Question Mark (aircraft) Question Mark (aircraft) Question Mark (""?"") was a modified Atlantic-Fokker C-2A transport airplane of the United States Army Air Corps. In 1929, commanded by Major Carl A. Spaatz, it was flown for a flight endurance record as part of an experiment with aerial refueling. "Question Mark" established new world records in aviation for sustained flight (heavier-than-air), refueled flight, sustained flight (lighter-than-air), and distance between January 1 and January 7, 1929, in a non-stop flight of more than 150 hours near Los Angeles, California. Following the record-setting demonstration, the C-2A was returned to transport duties. In 1931 more powerful engines replaced
US signals intelligence in the Cold War Desert Shield Desert Storm. COMBAT APPLE aircraft began to gather SIGINT overland, over the Ho Chi Minh trail and Laos. They went without fighter cover, and in the threat envelope of antiaircraft guns and missiles. When the US detected the antiaircraft weapons, it quickly attacked them, and the North Vietnamese quit trying to shoot down the COMBAT APPLEs. Several other ELINT versions of the RC-135 flew out of Kadena for specialized ELINT collection, with some aircraft flying missions of 24 hours and more while still based at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, in the US. Flying from Kadena, the RC-135C model, called