Two Air Force Reserve Command units at different bases on the Pacific Coast recently hooked up to get aircrew and aeromedical evacuation training on one weekend mission aboard a relative newcomer to medevac—the KC-135 tanker. Ten aircrew members of the 930th Air Refueling Wing, Portland Airport, Ore., needed to get some upgrade training done, so they contacted the 349th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Travis AFB, Calif., to offer their tanker. It was perfect fit because four medics needed to practice their skills aboard a KC-135. The medics who handle airevacs must practice on a variety of airframes. The training flight also let the tanker’s boom operators get experience planning a mission for medics and litter patients—“a huge consideration,” says the 930th’s MSgt. Bruce Clemmer.
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…