We never get the tanker tail number. All I care about is the fuel. On a very rare occasion we've had a tanker be a red air player of sorts. All thoroughly briefed face-to-face, of course. Anything to kill those capitalist pig-dogs.
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Bad Day Refueling
- Thread starter HAL Pilot
- Start date
We never get the tanker tail number. All I care about is the fuel. On a very rare occasion we've had a tanker be a red air player of sorts. All thoroughly briefed face-to-face, of course. Anything to kill those capitalist pig-dogs.
One of my favorite first-hand experience stories about tanking goes back to 1980 when we were doing a NATO exercise in the North Atlantic. The plan was to have CAP stations in a fan arrangement around the battle group to protect it from the bad guys coming from the Arctic Circle area. Heavy tankers were situated inside of the fan and shuttle tankers, ie. A-7's with buddy stores and KA-6's, were to tank off of the heavies and then run out to the CAP stations to unload to the Turkeys so they wouldn't have to leave their stations. I was in an A-7 trying to join up with a British Victor in a race track pattern at 25k feet. I would start to close with him in the turn then he would run away from me on the straight away. After this happened a few times, I finally piped up and asked him for his indicated. He replied in his heavy British accent, "350 indicated." I then calmly explained that my poor old A-7 with a drop tank on the right outboard station and a buddy store on the left outboard station couldn't quite make that speed even at full throttle. He then politely acquiesced and pulled it back to a more manageable 250 kias.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
Apparently, the Brits.
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
The Air Force? Don't know, but the KC-10 guys seem annoyed when they have to slow down to below 300 kts for our probe. I'm not sure what the basket limit is, but I'm sure a KC-10 tanking an F-15 does it about that fast.
We AR off the boom and we are in contact at 275 KIAS regardless of the tanker type.
Yeah, that seems more like it (though 250 is standard around the boat).
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
275 or so off strat tanking and 230 or so on Hercs. Our probe limit is 300, and I would assume that the basket itself has some limit as well. It seems logical that the boom method could work at higher speeds, but doesn't necessarily need to.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
350 indicated at 25 thousand feet, no less. That was the killer. And maybe they were just waiting for somebody to join before they slowed. Who knows? And an A-7 configured like that at that altitude just ain't gonna make it. I know you guys were just babes when it was in its heyday, but it wasn't known for its overwhelming power. But that's the way it went down.
And on another note, this was back when inter-service tanking was somewhat rare. Was tanking off a -135 one day when I noticed several people in the boom operator's window taking turns taking pics of the trusty A-7 war machine. Then the boom operator came up on the radio and asked if I would fly up alongside so the pilots could get some pics also. I was only happy to oblige.
No helmet? I think Harrier Dude may take issue with that...
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
SAFETY VIOLATOR!!!!!!