22 Oct 2007

On This Day in History /
A C-17 Globemaster III takes off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Oct. 19. The early-morning flight marked the first flight of the C-17 using a Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuel blend in one of its engines. All four engines ran the fuel blend during an Oct. 22 test flight. (Air Force photo)
2007: A C-17 Globemaster III took off from Edwards AFB, Calif., on a flight using a blend of synthetic and JP-8 fuel in all four fuel tanks. It was the first time a C-17 carried the Fischer-Tropsch/JP-8 blend as the only fuel on board. The four-hour flight assessed how well the aircraft performed with synthetic fuel as part of a certification test.