Minimum interval takeoff

Strategic Air Command bomber and tanker crews frequently practiced these drills, as they knew they had to send up the maximum number of planes, in the fastest time possible.

[3] At Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, it has been reported that Boeing B-47 Stratojet aircraft launched at opposing sides of the single runway at 7.5-second intervals, half that of a normal MITO.

Later, Pease and Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York, were equipped with FB-111 strategic bombers and the MITO interval was reduced to just six seconds between aircraft, if they used alternating opposite sides of the same runway.

The aircraft, carrying 290,000 pounds (130,000 kg) of fuel, crashed about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Mather and blew up in a ball of fire around 250 feet (75 m) in diameter.

During a normal MITO at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana, a delta-winged B-58 Hustler, loaded with five nuclear weapons, suffered a landing gear failure.

[11] On 4 January 1961, during a minimum interval takeoff from Pease AFB, a B-47E, 53-4244, of the 100th Bomb Wing, second of a three-ship cell, lost control, crashed into trees, and burned.

[12][13] There is a scene from the 1963 film A Gathering of Eagles during which a MITO is observed to occur from beside the runway at Beale Air Force Base, California.

The scene involves Colonels James Caldwell (played by Rock Hudson) and Hollis Farr (Rod Taylor) standing a few thousand feet down the runway, watching B-52 Stratofortresses take off at fifteen-second intervals.

Three U.S. Air Force B-52G aircraft depart Barksdale AFB during a MITO exercise in 1986
Two C-130 Hercules aircraft of the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing get airborne as the remaining 16 aircraft wait on the runway during a MITO at the start of a mass airdrop exercise at Dyess AFB , Texas
A B-52H starts its engines during a MITO at Barksdale AFB in 2014