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Earlier this morning, I saw what appeared to be an early model 707 or DC-8 flying very low over St. Helens. Haven't seen many of these in the air since I was a kid. Even more odd, it was sporting the old style straight jet engines (different sound and much louder than current turbofan jets) and a dull gray paint job without visible markings. Did not have a fueling boom, and I'm not sure if the military would be using such a plane for anything else. Anyone have any ideas who would be flying a dinosaur like this?
 
Black helicopters have been replaced with grey 707's. Didn't you get the last issue of Tin Foil monthly? I would repost the article but my issue self destructed last Tuesday.








My guess would be a research plane something from NOAA or USGS. St. Helens has been rumbling lately down deep. Option 3 would be Coast Guard.
 
The Yakima Firing Range is just over the hills..... A USAF C-141 collided with another retired military aircraft off the coast of Namibia in 1997, one year after the C-141 was officially retired. Hmmmm... did you see one?
 
No props, and P-3s don't have swept wings that I've ever seen. And, to clarify, City of St. Helens, Oregon, not the mountain in Washington. As low and large as this jet was, it may have come from PDX. It was paralleling the Columbia River for as long as I could see it.
 
if it did indeed have the J57 engines, It was probably a NASA aircraft. That engine is banned by the EPA due to the noise pollution it produces, other than a few for testing purposes. It could also be a USAF JSTAR or something of that like with the TF33s, which are also another narrow engine.
 
Earlier this morning, I saw what appeared to be an early model 707 or DC-8 flying very low over St. Helens. Haven't seen many of these in the air since I was a kid. Even more odd, it was sporting the old style straight jet engines (different sound and much louder than current turbofan jets) and a dull gray paint job without visible markings. Did not have a fueling boom, and I'm not sure if the military would be using such a plane for anything else. Anyone have any ideas who would be flying a dinosaur like this?
Dull grey paint job suggests KC-135, military surplus.
Probably on its way to its next life.
I remember reading somewhere that the military recently unloaded its remaining supply of KC-135's due to TBO.


Dean
 
If it had old-style engines it wouldn't be a KC-135, everything I've found online suggests that they were all re-engined with turbofans in the 80's.

Edited to add: Just realized that this was an old post... My bad. Sorry everyone.
 
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