It's the plane that keeps the other planes flying
The KC-135 Stratotanker
Its twin is the old 707 but this one can
carry five semi tankers worth of fuel
We climbed on board for a ride
Strapped in for takeoff
We rolled down the runway
Soon, we're at 21,000 feet, flying over Douglas on the
Southern Arizona border, where we will
soon hook up with the gaggle of thirsty
F-16s from Luke Air Force Base off our right wing
The KC-135 is a remarkable airplane
It's been flying since the 50s
And will continue to fly for decades to come
Think of it as a gas station in the sky
Refuelling everything that flies, keeping those planes in the air
And it takes a skilled team to keep this plane fly
It's just like an old car
There's not a whole lot of '57 Chevys riding around on the road you know
Some of these aircraft are older than my
father is and I love the fact that this
aircrafts from flying since Eisenhower Era
So it's something I'm very proud to
be working on
The result? A carefully choreographed sky dance
As the F-16 approaches the
boom operator lying on his stomach in
the rear of the plane extends the 27-foot boom
This is what it looks like up close
The width of a fire hose
As the F-16 pilot gets to within 10 feet of the boom
The Boom Operator with his head
steadied on a chin rest gingerly works
the controls to make the connection
This requires incredible teamwork from
the pilots up front
To keep the KC-135 steady
while the Boom Operator and the F-16 pilot finesse the connection
Veteran boom operator Master Sergeant Vince Jones explains
You give them that stable platform. Like I said, constant airspeed constant altitude
We're not porpoising up and down, and they're coming in at a constant airspeed
With a constant closure rate
That's not too fast not too slow which allows us to zoom in on our target for the boom
The KC-135 can offload more fuel in eight minutes
than a gas station can pump in 24 hours
And it all happens as the pilot of the F-16
Is a mere 20 feet below us
You feel that you could almost reach out and touch him
He's that close
A lot of skill. Really good depth perception. Hand-eye coordination
Really good teamwork between the tanker pilot and the receiving pilot and the boom operator
Tank full, he breaks off and gives us a thumbs up
And another F-16 slides into position
They make it look simple. They make it look easy, but in reality, it's not
I found that out in the simulator
I smashed a cockpit window of an A-10 on my first try
Eventually I got the hang of it
But it is tricky
Back in the air, another successful refueling
Air-to-Air refueling dates back to the 1920s but
wasn't widely used until the Korean War and Vietnam Conflict
This technology allows our military planes to stay aloft
as long as necessary to carry out the mission
Many of the fighters out there have a limited range
and our ability to aerial refuel turns these from a local force
into a force that can be used internationally and worldwide
The 161st Refuelling Wing quietly
carrying out this vital mission every day
As it has now for more than 50 years