You are the reason I drink’ — Airmen bid adieu to decrepit aircraft dubbed ‘Lucifer’s Chariot’

[Colin Parkinson]

Worth the read, not an exactly glowing review of the last years of this aircraft.

‘You are the reason I drink’ — Airmen bid adieu to decrepit aircraft dubbed ‘Lucifer’s Chariot’

"I had some great memories, but most of them involved getting off the aircraft and sprinting away from you.”

taskandpurpose.com

Few tears were shed this when a 56-year-old Air Force jet took its final flight out to the desert boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in November 2020. In fact, several airmen who once flew WC-135 tail number 582 bid the old plane — nicknamed ‘Lucifer’s Chariot’ — good riddance and hoped it never left the ground again.

“I hope they chop you up into small bits that aren’t used for anything,” said Will Markham, a pilot who flew 582 from 2015 to 2019, a period which he described as “four terrible and terrifying years that aged me well beyond where I should be.”

 

[OldSolduer]

Worth the read, not an exactly glowing review of the last years of this aircraft.

‘You are the reason I drink’ — Airmen bid adieu to decrepit aircraft dubbed ‘Lucifer’s Chariot’

"I had some great memories, but most of them involved getting off the aircraft and sprinting away from you.”

taskandpurpose.com

Few tears were shed this when a 56-year-old Air Force jet took its final flight out to the desert boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in November 2020. In fact, several airmen who once flew WC-135 tail number 582 bid the old plane — nicknamed ‘Lucifer’s Chariot’ — good riddance and hoped it never left the ground again.

“I hope they chop you up into small bits that aren’t used for anything,” said Will Markham, a pilot who flew 582 from 2015 to 2019, a period which he described as “four terrible and terrifying years that aged me well beyond where I should be.”

That is really a 707 right? Like the white knuckle airline variety we used to fly in?

Those old 707s took a beating for sure.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

That is a freaking amazing article.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Every fleet has a dog/hangar queen that should be taken out on the ramp and burned…

 

[OldSolduer]

Every fleet has a dog/hangar queen that should be taken out on the ramp and burned…

Just like every organization has a dunce. Even Mensa but he’s a very smart dunce

 

[Good2Golf]

Every fleet has a dog/hangar queen that should be taken out on the ramp and burned…

582 seems to have made Old Yeller look like a young pup, just weaned from his mother…less the one Über-old school pilot who lover flying it manually through thunderstorms…that’s some certifiable shizzle right there!

 

[KevinB]

One has to wonder why the replacements where also -135’s.
I’d have thought that that mission would have gotten a little bit more support than retired tankers being refitted.

 

[Good2Golf]

One has to wonder why the replacements where also -135’s.
I’d have thought that that mission would have gotten a little bit more support than retired tankers being refitted.

They’re also 135s, but notably upgraded and newer, more efficient turbofan engines (original CONSTANT PHOENIXes had same old TF33 low-bypass engines as the B-52G) and I understand an old-school steam-driven flight deck with ‘legacy’ flight management system.