Why Were KC-135 Tankers Exploding?
Plane and Pilot Mag - Yesterday 12:57 PM
By Cassie Peterson
Why Were KC-135 Tankers Exploding?Shortly after 9 p.m. local time on March 19, 1982, residents of the quiet, rural town of Greenwood, Illinois, were shocked when a huge fireball turned the night sky orange, followed shortly by fiery wreckage raining down over an area 5 miles long by 2 miles wide.
A KC-135A Stratotanker refueling aircraft en route from K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Marquette, Michigan, to Chicago O’Hare International Airport suddenly exploded at 13,700 feet. All four crew members of the aircraft, along with 23 passengers, members of a C-130 crew being transported from K.I. Sawyer to O’Hare, perished in the accident.
A four-engine turbojet, KC-135 Stratotanker was the military counterpart to the venerable Boeing 707. The aircraft platform was developed in the mid-1950s and established an extensive service record in both military and civilian operations.
Sadly, this was not the first KC-135 to mysteriously explode—nor would it be the last. A similar accident occurred near Centenera, Spain,on June 3, 1971, when a KC-135 returned to Madrid-Torrejón AFB after a refueling mission over the Mediterranean Sea. At 17,000 feet, the plane suddenly disappeared from radar. All aboard were killed. Unfortunately, much of the wreckage could not be recovered, limiting investigators’ ability to figure out what caused the explosion.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-were-kc-135-tankers-exploding/ar-AAZCoDH?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=af04693260d247cbb90d7441548395d8
