KC10/F15 Refueling

[ROFCIBC]

This video was shot back in the mid 80s. We (78th AREFS) joined up with F15s from the "Coonass Militia" (back when that was the politically incorrect term they were known by) from the 122 TFS, at NAS New Orleans in Belle Chasse, La. They were the first ANG unit to get F15s.

Had a New Orleans (WWL TV 4) station camera crew in each KC10 and one in the back seat of one of the F15s. About two hours of video was reduced to this 4 minute clip and put to music by the station.

The original was on a video tape and I finally got it converted to a Windows Media format, as well as one for iPods and put it on You Tube.

The "Jazz" call sign is the F15s and "Opec" is the KC10s.

The whole deal was put together by a 78th pilot who flew for Delta and knew the 122 TFS commander who also was a Delta pilot.

As a historical note, although a tragic one, the KC10 in the receiver position was the one destroyed on the ramp at Barksdale AFB by an explosion and fire in Sept 1987, and a mechanic working on it at the time, lost his life. It was the only KC10 of the 60 built that has been lost.

Hope this works...when it comes to "cyber space", I'm 1 % Cyber and 99% SPACE!


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[SteveC]

Howdy you old fart!

:bandit:

 

[MikeD]

How you doin Jon?

 

[avi8tor]

Jon, good to see you around again.

 

[mooneyguy]

Great video, thanks for sharing!

 

[Area 5150]

Hey Jon, good to see you post again. You are in my area somewhere, but when I was a lurker, always enjoyed your post.

Great vid btw.

If you see Life Air Rescue zipping across the skies of Shreveport/Bossier....WAVE!!!!

 

[mshunter]

Amazing to see two -10's flying so close, so precise like that. That's gotta take some serious talent.

 

[Hacker15e]

Amazing to see two -10's flying so close, so precise like that. That's gotta take some serious talent.

Here's a shot of "whales humping" taken over in Afghanistan:

 

[futurepilot1]

Awesome vid...the F-15 has always been my favorite fighter. Just beautiful.:clap:

 

[mshunter]

Here's a shot of "whales humping" taken over in Afghanistan:

Why do they do this anyways? It's a tanker, don't they already carry enough fuel?

 

[Hacker15e]

Why do they do this anyways? It's a tanker, don't they already carry enough fuel?

In this case, it was a tanker who showed up to cover a vul time, so the out-going tanker was offloading his 'extra' fuel to the new guy.

There's actually more to it than this, too. When I showed up at the tanker track, the first KC-10 was taking a load (sts) from a KC-135, and then that '10 passed that consolidated fuel on to the new guy.

 

[mooneyguy]

Here's a shot of "whales humping" taken over in Afghanistan:

Now hook up an F-15 to the guy on bottom and I would be impressed
I do like the old paint job much better than the current style!

 

[mooneyguy]

In this case, it was a tanker who showed up to cover a vul time, so the out-going tanker was offloading his 'extra' fuel to the new guy.

There's actually more to it than this, too. When I showed up at the tanker track, the first KC-10 was taking a load (sts) from a KC-135, and then that '10 passed that consolidated fuel on to the new guy.

Hacker, how long does it take to take on a full load of fuel in a 15 and what is the capacity?

 

[MikeD]

Now hook up an F-15 to the guy on bottom and I would be impressed
I do like the old paint job much better than the current style!

There was an incident in Vietnam where a KC-135 was refueling a Navy KA-3 Skywarrior, who himself was refueling another Navy plane at the time.

 

[Hacker15e]

Hacker, how long does it take to take on a full load of fuel in a 15 and what is the capacity?

Depends on the configuration.

Normal training configuration is with internal and CFT fuel only, and that is 23K pounds.

With two external tanks, that's about 32K pounds.

I'd have to dig out my Dash 1 to give you the exact numbers, but it's something on the order of 2,000# to 3,000# per minute of transfer.

Typically 10 minutes of on-the-boom time for a complete topoff in combat configuration.

 

[mooneyguy]

Depends on the configuration.

Normal training configuration is with internal and CFT fuel only, and that is 23K pounds.

With two external tanks, that's about 32K pounds.

I'd have to dig out my Dash 1 to give you the exact numbers, but it's something on the order of 2,000# to 3,000# per minute of transfer.

Typically 10 minutes of on-the-boom time for a complete topoff in combat configuration.

wow, so upwards to 438 gpm. that's a pretty good flow. impressive.

another question if you don't mind. once your on-the-boom, do you hand fly it, or are you on auto pilot?
thanks for the info.

 

[Swen]

The old fart returns!

And a good share...thanks.

 

[MikeD]

another question if you don't mind. once your on-the-boom, do you hand fly it, or are you on auto pilot?
thanks for the info.

autopilot? Bite your tongue mister......

 

[Hacker15e]

once your on-the-boom, do you hand fly it, or are you on auto pilot?

It's just plain old school formation flying, hands on.

Which can get quite exciting at night...with the lights out....in a combat zone (and no NVGs).

 

[Orange Anchor]

There was an incident in Vietnam where a KC-135 was refueling a Navy KA-3 Skywarrior, who himself was refueling another Navy plane at the time.

More than just one A-3. The tanker was dragging a basket because it was being escorted by F-104s which did not have a receptacle. Meanwhile TWO A-3s were hurting for fuel and a request went out for anyone with fuel. The A-3s had some fuel they could give away but little left before they flamed out. The tanker crew responded.

The two A-3s cycled on and off the tanker but like the commercial, WAIT! There's more. Two F-4s showed up also scosh on fuel. They refueled off the A-3s which were refueling off the tanker. And the -104s had to also cycle. In all 14 airplanes were refueled, 50,000lbs off loaded and now the tanker was below bingo for its base in Thailand. It recovered into Danang with just 10,000lbs which for a tanker was very low (my personal record was less than 6,000lbs after a SAR mission but that's another story)

The crew was awarded the McCay Trophy in 1968.