Take a look inside an Air Force aerial tanker that kept fighter jets and bombers in the air

Tech Insider : Business
A KC-10A Extender refuels an F-16 Fighting Falcon over Afghanistan in 2009.
A KC-10A Extender refuels an F-16 Fighting Falcon over Afghanistan in 2009.

Staff Sgt. Michael Keller/United States Air Forces Central

The aerial refueling aircraft used in Operation Epic Fury were created from a single $16 million Boeing prototype. See the 'Dash 80.'

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
The Boeing 367-80.
The prototype for the 707, the Boeing 367-80, shown here, was named by the Smithsonian Institution as "one of the 12 most significant aircraft of all time."

Museum of Flight Foundation/Corbis via Getty Images

How boom operators aboard the US Air Force's flying gas stations keep their cool doing an 'inherently dangerous' job

Tech Insider : Business, Crypto
A Pennsylvania Air National Guard KC-135 aircraft from the 171st Air Refueling Wing located in Pittsburgh flies over the installation prior to landing Aug. 8, 2025.
A KC-135 refueling tanker.

US Air National Guard photo by Shawn Monk

The US Air Force is stripping most of the identifying information off of its biggest planes

Tech Insider
Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker tanker
A US Air Force KC-135 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey in August 2016.

US Air National Guard/Tech. Sgt. Matt Hecht

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