Comments by "Gort" (@gort8203) on "Globemaster Mini Me; The McDonnell Douglas YC-15" video.

You are correct. One thing never discussed is that the C-17 did not meet its range specification. It was intended to meet the REFORGER mission profile, and fly a specified cargo load directly from the US to Germany without refueling. When the time came for proving runs to demonstrate this capability they knew the C-17 could not lift enough weight to meet this requirement. So they split the specified load across two aircraft and filled their fuel tanks to the brim. They then flew those two aircraft to Germany in formation and recorded it as a single mission. I don't know if Congress was fooled by that or not, but apparently it worked as a fig leaf and the airplane was produced. By that time we really needed the C-17 because the C-141 was structurally worn out and could not fly much longer.
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