Posted on 01/10/2024 6:27:13 PM PST by Chode
I have refueled from a KC-97.
The minimum formatting airspeed for my B-52 required the Tanker to descend during the fuel transfer. We were required to refuel from a KC-97 once each quarter. We refueled on every training mission.
The most fuel I ever took on was 150,000 pounds. (at 6,000 lbs per minute)
That was from two tankers, 100,000, from one and 50,000 from the other.
I did not know that the A-10 refueled at an altitude as high as 42,000 feet.
That could be the service ceiling for the KC-135!
I did the same back in Europe. EXCEPT I was taking a hop from Ramstein to RAF Mildenhall in the UK. It’s about a 1 hour flight.
I wasn’t wearing my watch so after a couple of hours I asked the captain sitting in the jump seat next to me what time it was. It was 2 and a half hours after take off! The crew had all climbed aboard some cargo boxes to get some sleep (not too hot or cold at about chin high in those birds—sitting in the jump seats your feet freeze and standing up your head cooks from the blowers). So I went up to the cockpit to ask the scoop. This was in 1994 during the Bosnian war. We were diverted to refuel F-16s over the Adriatic Sea between Italy and Croatia. I also got to watch the boom operator.
The thing that pissed me off was it took us about 10 hours to get to Mildenhall. I had a single Snickers bar I shared with the captain sitting by me, but of course they didn’t have any food service on KC-135s!
After getting to Mildenhall, I went over to the Bird in Hand for some food (and a few pints). Someone here know about that place? It is/was awesome!
FL420 for refueling A-10? That’s getting up there!
The Skyraider carried more payload than a B-17.
Refuel at 42000 ft (FL420)?
Highly doubtful.
“”””Refuel at 42000 ft (FL420)?
Highly doubtful.””””
I didn’t catch that, perhaps a more thoughtful correction can be made, or perhaps as a passenger, he didn’t hear/remember correctly, or confused or misremembered the altitude at different times of his flight.
Refueling is usually done in the 20-26 000 altitude band.
There are times when for tactical necessity or weather avoidance in can be done at slightly lower or higher altitudes.
There are several limitations on what altitude can be used. A major restriction is that the flyable boom has an airspeed limitation. Another is the stall or top Mach speeds of the receiver aircraft. The A-10 is relatively slow and puts the tanker in an unfavorable configuration for refueling. At high altitudes, above FL350, the same indicated airspeed starts approaching Mach limits on both aircraft and the boom.
The KC-97 is no longer in service but presented serious mismatches with fighters because of its slower airspeed. Aircraft like the F-4, F-105 and SR-71 were almost at stall speed with the KC-97. The SR-71 used special KC-135 tankers because it used a different fuel.
required the Tanker to descend during the fuel transfer.
a friend was a boom operator at Beal refueling SR’s and said the same thing...
They were on the way to portillos to pick up dinner
That said, those were follow-ons and enjoyed post WW2 technology improvements, and typically flew shorter distances or, in the case of the A-4, could refuel A2A. Both were heros in the Vietnam war.
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