LEGENDARY
E6
Boeing E-6 Mercury
The Mercury
“The doomsday communication plane.”
Boeing · military
Length
150 ft 4 in
Wingspan
148 ft 4 in
Max speed
460 kts
Range
6,600 nmi
Ceiling
40,000 ft
Engines
4x CFM International CFM56-2A-2
Crew
22
First flight
1987
In service
1989–present
Built
16
The E-6B Mercury is the US Navy's airborne communication relay for nuclear submarines. If you see one, it means someone wants to make absolutely sure they can talk to the boomers. Let's hope it's just a drill.
Fun fact
The E-6 can trail a 26,000-foot wire antenna to communicate with deeply submerged submarines via very low frequency (VLF) radio.
How to spot one
Looks like an all-white Boeing 707. US Navy nuclear command aircraft. Trails a very long wire antenna in flight.
Crews call it
The Mercury
Sounds like
Four CFM56 engines on a 707 airframe — classic widebody sound with a terrifying mission
One might be overhead right now.
Bogey turns the The Mercury from a dot in the sky into a card in your logbook. Coming to iOS and Android.
Get Bogey