Iranian KC-747

I went to airliners.net and found this picture today. It was taken last month.



I wasn't even aware that the Iranians had any aircraft that used a boom refueling system, but I'll be interested to see any more information on this.


[edit on 10/4/2008 by Zaphod58]

The Iranian Air Force ordered 10 converted 747s, but only received delivery of 2 before the change of government. They ultimately received 6 747-131s, with one being lost to a crash. There is currently one tanker still flying.

5-8104 operating with 17 souls on board was landing when it was struck by lightning. It suffered a fire in one of the wing fuel tanks, leading to a failure of the wing, killing everyone on board.

5-8108 and 5-8104 were both modified as tankers. 5-8108 is still flying.

The others are operated by Iran Air or Saha Airlines.

They are:

Iran Air - EP-NHD, EP-NHP, EP-NHT, EP-NHV
Saha Air - EP-SHC, EP-SHD

After scrutinized this image, I believe this 747 just is a civil plane cram full of fuel tank with a refueling prob. I think US can do it better but they stupidly thought they wouldn't need too many fuel to refueling.

If you look closer at it you will see that it's not just a civilian plane. It has an inflight refueling setup on the nose as well as the boom in the tail. It was modified with the boom pod like the KC-135 has, as well as extra fuel tanks.

It's one thing to modify a civilian plane to do something, but it's another thing if it actually works.

It works. Here are pictures taken during testing as well as from after it went into service with the Iranian Air Force.

There were three total that were modified. The boom was placed under the tail as on the KC-135, but the boom pod was recessed behind the aft pressure bulkhead instead of protruding like on the -135. The 50th Fighter Wing, flying F-4s were the first US aircraft to refuel from an Iranian Air Force KC-747.

Test KC-747 and Iranian 747:


KC-747 and SR-71:


IRAF KC-747:


KC-747 and F-111:


The tests and operational flights both proved that the concept works, and that it could be done with more 747s. But Boeing lost out to the KC-10 and it never went farther than the handful that were modified.

[edit on 10/5/2008 by Zaphod58]

what an idea - sod using the 767 as a tanker just slap tanks into older 747`s and use them instead

I've found pictures of at least 5-8103(EP-NHS) flying without the boom attached. At some point the boom was removed, and it was flown as either a transport, or a regular airliner, and then the boom was put back on later.

5-8108 was originally N93101 (MSN 19669), it was delivered to Iran as 5-282, then back to Boeing as N93101, then later it was 5-8101, EP-NHD, then back to 5-8108. So it would appear that all of them have gone into service at some point as regular commercial flights, with the boom removed, and then at least 5-8103 had it put back on and was pressed back into service as a tanker again.

ETA:
After more digging, it appears that Iran has recently overhauled the fleet of 747s and returned several of them to service as tankers. 5-8107 is definitely out of service. It's sitting on the ground with huge pieces removed from the wings, all four engines gone, and panels all around the wingroot and airframe removed.

5-8103 is back as a tanker.

5-8108 APPEARS to have been renumbered 5-8100 and is back as a tanker.

5-8105 is currently flying but I can't find any pictures of the aft fuselage to see if it's a tanker or regular transport. It doesn't have the IFR bump on the nose, so I would ASSUME it's a transport.

EP-SHD (5-8106) started undergoing a major overhaul in August of this year after being grounded for several years. From 1983-85 she was registered as EP-NHK, and former TWA N93102. There's a lot of confusion about this tail number, as it has been 5-285, 5-8106 (which also shows as ex YI-AGN), and EP-NHD.

[edit on 10/5/2008 by Zaphod58]

[edit on 10/5/2008 by Zaphod58]

5-8101 MSN 19667 747-131 First flight 7/13/69 from Line 5.
8/18/70 Delivered as N93101 to TWA.
3/1/75 Delivered as 5-280 to the Iranian Air Force.
3/4/75 Delivered to Boeing as N93101 for conversion to 747-131(SCD)
8/31/76 Delivered as 5-8101 to the Iranian Air Force.
2/1/84 Registered as EP-NHJ with Iran Air.
7/1/85 Registered as EP-NHV with Iran Air.
1/1/86 Registered as 5-8101 with the Iranian Air Force.

EP-NHT MSN 19678 747-131 First flight 9/24/70 from Line 78.
10/4/70 Delivered as N53112 to TWA.
3/14/75 Delivered to Boeing as N53112 for conversion to 747-131(SCD).
3/14/75 Changed to 5-281 for the Iranian Air Force.
8/31/76 Changed to 5-8102 for the Iranian Air Force.
6/1/84 Changed to EP-NHT for the Iranian Air Force.
Never converted to tanker standard. Used for transport/cargo missions.

