On the day of this request from higher command, 60 KC-135s were parked on the desert floor, aligned neatly in seven rows in a triangular portion of the AMARG facility. With more than 800 Stratotankers delivered to the USAF between 1957 and 1965, the four engine variant of the Boeing 707 remains the backbone of the USAF’s global aerial refueling capacity to this day.
The deputy director picked up his phone and dialed the three digit code to reach Eduardo Suarez. Suarez, the senior mechanic on the many multi-engine Boeing aircraft residing on the facility, had joined AMARG after a two-decade career with Continental Airlines. Like most of the employees of AMARG, he was a civilian contract worker. He picked up after a single ring. The men exchanged pleasantries before the deputy director got to the point.
“We need to activate fifteen of the KC-135s as soon as possible.”
“Which tail numbers?”
“It’s at our discretion. They want the fifteen best planes we have that can be quickly operational.”
“Hmm. That is unusual. But, hey, no problem. Let me review the files and I will let you know which ones I like.”
“Can you let me know timing, please.”
“To flight worthiness certification?”
“Yes.”
“Can do.”
“Thank you, Eduardo.”
“No problem.”
Three and half hours later Suarez called the deputy director back. He was in a good mood. “I have the tail numbers. I will email them to you after the call.”
“Timing?”
“Good news there. All of the 135s are here on ‘Flying Hold.’ They are all in pretty good shape and we have twenty-six that are within two thousand flight hours of their PDM.” Suarez was referring to the program depot maintenance overhaul that is scheduled for aircraft that have 15,000 hours of flight time on the airframe. He meant that these particular planes had already undergone their PDM and their airframes should be in very good condition. “I picked fifteen from that group. I think we can have the first FCF for all of these aircraft within two weeks.” FCF is the acronym for a functional check flight, during which the systems of a plane are checked out and reviewed in flight. “We will trouble shoot and have the second FCF for all aircraft within another week. Give me a week of slack and I will commit to one month from now.”
“That works.”
“Okay. I will have crews out tomorrow removing the spraylat.” Spraylat is a product that is used by AMARG to seal aircraft going into storage. The first layers used are a black rubbery substance. The final layers are a white insulation that helps moderate the inside temperature of each stored airplane. “We should be able to start towing planes to the flight line tomorrow afternoon.”
“Great. You’re the best Eduardo.”
“Talk to you soon.”
On December 20, 2010, the first of fifteen KC-135 Stratotankers lifted off from runway 30 at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson. After 93 minutes of flying almost due north, the 52-year-old plane landed at Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah, 30 miles north of Salt Lake City. Over the next several days the remaining fourteen planes made the same flight, all being lined up on the apron to await the arrival of USAF crews.
On the same day that the first KC-135 arrived in Utah, in a room that occupied less than 200 square feet of the 3.7 million available inside the Pentagon building, paperwork was signed by the deputy general counsel of international affairs, representing the Air Force Material Command. The document transferred ownership of all fifteen KC-135 Stratotankers from the U.S. government to a company named Rhinestone Leasing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. The Treasurer of Rhinestone executed the transfer documentation along with a number of other documents that made clear that the transfer was pursuant to a military aid program administered by the Pentagon that had been established under the authorization of the State Department and funded by Section F of the Fiscal Year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by Congress and signed into law a year earlier. The next document executed by the men in that office was an agreement by the USAF to deliver the planes, at U.S. taxpayer expense, to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. The final document signed was a lease and operating agreement that allowed the USAF to lease back and operate the aircraft at the direction of Rhinestone. Six sets of originals had been signed.
When the half hour process was finished, the Pentagon attorney kept three original sets. The Treasurer of Rhinestone took the other three and exited room 4C756. He walked the long distance to exit into the south parking lot. After getting into his government-issue car, he made a fourteen minute drive to the west until he passed a sign that read “George Bush Center for Intelligence CIA FHWA Next Exit.”
Back in his office in McLean, Virginia, in an unincorporated area known as Langley, the man who was Treasurer of Rhinestone Leasing now signed documents that transferred ownership of the fifteen KC-135 tankers from Rhinestone to a company called AS-3 Air Lease Limited, an Isle of Man registered company. AS-3 was, in turn, owned by a bearer share corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands. The same man served as Corporate Treasurer for each entity. Anyone attempting to find the real owner of these airplanes would run into roadblocks and frustration — and anyone looking for the Corporate Treasurer of Rhinestone Leasing or AS-3 Air Lease Limited would come to the conclusion that the man just didn’t exist.
21 — Special Delivery
On December 25, 2010, a crew of four Israelis, consisting of a pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and navigator, boarded an Il-76TD90 with the new tail number 4X–CGE. The plane was pulled from the hanger by a tug. It was only the third time it had been pulled out of the hanger since it arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport on November 22. The prior two times had been to test its newly installed PS-90A2 high-bypass turbofan jet engines. This time, the newest certified member of the El Al cargo fleet taxied to take off on runway 30 on its first flight under its new Sun d’Or II Air Operator’s Certificate. The empty plane reached its rotation speed of 130 mph using only 1,740 feet of runway and was airborne another 165 feet further on, barely utilizing the more than 10,000 feet of available runway. The local time at takeoff was 10:07 p.m.
The plane continued west, climbing rapidly into the pitch black sky over the Mediterranean Sea. The scheduled flight plan called for the plane to land in Palermo, Italy, to pick up cargo after three hours of flight time. Once the plane, now at its designated cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, had flown some 320 miles and was in a radar and Air Traffic Control gap, an Israeli Air Force KC-707 that had been orbiting in the vicinity made contact with the crew of the Ilyushin. The big cargo plane maneuvered to come in behind the KC-707, an airborne gas station that could refuel the plane in a matter of minutes. However, there was a problem — the Ilyushin was not equipped with either a refueling probe or receptacle and there was no way to transfer fuel from the KC-707 to the Ilyushin. But anyone listening in on the radio communications between the two planes would have had no way to know that.
After several minutes of maneuvering to bring the big Ilyushin behind and slightly below the IAF refueling tanker, and another couple of minutes of formation flying, the two planes bid each other farewell over the radio, marking an end to their wireless communications. The KC-707 turned east to return to its home field at Nevatim Air Base in the Negev desert ten miles to the east of Be’er Shiva. The Ilyushin 76 dropped back slightly and then turned off its transponder and its nighttime navigation lights. The crew of the big cargo plane put a small infrared strobe light on the cockpit window, its suction cups sticking to the cold glass in the same way as a highway toll transponder. The big plane then maintained its position behind and slightly below the KC-707, following the air tanker home to Israel and a landing at Nevatim a few minutes after midnight — the timing having been determined to avoid the prying gaze of all scheduled overhead reconnaissance satellites. The Ilyushin landed on runway 07, turned right after deceleration and taxied 3,350 feet to enter one of two large hanger buildings on the southern edge of the airfield. The KC-707 airborne refueler they had been following had pulled up at the last minute, circled the airfield and came in for a landing a few minutes after the big Ilyushin.