From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil>
Subject: AF News 12/21/92
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 17:34:52 GMT


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil>


957.  KC-135 record

     MCGUIRE AFB, N.J. (AFNS) -- An Air Mobility Command KC-135 set a new
record with a non-stop, non-refueled flight Dec. 19 from Kadena AB, Japan, to
McGuire in 17-hours, 31 minutes.
    The KC-135R is from the 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus AFB, Okla.  The
flight was in conjunction with a regularly scheduled Pacific Tanker Task Force
redeployment mission and set the record for aircraft in the gross weight
category of 220,460 to 330,690 pounds.
     The flight was sanctioned by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale,
an international organization based in Paris.  The National Aeronautic
Association, the U.S. representative organization of the FAI, had a
representative aboard the aircraft to confirm the record.
     To span the more than 8,700 nautical miles from Kadena to McGuire, the
aircraft departed with its maximum gross weight of 322,500 pounds -- 195,000
pounds of fuel, 5,000 pounds of mission-essential cargo and the flight crew.
     The Altus crewmembers are:
     Capt. Jeff Kennedy, mission commander/instructor pilot.
     Capt. Robert Kilgore, aircraft commander.
     1st Lt. John Isakson, pilot.
     Capt. Mark Hostetter, instructor navigator.
     2nd Lt. Robert Fischer, navigator.
     MSgt. Temur Ablay, instructor boom operator.
     SMSgt. Daniel Deloy, instructor boom operator.
     Sgt. Steven Rowland, crew chief.
     SrA. Andrew Haynes, crew chief.
     A1C Jason Houk, crew chief.
     The Boeing KC-135R model aircraft used to set the record is the most
recently modified of the KC-135s that first went into service in the 1950s.
     The KC-135R receives its thrust from four F108 engines, produced by CFM
International, a joint company of General Electric and SNECMA.  The quieter,
more fuel-efficient engines use as much as 27 percent less fuel than the
KC-135A models and allow the aircraft to take off with more fuel and carry it
farther, which the Altus crew demonstrated with their record-setting flight.
(Courtesy of AMC News Service)


958.  B-2 wing test
     PALMDALE, Calif. (AFNS) -- Engineers purposely cracked the wing of a B-2
stealth bomber during stress tests Dec. 18.
     Full-scale structural testing resulted in the bomber's wing breaking
under 1.6 times the maximum stress it is expected to experience during actual
flight operations.
     Engineers intentionally stressed the airframe to failure in an attempt to
determine the maximum load the bomber could sustain.  The data will be used by
B-2 designers as the aircraft ages in its various roles and missions.
     Two of the bombers have undergone intensive three-year battery of ground
tests to assess the aircrafts structural strength.
     The testing was conducted at the Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.
--
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    |            Air Force News Agency (AFNEWS)                        | 
    |           Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, USA                       | 
    |               bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil                            |  
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