A semi humorous read about Lucifer’s chariot.
 

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-...bz4BiZBPOhw7iE


Well, we got our money’s worth out of her.

What kind of aircrew fly on global missions without taking their passport with them?! Presumably the kind who want to spend 2 weeks sleeping on the aircraft when it goes u/s, and hardly unexpectedly given its reputation...

Thanks for sharing that West Coast, very interesting.

Many many US service persons do not have passports - they travel on their US military ID cards.

Which is fine if you end up where you expect to end up in a place where the diplomatic agreements exist, but...

Thank you West Coast - a fascinating article. Funny how some airframes you loved, while others, seemingly identical, you never trusted.

Thanks very much for that, Westie!

Nice to see 61-2667 at the beginnng of that video - that was the jet in which I flew on 13th April 1988 when it was a -135B and the AFTAC chaps came over to discuss 'mission details' with us. We operated assets as a secondary role on similar missions and the purpose of my trip was to compare background levels detected by RAF and USAF assets in formation in the same areas over the UK. That way we could convert each other's figures to a common level - or rather our scientists did. I note that 667 has now been converted into a WC-135W for Constant Phoenix.

Working with AFTAC and the 55th was great - very bright folks worked there and they were very hospitable. Whether at the 'Propwash' at Patrick or over at McClelland.

On the subject of passports, one of our VC10Ks had to divert when the weather at MPA was NFG. The intention was to stay overnight at an hotel in the town and continue the following day. Unfortunately the late 'Lord Percy' hadn't taken his, so the crew had to spend the night on base - which wasn't much fun. Quite how someone infamous for the amount of stuff he carried in his many nav bags couldn't have found room for his passport in one of them was something of a mystery!

Surprised to see it still had JT3 engines - thought they'd all been either re-engined with CFM56 engines or retired years ago. That would certainly contribute to lots of engine/generator issues.