Th
e Air Force’s KC-135 tankers are busy covering operations in Southwest Asia, where officials say they fly three times as often as in the states. And, keeping them flying 24/7 are some 140 airmen deployed from five stateside bases to form the 340th Aircraft Maintenance Unit. Unlike stateside where a unit might prepare 60 percent of its tankers for flight on any given day, allowing a slower pace for maintenance on the remainder, the 340th must turn nearly every tanker every day. In July, says Capt. James Wall, the unit’s officer in charge, the 340th maintainers achieved a 94.6 percent utilization rate.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.