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Last night around 8pm at least 12-15 executive jets flew into PSM over my house one after the other. Apparently the Air Force brass were having some kind of powow, which isn't surprising given that the new refueling tanker has just been deployed to Pease so they are probably having a lot of reviews and evaluations.

However, after jets kept flying in I started thinking how many of those things do they have? According to the Wikipedia, the Air Force only has 18 (rather antiquated) C21As, which I find hard to believe, since if that is the case, the whole fleet flew into Pease last night. Also, I find it pretty hard to believe that they don't have newer jets.

I suspect that the reason why the true number of jets is not listed, is that the list only includes executive jets that the Air Force owns, and does not include those that it leases. Are there any easily available statistics on aircraft leases by the Air Force?

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  • $\begingroup$ Perhaps they weren't USAF. Could have been USAPAT. Flightaware would likely have given you an indication. $\endgroup$ – Jim Perris Aug 28 '19 at 21:48
  • $\begingroup$ They do have 18 C21As (ave age 33.3 yrs). They also have 9 C-37As aka Gulfstream V (ave age 17.7 yrs), and 3 C-37Bs (ave age 8.7 yrs). I'm not aware of any leased a/c operated by the AF. It is common for them to contract flight service where the plane is operated by the contract crew. These will have N-numbered a/c. Try checking Flightaware. AF inventory numbers are from Air Force Association's AF Magazine Almanac issue. $\endgroup$ – Gerry Aug 28 '19 at 21:56

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