The General Dynamics FB-111A was designed to penetrate Soviet Russia at low altitude in any weather with nuclear weapons. The two empty wing pylons carried nuclear bombs or missiles when the FBs sat in Pease Air Force Base’s Nuclear Alert Facility. KC-135s were ready to refuel them on their Strategic Air Command attack missions. Courtesy of the author

Proof water does burn: Two KC-135s perform a wet thrust minimum interval takeoff (MITO) with clouds of engine smoke from their water-burning Pratt & Whitney J57 engines. Being number two or three in a five-aircraft wet MITO takeoff was intense but one of my favorite memories of flying “Water Wagons.” Photo courtesy Department of Defense

An F-16D from the 416th Flight Test Squadron approaches my crew’s KC-135 during a business effort to Edwards Air Force Base in California. KC-135 business efforts provided critical refueling support for test and training activities, such as this F-16D testing the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system, housed in the dark-gray pod on the bottom of the aircraft. LANTIRN allows F-16s to direct laser-guided bombs and to navigate through bad weather. Courtesy of the author

A common KC-135 business effort is providing refueling training for airlift aircrews like the one flying this Lockheed C-141B Starlifter connected to my crew’s KC-135 in A/R 400 over Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas. A Starlifter transported the National Transportation Safety Board’s Go Team to Guam after Korean Air Flight 801 crashed in August 1997. Courtesy of the author

A Boeing E-3B Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft of the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron refuels in the MOBILE 8 anchor off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. Tanker crews deployed to Riyadh Air Base in the 1980s to refuel the AWACS during European Liaison Force (ELF) One, defending Saudi Arabia from potential attack by Iraqi or Iranian aircraft during their eight-year war. Courtesy of the author

Some “air messes” are more humorous than others. SHELL 46’s round refueling nozzle can be clearly seen in STALLION 61’s open receptacle above the engine intake. The brute-force disconnect with this Royal Saudi Air Force F-15C shook the entire airplane. Courtesy of the author

My Desert Shield crew flies this KC-135 during a refueling mission over the Red Sea. You can see that the boom is down and trailing the drogue, which US Navy fighters and attack and jamming aircraft plug into for fuel. The larger hose can transfer one thousand pounds per minute. Courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Dave “Hey Joe” Parsons

You can clearly see Lieutenant Commander Parsons in the rear seat of GYPSY 200 taking pictures of me while I take pictures of him on a MiG combat air patrol over the USS John F. Kennedy and USS Saratoga in the Red Sea, December 1990. Courtesy of the author

Lieutenant Commander Parsons took this picture while refueling from the “Iron Maiden,” the nickname Navy aircrews gave the KC-135’s drogue because of its unforgiving nature. A “basket slap” by the 250-pound Iron Maiden could destroy the canopy or remove the refueling probe from a Navy or Allied fighter plane. Courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Dave “Hey Joe” Parsons

The refueling community owes a debt of gratitude to the British company Flight Refueling Ltd. (FRL), now Cobham plc. FRL continued to improve air refueling technology and processes from World War II through the Korean War, and now a majority of the world’s receivers refuel from a drogue. This F-14 Tomcat, call sign CAMELOT 111, is connected to the boom drogue adapter attached to the boom’s nozzle, its probe plugged into the red Iron Maiden basket. Courtesy of the author

Air Force tankers could not refuel the large number of Navy fighters going into Iraq during Desert Storm. The “hose multiplier” concept, providing additional contact points for fuel transfer, was implemented to refuel more aircraft faster. The KA-6D flying beyond the KC-135 acts as a second tanker and contact point, refilling its own tanks by plugging into the Iron Maiden when low on gas. Photo courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Dave “Hey Joe” Parsons

Every 909th Young Tiger Air Refueling Squadron aircrew is trained in a number of refueling techniques, one of which supports Special Operations Forces throughout Asia. My crew is performing low-altitude air refueling (LAAR) with this Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130 Combat Talon II a few thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean. 909th aircrews supported 353rd Special Operations Group MC-130s during exercises and real-world SOF missions at low altitude; it was one of the most fun refueling missions I ever flew. Courtesy of the author

My crew flew Technical Sergeant Vonnie Petersen’s KC-135A, tail number 63-8019, nicknamed “Rolling Thunder,” on the opening night of Desert Storm in support of PooBah’s Party, the destruction of Iraq’s air-defense network. This picture was taken several days after the opening night; the nine Aladdin’s lamps signified the number of missions Rolling Thunder had flown since Desert Storm began. Courtesy of the author

Two F-4G Advanced Wild Weasels from Colonel George “John Boy” Walton’s 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron wait to refuel from my crew’s tanker in the BERRY POST refueling area, fifteen miles south of the Iraqi border, during Desert Storm. FALSTAFF 43 and 44, pictured here, defended thirty-­two F-16s from SAMs as they attacked the airfields of western Iraq. Courtesy of the author

Three F-16s of the PUG flight head toward Saudi Arabia on our wing with only minutes of fuel left in their tanks, anxiously waiting to hook up to my KC-135. None of the twenty-four F-16s would have made it out of Iraq without our four Jeddah-based KC-135s flying miles into Iraqi airspace to pick them up. One PUG F-16 pilot told our boom operator we had one chance to connect or he would have to eject; he had only eight minutes of gas left in his tanks. Courtesy of the author

While deployed to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, my crew refueled this KC-10 Extender, or “Gucci Bird,” as it dragged four F-4E Phantom IIs from a Stateside base to Australia for a joint exercise. CORONETS, movements of fighter aircraft from the States to overseas bases, require strings of tankers across thousands of miles, with many of the fighters flying fifteen-hour sorties to get to their destinations. Courtesy of the author