WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.083 (jet engines rumble) 00:07.920 --> 00:09.360 - Any opportunity to make history, 00:09.360 --> 00:10.750 do an elephant walk like this 00:10.750 --> 00:13.603 it'd be a great opportunity for the 117th, 00:14.570 --> 00:17.710 for maintenance and opps so, and the wing as a whole, 00:17.710 --> 00:19.770 'cause everybody's a part of it, you know. 00:19.770 --> 00:22.390 - Anything more than three is gonna be a unique challenge 00:22.390 --> 00:25.163 to get all those airplanes in the right position. 00:26.550 --> 00:29.060 With the kind of airspace that's gonna be required. 00:29.060 --> 00:30.360 - Well today we watch history 00:30.360 --> 00:32.340 for the 117th Air Refueling Wing. 00:32.340 --> 00:34.930 We witnessed, first time ever, 00:34.930 --> 00:37.000 an eight ship formation departure 00:37.000 --> 00:39.220 led by Wing Commander, Colonel Grant. 00:39.220 --> 00:40.480 - We saw something in Birmingham 00:40.480 --> 00:42.370 that has never happened before. 00:42.370 --> 00:44.250 Eight KC-135s leaving the ground 00:44.250 --> 00:45.570 in less than four minutes. 00:45.570 --> 00:48.580 On top of that, we were exercising some 00:48.580 --> 00:50.490 of our operational war plans. 00:50.490 --> 00:55.150 And in that comes a guarantee of our readiness. 00:55.150 --> 00:57.910 - You can get more fuel in the air together, 00:57.910 --> 01:00.550 but also you gotta plan for having multiple booms 01:00.550 --> 01:02.860 in the air if one of 'em breaks. 01:02.860 --> 01:04.620 Especially when you're draggin' fighters 01:04.620 --> 01:06.400 across the ocean, for example. 01:06.400 --> 01:07.830 It's not always just a function of fuel. 01:07.830 --> 01:09.760 A lot of times it's a function of having redundancy 01:09.760 --> 01:11.880 with the booms 'cause they're only one per airplane. 01:11.880 --> 01:14.641 - Such events that could drive this sort of scenario 01:14.641 --> 01:17.290 are, it could be, a act of God catastrophe 01:17.290 --> 01:20.230 coming towards the Birmingham area or just any type 01:20.230 --> 01:22.910 of eminent threat to the base and it's local populous. 01:22.910 --> 01:24.570 We'd wanna get all those airplanes off the ground 01:24.570 --> 01:25.780 as fast as possible. 01:25.780 --> 01:27.810 - Something like that just does not happen overnight. 01:27.810 --> 01:29.750 A lot of planning went into it. 01:29.750 --> 01:31.173 And a lot of coordination went into it as well. 01:31.173 --> 01:33.840 There's the fingerprints of 1,100 people 01:33.840 --> 01:35.280 on that project yesterday. 01:35.280 --> 01:37.671 It's not just the pilots, it's not just the maintainers. 01:37.671 --> 01:39.956 It's the people that are supporting 01:39.956 --> 01:42.040 all the folks that are making that happen. 01:42.040 --> 01:44.860 And there's a lot of folks well outside of the 117th. 01:44.860 --> 01:47.440 Our air traffic control folks at Birmingham Atlanta center. 01:47.440 --> 01:50.590 When you're putting eight KC-135 heavy aircraft 01:50.590 --> 01:55.590 into the Atlanta center airspace, mid-day, it's a big deal. 01:56.678 --> 01:59.620 - It's kinda cool as far as the preparation needed 01:59.620 --> 02:01.700 to get every single jet ready. 02:01.700 --> 02:03.150 All the jets gassed, 02:03.150 --> 02:05.450 and it shows our full mission capability here. 02:17.341 --> 02:20.258 (jet engines roar) 02:28.280 --> 02:30.000 - We started up 32 jet engines, 02:30.000 --> 02:31.960 and if you count our auxiliary power units, 02:31.960 --> 02:33.090 that was 48 engines. 02:33.090 --> 02:35.080 And they all kicked off without a hitch 02:35.080 --> 02:36.840 and we got started in record time. 02:36.840 --> 02:39.370 So I, I would venture to say 02:39.370 --> 02:41.500 it couldn't have gone any smoother. 02:41.500 --> 02:42.464 - Patterson had the old record 02:42.464 --> 02:44.610 on getting the largest number 02:44.610 --> 02:46.884 of aircraft airborne, was five previously. 02:46.884 --> 02:50.170 And so, when we saw eight on the schedule, 02:50.170 --> 02:51.770 we thought we could get some good training out of this, 02:51.770 --> 02:54.020 and hopefully, if we can get six airborne, 02:54.020 --> 02:54.853 that beats the record. 02:54.853 --> 02:55.690 If we get all eight airborne, 02:55.690 --> 02:58.233 I don't know that anybody'd be able to touch it ever again.