5-8103 (Tanker) MSN 20080 747-131 First flight 5/10/70 from Line 80.
10/22/70 Delivered as N93113 to TWA.
3/31/75 Delivered to Boeing as N93113 for conversion to 747-131(SCD).
5/1/75 Delivered as 5-282 to the Iranian Air Force.
1/1/76 Registered as 5-8103 for the Iranian Air Force.
2/1/84 Registered as EP-NHS for the Iranian Air Force.
3/1/91 Registered as EP-SHC for Saha Air.
??/??/?? Registered as 5-8103 for the Iranian Air Force.
Has had boom removed and reinstalled multiple times since 2005.

5-8104 (Tanker) MSN 19677 747-131 First flight 9/15/70 from Line 73.
9/26/70 Delivered as N53111 to TWA.
10/15/75 Delivered as N53111 to Boeing for conversion to 747-131(SCD).
11/75 Delivered as 5-283 to the Iranian Air Force.
??/??/?? Registered as 5-8104 for the Iranian Air Force.
5-8104 was operating as Flight 48 from Tehran to McGuire AFB via Madrid on 5/9/76 when it was struck by lightning descending to 5000 feet and vectoring around weather. Aircraft was found in a farm field at 3000 ft MSL with the left wing separated. It was later determined that the lightning entered the front section of the aircraft and was travelling down the wing to the static discharger when it jumped to a rivet, igniting the #1 fuel tank. This caused an oscillation in the outer section of wing, leading to the tip and antenna separating, and later to a failure of the wing.

5-8105 (Tanker) MSN 20081 747-131 First flight 10/17/70 from Line 85.
11/2/70 Delivered as N93114 to TWA.
11/3/75 Delivered to Boeing as N93114 to Boeing for conversion to SCD.
12/1/75 Delivered as 5-284 to the Iranian Air Force.
1/1/76 Registered as 5-8105 for the Iranian Air Force.
6/1/84 Registered as EP-NHR for the Iranian Air Force.
1/1/91 Registered as EP-NHR for Saha Air.
7/1/91 Registered as EP-NAD for Saha Air.
11/1/91 Registered as EP-SHD for Saha Air.
??/??/?? Registered as 5-8105 for the Iranian Air Force.
Some time after 1993 aircraft was renumbered back to 5-8105. EP-SHD has been seen on another aircraft that went in for overhaul in August of 2008.

5-8106 MSN 19668 Boeing 747-131 First flight 12/7/69 from Line 8.
12/31/69 Delivered as N93102 to TWA.
11/14/75 Delivered to Boeing as N93102 for conversion to 747-131(SCD).
11/14/75 Registered as 5-285 for the Iranian Air Force.
??/??/76 Registered as 5-8106 for the Iranian Air Force.
5/15/83 Registered as EP-NHK for Iran Air.
??/??/85 Registered as 5-8106 for the Iranian Air Force.
??/??/?? Registered as EP-SHD for Unknown.
Aircraft was never converted to tanker standard and was used for transport/cargo missions. Seen in 2008 as EP-SHD undergoing overhaul.

5-8107 (Tanker) MSN 20082 Boeing 747-131 First flight 8/4/71 Line 151.
9/2/71 Delivered as N93118 to TWA.
11/13/75 Delivered to Boeing as N93118 for conversion to 747-131(SCD).
12/1/75 Delivered as 5-286 to the Iranian Air Force.
8/31/76 Registered as 5-8107 with the Iranian Air Force.
6/1/85 Registered as EP-NHP with the Iranian Air Force.
??/??/07 Spotted undergoing major overhaul in Iran.
??/??/08 Power on in the cockpit after overhaul.

5-8108 (Tanker) MSN 19669 Boeing 747-131 First flight 12/05/69 Line 9.
10/8/70 Delivered as N93101 to TWA.
12/??/75 Delivered as 5-287 to the Iranian Air Force.
12/02/75 Delivered to Boeing for conversion to 747-131(SCD).
??/??/76 Delivered as 5-8108 to the Iranian Air Force.
4/??/83 Registered as EP-NHD for Iran Air.
??/??/85 Registered as 5-8108 for the Iranian Air Force.
??/??/06 Registered as 5-8100 (?) Can't find confirmation on this registration number, but have seen it listed as 5-8100 from 2006 on.



[edit on 10/6/2008 by Zaphod58]

Zap I have to say I find it impressive the way you were able to track down all this info.


I dont know much about planes, but id have to say you did a good job here buddy.

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