This past Wednesday (29) Fairchild Air Force Base held a special exercise, when 20 KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft took off practically at the same time, flying the same route, to the north of the United States.
According to Captain Kaitlin Holmes, Chief of Public Affairs for the 92nd Air Refueling Wing, the operation was a training to the proficiency and readiness of the crew. Normally, military squadrons carry out rapid displacement exercises for their fleet, as a way of training maximum attack capacity.
Commenting to The Drive, Capt. Holmes said:
“We launched a flight of 20 tankers in what we call a Minimal Interval Take Off (MITO). In fact, they were the biggest takeoffs we've had from the KC-135 here at Fairchild.
The goal was an exercise in proficiency and readiness. We were validating our maintenance crews, generation capabilities, and our operational capabilities to launch multiple aircraft using minimum takeoff interval procedures.
We are very proud of the ability to showcase the readiness of the 92nd Air Refueling Wing, our crew, and our aircraft. Very interesting stuff, and we are happy to make history here at Fairchild.”
Flight tracking programs such as Radar Box, recorded this moment, with the KC-135 planes flying in a row on the same route. Check it out in the image below.
This is still an impressive feat of fleet availability. Despite updated engines (CFM56) and updated avionics, most of these KC-135s are over 60 years old.
Despite their age, they remain the United States Air Force's premier refueling aircraft.
Today we #MadeHistory with the biggest MITO at #TeamFairchild. Did someone say 20-jet take-off? Yea. We did that. 😎 #TrainLikeWeFight@AirMobilityCmd @usairforce @US_TRANSCOM pic.twitter.com/HtaCZNpTEV
—Fairchild AFB (@TeamFairchild) September 29, 2021
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You can check out a little bit of how this activity is on the video below, from inside the cockpit of the KC-135.
