Warbird Information Exchange

Oh yes she did .... and then some ....

So what do they use this one for?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

My mom never had (or needed) her own maintenance staff.

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"Anyway, the throat feels a bit rough...the legs have gone...but I'm still able to chant, so let's get going."

Joe Strummer, 1999

It's the Speckled Trout replacement aircraft. Used to test various new systems for the Air Force. When it's not doing that, it's a command transport aircraft.

what is the "boom" under the tail?

That boom is a skeg. It prevents an aft cg from causing the aircraft to sit on its tail.

Looks like a refueling boom to me.

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It's what you learn after you think you know it all, that counts.

At a guess , this looks like the bird that would refuel Air Force One if it needed it , kind of a very posh KC-135. Might be wrong mind you because why wouldn't they just use a standard one?

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

Old whore new dress

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"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

As I said, the aircraft in question is primarily a testbed. It's also used in other functions (including a command staff transport, typically the Chairman - Joint Chiefs), but it can definitely refuel other airplanes still. I doubt it would be used for refueling a VC-25 unless it was doing so as part of their Air Refueling currency requirements and the VC-25 happened to be up doing training at the same time.

Typically, the VC-25 does not use air-refueling unless part of an exercise or training. Occasionally security will require a non-stop flight that requires air-refueling, but it's not a normal thing and with today's political environment, it's becoming increasingly rare as the President tends to want to make a lot of stops on a flight to be able to see troops or other heads of state along the way to his final destination. When it does require refuelling, they simply task whatever asset is available and closest to the plane at the time it will be refueled.

That is one of the greatest aviation quotes I have ever heard!

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager