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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec
Date: 03/17/2026 09:30:48
Good Morning.
Six members of the United States Air Force went to their deaths last week, aboard a KC-135 tanker. It is one of the oldest aircraft in our inventory, having first taken to the skies in 1957.
In any case, the primary role is aerial refueling, and as such, it has a maximum capacity of over 29,000 US Gallons of highly volatile and flammable "Jet-A", which is the prime fuel for our entire airfleet, including the KC-135 itself.
Long ago, as part of the Boy Scouts of America, I was able to tour one, sit aboard, and even take the boom operator's position (On the ground, of course!). A fascinating aircraft.
Also a flaming deathtrap. It was very quaint indeed when the media was talking about "rescue" after the plane went down last week. There is no rescue.
Our "president" was their Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
Consider his past transgressions - we know what he thinks of service members. From 2020:
We at AAV will pause to remember one of the flyers who was aboard that ill-fated jet. I even took off my hat to write this.
While the military is being tight-lipped about what may have happened, of course I will speculate. Low-resolution photos of another KC-135 with rudder damage have surfaced after the incident. While these jets don't normally fly in formation, they do refuel each other. It is one of the most dangerous things you can do in an airplane.
You could look it up on youtube; collissions and near-misses are more common than you think. But because it's a flying gas tank, there is no margin for error. In 1966, a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber collided with a KC-135 over Palomares, Spain...which resulted in both aircraft crashing, as well as a "Broken Arrow".
War being war, of course - it's likely to happen again.
Six members of the United States Air Force went to their deaths last week, aboard a KC-135 tanker. It is one of the oldest aircraft in our inventory, having first taken to the skies in 1957.
In any case, the primary role is aerial refueling, and as such, it has a maximum capacity of over 29,000 US Gallons of highly volatile and flammable "Jet-A", which is the prime fuel for our entire airfleet, including the KC-135 itself.
Long ago, as part of the Boy Scouts of America, I was able to tour one, sit aboard, and even take the boom operator's position (On the ground, of course!). A fascinating aircraft.
Also a flaming deathtrap. It was very quaint indeed when the media was talking about "rescue" after the plane went down last week. There is no rescue.
Our "president" was their Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
Consider his past transgressions - we know what he thinks of service members. From 2020:
Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
We at AAV will pause to remember one of the flyers who was aboard that ill-fated jet. I even took off my hat to write this.
A woman raising two children was among the six U.S. service members killed last week when a refueling plane involved in the war with Iran crashed in western Iraq.
Tech Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, hailed from a large family in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was “very, very” proud of her military career, her husband Gregory Pruitt said Sunday.
“I’ll give you something brief -– in a word, radiant,” he said on a phone interview, trying to hold back tears. “If there was a light in the room, she was it.”
Survivors include the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and Sgt. Pruitt's stepson.
Most recently, she had served with the 99th Air Refueling Squadron from Sumpter Smith Joint National Guard Base in Birmingham, Alabama. She was an assistant flight chief of operations and was an instructor in operating the boom of a KC-135.
Pruitt joined the military nine years ago and had previously deployed overseas three times. She had nearly 900 combat flight hours and two associate degrees from the Community College of the Air Force.
The U.S. military late Saturday identified Pruitt and the other five crash victims, three connected to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and Sumpter Smith; the other three were out of an Ohio Air National Guard base in Columbus.
“To lose a member of the Air Force family is excruciatingly painful, especially to those who know them as son, daughter, brother, sister, spouse, mom, or dad," said U.S. Air Force Col. Ed Szczepanik, commander of the 6th Air Refueling Wing, in a news release. “To lose them at the same time is unimaginable.”
Maj. Gen. Matthew S. Woodruff, the Ohio adjutant general, called the three from Columbus "remarkable Airmen whose service and commitment embodied the very best of our Ohio National Guard. Their impact on their teammates and our mission will not be forgotten.”
The aircraft was in “friendly” airspace, supporting operations against Iran, when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft occurred on Thursday, according to U.S. Central Command. The other plane landed safety, U.S. military officials said. The crash is being investigated.
While the military is being tight-lipped about what may have happened, of course I will speculate. Low-resolution photos of another KC-135 with rudder damage have surfaced after the incident. While these jets don't normally fly in formation, they do refuel each other. It is one of the most dangerous things you can do in an airplane.
You could look it up on youtube; collissions and near-misses are more common than you think. But because it's a flying gas tank, there is no margin for error. In 1966, a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber collided with a KC-135 over Palomares, Spain...which resulted in both aircraft crashing, as well as a "Broken Arrow".
War being war, of course - it's likely to happen again.
