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U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 "Stratotanker"

Postcard back reads as follows:

Based on the Boeing 707, the aerial refueler has been in service since 1956.

*****

I have some memorable, personal history with this aircraft. I worked for Fairchild-Hiller at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Int'l Airport. My job title was Aircraft Reconditioner. I worked there one summer between college semesters. It was a very tough, dirty job, but I loved flying and airplanes so that made the job fun.

Fairchild-Hiller had a contract with the U.S. Air Force to wash, inspect, and recondition the Boeing KC-135 "Stratotankers" military aircraft as needed. My job as an aircraft reconditioner was to spray this aircraft with a detergent and use a wide, sponge brush on a broom handle to clean all outside surfaces. Our crew would then rinse the aircraft with water from fire hoses.

Once the aircraft drip-dried, we would inspect the outside surfaces of the aircraft and use narrow, hand-held wire brushes to brush off areas of aluminum where the aluminum appeared to slightly corroded or slightly pitted, which could lead to further pitting and cracking thereby weakening the metal.

Our job was extremely hard work and hot work. The outside temperature in Florida on a hot and humid, sunny, Summer afternoon is usually in the low 90s with high humidity. We were each required to wear a firefighter's uniform to protect us from the detergent and high-pressure fire hoses, but those uniforms also held in the heat and humidity.

Our firefighter's uniform consisted of an over-sized facemask, an over-sized, thick rubber overcoat, an over-sized, thick pair of rubber trousers, a pair of large, thick rubber boots, and a pair of large, thick rubber gloves.

One night, I may have saved my life and the life of my fellow crew members when I smelled jet fuel in the air. I walked toward the area where the strong smell was coming from. There was a Boeing KC-135 parked in the darkness not far from our work area. I found the aircraft sitting in a huge puddle of jet fuel almost the length and width of the aircraft. I sounded the emergency alarm and airport fire trucks arrived to smother the aircraft and puddle of fuel in foam fire retardant. Luckily, there were no sparks or I might not be here today. Someone from another work crew had forgotten to close the fuel tank drain underneath the wing after checking the fuel hours earlier.

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