A hundred years ago, when the E-4B was called NEACP - National Emergency Airborne Command Post - they would pull alert at Grissom AFB from time to time. They always had one on alert within a certain time/distance from POTUS, so when he was in the Mid-West, it often would park at KGUS. They had their own alert facility at the opposite end of the runway from our facility. And if the horn went off, they had priority over everyone else, both on the road responding to the jet, and once rolling. Got a brief tour of it once when I was on alert. Nothing special inside, but of course, even with our clearances, we didn't get to see much of their cool toys.
KC-135 - Passing gas & taking names!
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=15086
http://moose135.smugmug.com
qoute "...the plane is highly fuel efficient. The plane can stay in-flight for days without refueling..." unqoute.
?????????
Just happened to see this on TV earlier. My girlfriend was surprised at how much they did show. I don't know every little gadget myself but I know they wouldn't have showed anything sensitive on a major news program. Most of that stuff, like the EMP shielding and trailing antenna to talk to subs was public knowledge anyway.
And in any event, who the hell wants to live after a nuclear war anyway? What are they going to land back on? A bleak landscape with no food and water and where the sun is blotted out for months and cockroaches are king? Sign me up for the vaporization package please.
NYCAviation:
Video: On Board the US Air Force Doomsday Plane
Diane Sawyer gets an unprecedented look inside the E-4B Nigh****ch, aka the Doomsday Plane, the 747 built to keep the nation's command and control structure operational from the air if ground bases are rendered useless by a nuclear attack.
[Click to Read Full Article]
Good catch. It can stay airborne because it has in-flight refueling capabilities, not because it is efficient. The video explains it correctly, but that web article does not. That said, it may be slightly easier on the fuel tanks than a regular 74 thanks to engine tweaks (they've also gotten it to cruise about 20 mph faster).
Last edited by Matt Molnar; 2011-06-09 at 02:21 PM.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9
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