![]() ![]() While range was greatly improved over earlier transports, it could not be augmented by aerial refueling, as C-135s were not configured with refueling receptacles. The aircraft's load floor was some 10 feet (3.0 m) off the ground, which required ground-handling equipment, its single side-loading cargo door was limited in what could fit through it, and its useful range was approximately 6,000 miles (9,700 km), insufficient to reach many of the Air Force's operating locations in Asia and the Pacific Rim. The C-135 was largely intended as an interim measure pending the development of more specialized jet transports such as the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, and as such it incorporated numerous compromises in its strategic airlift capability. Ultimately, only 15 C-135As would be produced (in addition to three converted from KC-135s while still on the assembly line), with 30 additional aircraft being delivered as C-135Bs with the improved Pratt & Whitney TF33 turbofan engine. ![]() In May 1960, Congress approved the purchase of 50 C-135 aircraft it was selected in part because of its low development cost, being a straightforward derivative of the KC-135 tanker already in production. While capable of carrying large, outsized payloads, they were becoming increasingly obsolescent and lacked the global reach required of the rapidly-modernizing Air Force. In the early 1960s, the Military Air Transport Service operated a fleet consisting almost entirely of propeller-driven aircraft such as the piston-powered Douglas C-124 Globemaster II and C-133 Cargomaster turboprop. ![]()
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