I bet that was an interesting chat Gary, especially from a Thud driver!
I am sure that I could have done the toboganning bit, but life is so
much easier with: 2 refuelling points (so you don't have to cycle the
leader through the refuelling more than once); a hose and drogue (so
that you are in control); a tanker going at your speed; and a crew
who are willing to go over the line with you before they cast you
off, or to come and get you over the line to save your sucking your
last bit of fuel.
For the Balkans crisis in 1999, our VC10 tanker boys (No 10 Squadron)
deployed to Bruggen and led each formation of Tornados through
Germany, France and Italy, dealing with air traffic and the weather
(always punk on those missions) before casting them off over the
Adriatic. They then came to get them pretty well wherever they ended
up after the missions in Kosovo. Some Tornados escaped to the north,
to avoid the SA-3s, and they then had to rendezvous with the tankers
at an unplanned point. It always worked.
Olympus content. Somewhere I have a photo of my Tornado's refuelling
system over the Atlantic, heading for Goose Bay in Labrador. The
photo was taken with an Oly AF-1 Twin which had withstood being left
on the Tornado's canopy rail when I shut the canopy on it! I am sure
that I have promised to dig it out ...
Chris
~~ >-)-
C M I Barker
Cambridgeshire, Great Britain.
+44 (0)7092 251126
www.threeshoes.co.uk
homepage.mac.com/zuiko
On 19 Jul 2005, at 04:09, Gary Edwards wrote:
> The Lone Star Aero Club's May speaker was an F-105 pilot. He showed
> pictures
> that he took of other Thuds in his flight as they refueled from a
> KB-50 over
> the Pacific enroute to SE Asia. The Thud had BOTH a probe and a boom
> recepticle and was a lead sled even without that extra weight. He
> said it
> was real sport to slow down to the diving speed of the KB-50 to
> take on
> fuel, but they were motivated because it was along swim home. So,
> Chris, it
> could have been worse.
>
> Gary
>
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