increased the offload to 3,000lbs per minute.  I did two deployments to Korea and had KC-10's drag us both times.  Hickam to Guam taking gas every 45 minutes while you are 10K over Max Weight to get to the ETP...good times.

The KC-135s also had 2 A/R pumps. Each would offload approximately 3,000lbs per minute. So if both were activated (which we almost always did for large offloads) it was flowing at 6,000lbs per minute (only through the boom). The drogue gave a slight penalty (maybe 10% reduced flow rate). Big Sexy might have had an even better transfer rate though.

Edited October 8 by bfargin

[SurelySerious]

The KC-135s also had 2 A/R pumps. Each would offload approximately 3,000lbs per minute. So if both were activated (which we almost always did for large offloads) it was flowing at 6,000lbs per minute (only through the boom). The drogue gave a slight penalty (maybe 10% reduced flow rate). Big Sexy might have had an even better transfer rate though.

It did by about ~960 lbs/min, but also highly dependent on the receiver plumbing.

[FourFans]

How have we gone this far discussing multiple pumps, high pressure flow rates, and receiver plumbing without talking about BQZip's mom?

Edited October 8 by FourFans

[ClearedHot]

3 minutes ago, FourFans said:

How have we gone this far discussing multiple pumps, high pressure flow rates, and receiver plumbing without talking about BQZip's mom?

I heard she could handle multiple probes and pumps at the same time.

[herkbum]

I heard she could handle multiple probes and pumps at the same time.

These never get old!


Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

[Lord Ratner]

15 hours ago, bfargin said:

The KC-135s also had 2 A/R pumps. Each would offload approximately 3,000lbs per minute. So if both were activated (which we almost always did for large offloads) it was flowing at 6,000lbs per minute (only through the boom). The drogue gave a slight penalty (maybe 10% reduced flow rate). Big Sexy might have had an even better transfer rate though.

4 A/R pumps...

[ClearedHot]

18 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

4 A/R pumps...

Our system could not handle the pressure from all four pumps at contact, would force a pressure disconnect.  We usually let fuel flow stabilize then asked for the extra pumps.

[Lord Ratner]

3 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Our system could not handle the pressure from all four pumps at contact, would force a pressure disconnect.  We usually let fuel flow stabilize then asked for the extra pumps.

Yeah, I remember. I just didn't see how that was a differentiation between the KC-10 and 135. In pretty much every other way, however, the -10 was a better platform 🤣😂. Also, what you quoted was a response to this:

On 10/7/2024 at 7:56 PM, bfargin said:

The KC-135s also had 2 A/R pumps.

Kinda true, if you are being hyper literal. 

Edited October 9 by Lord Ratner