One of many two training-configured TC-135W plane made an look on the Malta Worldwide Air Present 2023, final month.

The annual airshow organized by the Malta Aviation Society on the Malta Worldwide Airport in Luqa, has all the time attracted some actually “unique” attendees. The newest version, held solely on Saturday Sept. 23, 2023 (because the Sunday’s flying shows have been cancelled as a consequence of opposed climate), was no exception.

Among the many individuals that took half on this yr’s airshow, the rarest one was in all probability the TC-135W of the U.S. Air Pressure, coming from Offutt Air Pressure Base, Nebraska.

The plane, registration 62-4127/MSN 18467, is without doubt one of the two TC-135Ws  assigned to the fifty fifth Wing and the primary to function a glass cockpit modification as a part of the fleet-wide “Baseline Charlie” program in 2019. It was inbuilt 1962 as a RC-135A earlier than being transformed firstly in 2005 as a RC-135 after which once more right into a TC-135W sooner or later.

Flying as MAVRK 55 and operated by the 238th Fight Coaching Squadron of the fifty fifth Wing, the plane arrived in Malta by way of RAF Waddington, UK, on Sept. 21.

🇺🇸Boeing TC-135W Stratolifter MAVRK55 pic.twitter.com/BwNpx5Gwji

— 360°Radar (@wipljw) September 21, 2023

Right here’s a pleasant clip of the arrival in Luqa.



Its presence in Malta marked additionally the primary time a TC-135W attended an airshow in Europe.



After the airshow, the TC-135W flew once more to RAF Waddington on Sept. 25. The coach plane spent a couple of days within the UK, conducting routine flight deck coaching with their colleagues on the Royal Air Pressure’s 51 Squadron.

Based on RAF, whereas within the U.S. Air Pressure, the crew additionally shared data and experience of engine-running crew modifications and sizzling pit refueling. The aim was to assist 51 Squadron develop its strategy in the direction of Agile Combat Employment choices for his or her commanders.

Whereas mixed power techniques is nothing new, ACE requires the next diploma of interoperability within the crucial actions of command and management, engineering and logistics, base protection, intelligence-sharing and others, says an official release.

The TC-135W jets serve (62-4127 and 4129) function coaching plane primarily for the Rivet Joint mission, however can even present some coaching functionality for RC-135U Combat Sent crews. They carry significantly fewer antennas than the absolutely outfitted plane, however are in any other case related in look to different Rivet Joint plane.

Bye Bye TC-135W 👋#USAF 🇺🇸 – Boeing TC-135W – 62-4127 – #MAVRK55

Returning To Offutt AFB 🇺🇸 After A Brief Deployment To RAF Waddington 🇬🇧 & Malta Worldwide Airport (For The Malta Worldwide Air Present 2023). pic.twitter.com/09AUcoPD4t

— SkyScanWorld ✈️🚁📡 (@scan_sky) September 29, 2023

David Cenciotti is a journalist based mostly in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and skim navy aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and plenty of others, overlaying aviation, protection, struggle, business, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with totally different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Pressure, a non-public pilot and a graduate in Pc Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.