US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Ryan C. Grossklag
A KC-135 Stratotanker in the 6th Maintenance Squadron hangar at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, November 25, 2019.
- Air Force "tank drivers" at Florida's MacDill Air Force Base have the complicated but vital job of making sure tankers can tank safely and effectively.
- Working day and night, these airmen handle all operations involving the pumps, valves, manifolds, and other aspects of the fuel cell.
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Tucked away behind US Central Command and MacDill Air Force Base, Florida's traditional hangars lies a hangar originally built to house fighter jets. On a given day, peeking out of that hangar will sit a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft seemingly out of place in the considerably smaller maintenance shop, but surely, it's in the right hands.
This hangar is the home of the 6th Maintenance Squadron's fuels systems section. "Tank Divers," as the technicians of this shop are called, work day-and-night to ensure MacDill's aircraft are always ready to fuel the fight.
Fuels technicians handle all operations involving the pumps, valves, manifolds and all aspects that encompass the fuel cell, which the Tank Divers view as the heart of the aircraft.
The system is made up of massive, black bladders that hold jet fuel within the wings and run down the bottom of the KC-135 fuselage. Maintaining these cells takes a special group of airmen willing and capable to contort and fit themselves into the body of this aircraft.
"We're well-trained and well-versed in how to do anything on the fuel system," said Staff Sgt. Dakota Williamson, a 6th MXS fuel systems craftsman. "I like to say the fuel is the blood of the system and all of its workings are its veins. You can't have a well-oiled machine without it, so without us, you can't fly."