Member's Bio
KC135 Stratotanker
Rob McCullers has been a member of the Prairie Aviation Museum since 2017. Rob has also been a Board member from 2019 – current, and serving as Vice President from 2020 to current.
Rob is one of our primary “hosts” and provides excellent tours of our Air Park.
Even though we do not have a KC-135 Stratotanker in our Air Park, Rob could refuel most of the military aircraft in our Air Park.
My Story
Rob McCullers grew up in the farmlands of central Indiana near a grass strip airport where he spent his days watching planes take off and land.
Unbeknownst to his parents, he scrounged flights by washing and waxing airplanes fueling his passion for flying. This passion ultimately led him to attend the US Air Force Academy in Colorado where he participated in
flying gliders and parachuting from perfectly good airplanes.
Rob served in the Air Force for 28 years on Active Duty, Air Force Reserves, and the Air National Guard. He began his flying career with nuclear alert for Strategic Air Command followed as a Research Pilot and Test Program Manager at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California.
Rob has over 8,000 flight hours in 23 types of aircraft from gliders to
the B-747, including the T33 like in PAM’s airpark. During this period, he flew 93 combat missions and 195 test/test support missions. He flew worldwide telemetry, international space support, treaty verification, and missile defense missions.
Rob participated in the low-level air refueling certifications for the B-2 and C-17. He also flew high-altitude missions testing new types of fuel as an instructor pilot for the USAF Test Pilot School. Rob has traveled the world. He had eight overseas deployments areas such as Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, Bosnia, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
In Rob’s last deployment, he served as the Air Force Central Command’s Inspector General. Traveling extensively across nine Middle Eastern nations he worked on White House and Congressional inquiries providing analysis of force protection issues, flight safety issues and fraudulent contracting.
Rob retired from the Air Force in 2016, finishing as the Inspector General for the Illinois National Guard. While in the Guard, Rob also flew for ATA Airlines out of Indianapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Flying trips for ATA out of Indianapolis was a great joy as he routinely saw high school classmates and former teachers. It was not just flying passengers across the US as the airline flew hurricane relief missions and transported refugees out of Kenya, Somalia, and Lebanon.
During his career, Rob received numerous national recognitions. His squadron was awarded the Golden Tanker Award and the USAF Duckworth Award in recognition for having made the most significant contribution to the science of aerospace instrument flight. He was
twice awarded the Flynn Trophy from the Secretary of the Air Force for having the best Inspector General Complaints Resolution Program in the Air National Guard. Rob has been recognized 12 times for outstanding achievement in aerial flight.
Types of Planes Rob Flew
