the MAINEiacs
 

I've seen their sticker EVERYWHERE. From an obscure bar in Gibraltar to one of those eating shacks in Diego Garcia. Do these guys have some specific mission where they get to take a 135 everywhere in the world? Just curious why they manage to plaster that sticker in every corner of the globe. Delete this post if it's irrelevant/annoying.

Seems to be a big tradition. I've seen all around the world too.

The Maineiacs converted from F-101 fighters to KC-135s in the mid 1970s. They really have flown all over the world in the almost 40 years they have flown tankers. They used to have a lobster bake in the summer and folks would fly in from all over the country. It was a legendary event.

On a (modern-day) junction box/light fixture, several stories underground, in the Cappadocia, Turkey, underground city ruins....

Flying the tanker will sometimes take you to very interesting places in the world.

Love the MAINEiacs though, awesome bunch of guys to work (and drink) with, from the aircrew to the maintainers.

Yes, they have a very impressive "zap" heritage and yes, historically the KC-135 has taken crews to some very interesting places. Unfortunately alot of those opportunities have dried up lately.

Mostly the desert? Seems like the airlift guys have variety.

As a former MAINEiac, I can speak with some authority on this issue. Zaps were issued to flyers whenever we wanted them. We'd take them everywhere with the goal being to put them in obscure places. Every non-MAINEiac I ever met has had something to say about "those damned stickers". I don't think they issue as many these days... Thought I heard that crew had to buy them now. But the tradition is strong.

By the way... The lobster bake still happens every summer. It's mostly a reunion and definitely not as legendary as it once was, but it still happens.

P.S. That sticker also appears on the back of Bradley Cooper's laptop in the new(ish) movie Aloha... Or so I've heard!

Riding a ski lift in the summer time years ago. Notice a zap from a fighter squadron I knew on the end of the cross bar. Whoever had put it there had gone to serious efforts to stick it there.

Creative/obscure location zaps = big smiles.