![]() ![]() President Bill Allen talks to test pilots Tex Johnston and Dix Loesch after first flight of the Model 367-80, prototype of the KC-135A Stratotanker. It is also shorter than the 707 and has a smaller diameter fuselage. With the company internal designation of Model 717, the KC-135 was developed from the Model 367-80 proof-of-concept prototype, the “Dash Eighty.” The Stratotanker is very similar in appearance to the Model 707 and 720 airliners but is structurally a different aircraft. Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker 55-3118, City of Renton, just prior to touchdown. Air Force fleet of B-52 strategic bombers, an initial order for 29 tankers was soon followed by three additional orders, bringing the total to 275 airplanes by the end of Fiscal Year 1958.¹ Eventually 732 KC-135As were built by Boeing, and an additional 81 of other versions. ![]() (Seattle Post Intelligencer)īuilt as an aerial refueling tanker to support the U.S. City of Renton, the first Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker, 55-3118, takes off for the first time. (Boeing)ģ1 August 1956: The first production Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker, 55-3118, named City of Renton, made its first flight with company test pilots Alvin Melvin (“Tex”) Johnston and Richards Llewellyn (“Dix”) Loesch, Jr., on the flight deck. Dix Loesch climbs aboard City of Renton while Tex Johnston waits.
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