In another fine example that the capitalist country of United States spends taxpayer money to help-out private sector corporations; between 1979 and 1980, NASA used a KC-135 to special-test the use of winglets in reducing drag and thus reducing fuel consumption.  The study led to the use of winglets on commercial aircraft.

The winglets were developed by NASA’s Richard Whitcomb, who discovered through wind-tunnel testing that winglets could actually produce forward thrust.  Whitcomb is also credited with developing the supercritical wing, also used by commercial airliners (F-8 SUPER-CRITICAL-CRUSADER, FATHER OF MODERN AIRLINER WING DESIGN).

Silent NASA video:

The winglets used by NASA were much bigger than the winglets being used by the commercial sector.

The U.S. Air Force’s -135 family of aircraft are not modified Boeing 707s!!!   It’s amazing to me that even aviation periodicals will refer to the -135 as having evolved from the 707.  Both the -135 and the 707 evolved from the earlier prototype 367-80 (first flight 1954), the -135 (first flight 1956) was actually created before the 707 (first flight 1957).  The -135, also known as the Boeing 717, is smaller than the 707 and structurally there is nothing similar about the two aircraft (like the fuselages having totally different cross sections, the 707 being taller and wider), the major components cannot be interchanged.

Some confusion can be blamed on Boeing itself, as the manufacturer offered militarized 707s to other countries’ air forces, such as Iran (which got both 707s and 747s converted for use as airborne fuelers).  Boeing’s militarized 707 production continued into the 1990s, they are nothing like the -135.

KC-135:   BATS & BEARS, OH MY!

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