Travis Air Force refuelers honored for heroism

modbee ^ | 11-20-04

[LouAvul]

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - Two British Royal Air Force jets were dangerously low on fuel over Iraq when a crew from Travis Air Force Base risked their lives and their refueling tanker to save them, the military says.

The four crew members were recently awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses for their bravery.

The incident occurred during last year's invasion of Iraq, when the two British Tornadoes were within two minutes of running out of fuel.

The Travis-based members of the 6th Air Refueling Squadron dropped their KC-10 Extender tanker to a lower altitude and dumped some of their own fuel to create an aerial marker to guide the British pilots in. Both acts potentially exposed the crew and plane to an easier attack from Iraqi forces on the ground.

............

Honored last month were Capt. Samuel Smith, Capt. John Distefano Jr., Tech. Sgt. Timothy McCallum and Staff Sgt. Scott Steinhauer.

[Gunrunner2]

Not to take anything away from them (I need to know before I do), what's up with; "dropped their KC-10 Extender tanker to a lower altitude and dumped some of their own fuel to create an aerial marker to guide the British pilots in."

What. . .the AWACS controller was having a wine and cheese break and didn't TALK to the Brits and control the rejoin?

[JesseJane]

Travis AFBRat dittos to crew!!

[Max Combined]

Time was of the essence.

[ken5050]

Possibly didn't want to radiate to make it easier for a missile to lock on.. Remember, tankers aren't evasive..

[IMRight]

What. . .the AWACS controller was having a wine and cheese break and didn't TALK to the Brits and control the rejoin?

Well.... remember... there IS a language barrier.

[cardinal4]

I'll give 'em a BZ, but DFCs all around? Don't think so.

No one asked you..

[petertare]

Huh?? Dumpin gas gets you a big medal?? What do I not understand?--and yes I do realize this is the air force.

That probably only left the crew with 300,000# remaining.

[USNBandit]

A guy in my unit received the DFC for acting as a FAC(A). He was flying over Afghanistan at night and observed a column of vehicles moving down a dirt path with their lights off. He made low passes down the valley until he received fire from the column to ensure a hostile ID. He then took out the lead and trail vehicle with LGBs and called in all the tactical aircraft in the area to pound the rest of the column. Ground units investigating the area a couple days later estimated the body count at greater that 1000.

Pretty much the same as dumping some fuel to hawk a couple low state Tornadoes.

[Gunrunner2]

Radio calls do not affect missile locks.

Faster to to fly to a tanker when you call up AWACS. Come off target and ask for a snap vector and go from there.

Still makes no sense.

[Gunrunner2]

Yeah. Got that right.

[Gunrunner2]

I'm with you on this one.

Ping for the Dog. . .your thoughts?

You know anything about this?

[Mr Rogers]

DFCs?!?!?!

Good Lord! Their action MAY rate a bullet in their OPRs/EPRs. At best. Frankly, any tanker crew that wouldn't do the same should be court-martialed for cowardice.

Guess it is a good thing they don't work for me - I wouldn't pass this up the chain for any recognition at all.

When you hand out medals like the DFC for nothing, it demeans the ones that are valid.

[Mr Rogers]

BTW - spent a couple of years flying with a navy squadron...sat on a mini-board reviewing actions from Kosovo for potential medal submissions. We had guys who took bigger chances than these tankers that we told, "Nice try, but come back when you've done something special."

[Mr Rogers]

The incident occurred during last year's invasion of Iraq, when the two British Tornadoes were within two minutes of running out of fuel.

If the Tornadoes were within 2 minutes of running out of fuel, then one of them must have done the fastest refueling in RAF history...

[bmwcyle]

Great work!

[Pukin Dog]

You mean you didnt know John Kerry was flying the tanker?

You know exactly what this is, son.

Evals suck when you aint been no hero lately.

Somebody just wants to get a star, and some good PR. DFC's for this is ridiculous.