McGuire AFB Photos

Blue Skyers:

First of all thanks to Paul D’Auria for organizing a great day at McGuire.  The folks there were very accommodating and treated us well.  When you look at the attached photos, you will see several with various vehicles loaded into the C-17 we first examined.  The cargo bay was packed with vehicles and people, including a 54,000 pound tow truck for Abrams M-1 tanks!  That aircraft was actually built to carry an Abrams tank, which weighs 130,000 pounds.   The C-17 rotates at 99kts and can land and stop in 1,000 feet.  After a 10 minute view of the cockpit, we came back down the stairs and the cargo bay was empty.  Wow!!  When we moved for a tour of the KC-10, our driver posed in front of one of the engines.  She is 5’4″ tall, so it is easy to see how big that engine is.  The cargo bay of the tanker is huge, and it is interesting that under that metal flooring are over 500.000 pounds of fuel.  And, this plane can be refuel itself in flight.  BTW, the cruising speed of the C-17 is .72 Mach, and the KC-10 is .84 Mach.

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