Another Flyover is scheduled to include South Jersey

Zach McGarvey

Explorer
Feb 11, 2018
248
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Woodbury / Vineland NJ
Along with the F-16s there was a KC-135, which is a variant of the now long-gone 707s. The USAF has managed to keep these flying now since the mid-1950s by buying up civilian airline 707s as they were retired and cannibalizing them for parts. The longevity of some of these airframes is incredible, considering most passenger planes now are rarely more than 15 years old!
 

Wick

Explorer
Mar 6, 2016
408
296
Forked River
The article did not talk about the actual fuel consumption of these planes. With 8 engines and taking off with a full load it has to be pretty expensive.
 

Zach McGarvey

Explorer
Feb 11, 2018
248
168
37
Woodbury / Vineland NJ
To get the higher bypass ratio wouldn't it make more sense to mount four larger engines, in bigger nacelles, instead of eight small ones? Bypass ratio and thus fuel economy is achieved by making the fan disc physically larger.
 

c1nj

Explorer
Nov 19, 2008
272
169
I listened to a podcast about the B 52 recently. Four modern engines definitely would provide enough thrust however they determined it was too much effort to convert it. All the controls and systems are designed for eight engines.
 
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