-AVIATION PHOTOGRAPHER-
-U.S. SUBMARINE SERVICE VETERAN-
DEL LAUGHERY
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Aerial Refueling Photos
I've always admired people who transfer jet fuel from one flying aircraft to another. They see their job as unremarkable, like most military people I believe, but the process astounds me. So here are some of my favorite aerial refueling photos.
Click any photo to see a larger version of it.
Early-model B-52 with gear down to slow the aircraft behind a KC-97.
May, 1970, photo of a KC-135 topping off an F-4.
May, 1963, photo of P&W-powered RF-101C, serial 56-0079 on her way to SE Asia as seen from the right seat of a P&W-powered KC-135A. She would be attached to the 363rd Tactical Recon Wing once in country. The F-101 would be written off two years later after suffering battle damage to her rudder controls during a recon mission over North Vietnam and an emergency landing at RTAFB Ubon, Thailand, which caused further damage. Fortunately, the pilot, LtCol Ray Lowery, escaped with minor injuries.
The view from a C-5A of a KC-135A during the early 1970s.
May, 1963, refueling of B-47E, serial 52-0216, by a Fairchild AFB KC-135.
Mid-1990s view of RNLAF KDC-10 refueling an F-16A.
Mid-2022 photo of KC-10A, serial 86-0029.
F-15E, serial 00-3000, gets gas over the desert.
Check that reflection!