#31, KC-135 Stratotanker: Makes Everything Else on This List Possible
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is the most unsung aircraft in the history of air power. Without it, no long-range bomber mission happens. No transatlantic fighter deployment happens. No sustained air campaign over Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Syria happens. The KC-135 has been the U.S. Air Force's primary aerial refueling platform since 1957, and it has offloaded billions of pounds of fuel to keep American and allied aircraft in the fight across seven decades of continuous operations.
During Desert Storm, KC-135s flew 15,434 sorties and offloaded 110 million gallons of fuel, enabling the air campaign that destroyed Iraq's military in 43 days. The tanker fleet's importance is so critical that Air Force planners call aerial refueling the "force multiplier of force multipliers." The KC-135 has been upgraded repeatedly, new engines, glass cockpits, improved boom systems, and remains in service alongside its younger replacement, the KC-46 Pegasus. Of the 803 originally built, hundreds still fly daily. No military career in the air force is complete without understanding that tankers make global air power possible.
