From
Military History of the Upper Great Lakes by Cody Caelwaerts 30 October 2019:
In August 1969, During a training exercise to Kincheloe Air Force Base near Sault Ste. Marie, a KC-135A was mistakenly instructed to lower its altitude to 5,000-6,000 feet drastically increasing its fuel consumption. After a bad approach to Kincheloe air force base it was decided that they should turn around and refuel at the K.I. Sawyer base due to fuel concerns. Around Munising the engines started to experience fuel starvation in the engines, the Instructor pilot attempted to idle two of the engines and mistakenly turning them all the way off; then restarting them, using more fuel. Heading west over Skandia it became clear that the fuel shortage was now a serious problem, the Instructional pilot now tuning off the two engines, he had minutes prior restarted. The Co-pilot had prior requested a “Mayday” only to have the Instructional pilot state, “We do NOT have an emergency”. Moments later the engines fell silent and the pilot instructed the crew to prepare to bailout. The co-pilot blew the door as the entire crew had already strapped into their chutes. Everyone bailed except for the two pilots and the navigator. As the pilot was saying nothing, and frantically messing with the panel which was illustrating a fuel reserve of “Empty” the co-pilot bailed, saying, “I’m out of here, sir” and shortly after so did the navigator, Joe Roads.
The crew landed on a pine forest and survived the jump, the aircraft touched down just short of the runway, skidding onto the main landing strip suffering relatively minor damages to the landing gear. The 600 or so pounds that was ejected from the plane may have been the saving grace for the plane. The KC-135A ( AF Serial No. 61-0313) became affectionately known as “The Glider” because of this incident, and was fully repaired in a matter of weeks. Reportedly even the door, which was blown off during the crew’s bailout, was returned to the plane by a local farmer who found it in his field.