Whereas U.S. Air Drive’s jets and bombers are the nation’s fight-tonight pressure, aerial refueling earlier than and after these forces go into the struggle is usually the important thing to these missions.
On the one hundredth anniversary of the primary aerial refueling mission, the Air Drive sought to focus on the behind-the-scenes efforts of a few of its most important planes with Operation Centennial Contact. Greater than 150 tankers from 26 installations have been concerned in large-scale flyovers throughout the nation.
All 50 states have been initially slated to have flyovers, however climate situations pressured some models to regulate their flight paths and schedules.
Air Mobility Command’s tankers enable sorties to go on at size with restricted interruption—from fighter fight air patrols and intercontinental bomber missions to conserving the E-4B “Doomsday Aircraft” within the skies.
“As we speak’s U.S. Air Drive air refueling capabilities ship unmatched fast world attain for U.S. forces and our Allies and companions all through the globe,” Air Mobility Command stated in a information launch. “Aerial refueling serves as a pressure multiplier, growing the pace, vary, lethality, flexibility, and flexibility of fight plane.”
In accordance with the Air Drive, the primary aerial refueling occurred on June 27, 1923, with aviators from the Military Air Service, the Air Drive’s predecessor.
“On that day, 1st Lt. Virgil Hine and 1st Lt. Frank W. Seifert, flying a DH-4B, handed gasoline by means of a gravity hose to a different DH-4B piloted by Capt. Lowell H. Smith and 1st Lt. John P. Richter, carrying out the primary aerial refueling,” the AMC launch said.
To spotlight what has turned from an experiment into one thing that’s now a “essential functionality” to the Division of Protection’s operations, Air Mobility Command had its fleet of tankers—from the Nineteen Fifties-era KC-135 Stratotankers to KC-10 Extenders and the latest KC-46 Pegasus showcase their mission. The taking part models have been intensive, in line with an AMC spokesperson:
- 97th Air Mobility Wing (Altus Air Drive Base, Okla)
- 459th Air Refueling Wing (Joint Base Andrews, Md.)
- a hundred and first Air Refueling Wing (Bangor Air Nationwide Guard Base, Maine.)
- 117th Air Refueling Wing (Sumpter Smith Joint Nationwide Guard Base, Birmingham, Ala.)
- 168th Wing (Eielson Air Drive Base, Alaska)
- 92nd Air Refueling Wing (Fairchild Air Drive Base, Wash.)
- one hundred and ninetieth Air Refueling Wing (Forbes Air Nationwide Guard Base, Kan.)
- 434th Air Refueling Wing (Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind.)
- 154th Air Refueling Wing (Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii)
- a hundred and fifty fifth Air Refueling Wing (Lincoln Air Nationwide Guard Base, Neb.)
- 189 Air Refueling Wing (Little Rock Air Drive Base, Ark.)
- sixth Air Refueling Wing (MacDill Air Drive Base, Fla.)
- 452nd Air Mobility Wing (March Air Reserve Base, Calif.)
- twenty second Air Refueling Wing (McConnell Air Drive Base, Kan)
- 134th Air Refueling Wing (McGhee Tyson Air Nationwide Guard Base, Tenn.)
- 305 Air Mobility Wing (Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.)
- sixtieth Air Mobility Wing (Travis Air Drive Base, Texas)
- 186th Air Refueling Wing (Key Discipline, Miss.)
- 128 Air Refueling Wing (Basic Mitchell Air Nationwide Guard Base, Wis.)
- 151th Air Refueling Wing (Roland R. Wright Air Nationwide Guard Base, Utah.)
“Air refueling propels our Nation’s air energy throughout the skies, unleashing its full potential,“ Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan stated in a information launch. “It connects our strategic imaginative and prescient with operational actuality, making certain we will attain any nook of the globe with unwavering pace and precision.”
The Air Drive is hoping to rethink aerial refueling but once more, with a next-generation air refueling system (NGAS) and extra KC-46s changing KC-135s that entered the fleet nearer to that first aerial refueling than at this time. Whereas flying a few of the Air Drive’s growing old refueling plane over the skies of the U.S., the AMC additionally needed to point out why it must plan for the longer term and recapitalize the tanker fleet to “stay related within the present and future safety environments,” the command stated.
A KC-135R from the 171st Aerial Refueling Wing flies in formation with a EC130J from the 193rd Particular Operations Wing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2023. U.S. Air Nationwide Guard photograph by Senior Airman Diana Snyder
U.S. Air Drive Col. Gordon Frankenfield, 193rd Particular Operations Group commander, participates in a formation flight with a KC-135R Stratotanker from the 171st Aerial Refueling WIng over Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2023. U.S. Air Nationwide Guard photograph by Senior Airman Diana Snyder
Airmen with the sixth Upkeep Squadron apply a decal on a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the sixth Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Drive Base, Florida, June 22, 2023. The art work was designed for Operation Centennial Contact, a mission celebrating how air refueling has contributed to world air energy for 100 years. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Sterling Sutton
A pirate decal is proven on a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the sixth Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Drive Base, Florida, June 22, 2023. Airmen assigned to the sixth Upkeep Squadron ready the decal for Operation Centennial Contact, an operation celebrating how air refueling has contributed to world air energy for 100 years. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Sterling Sutton
Airmen with the sixth Upkeep Squadron apply a decal on a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the sixth Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Drive Base, Florida, June 22, 2023. The art work was designed for Operation Centennial Contact, a mission celebrating how air refueling has contributed to world air energy for 100 years. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Sterling Sutton
A KC-135 Stratotanker from Fairchild Air Drive Base takes off from the flightline as a part of Operation Centennial Contact at Fairchild Air Drive Base, Washington, June 27, 2023. The motion, which included stops at Yellowstone Nationwide Park, Mount Rushmore and Glacier Nationwide Park, was a part of Air Mobility Command’s celebration of 100 years air refueling operations and demonstrated the 92nd Air Refueling Wing’s world attain capabilities. Since its inception in 1923, Air refueling has develop into an important element of army and civilian aviation operations around the globe by extending the vary and endurance of plane and enabling them to finish missions that might in any other case be not possible or require a number of stops. In consequence, this functionality is important for strategic and tactical operations, in addition to humanitarian reduction efforts in help of AMC, U.S. Transportation Command and Division of Protection priorities. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Clare Werner
KC-135 Stratotankers assigned to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing and the 141st Air Refueling Wing taxi into place earlier than minimum-interval takeoffs as a part of Operation Centennial Contact at Fairchild Air Drive Base, Washington, June 27, 2023. The motion, which included stops at Yellowstone Nationwide Park, Mount Rushmore and Glacier Nationwide Park, was a part of Air Mobility Command’s celebration of 100 years air refueling operations and demonstrated the 92nd Air Refueling Wing’s world attain capabilities. Since its inception in 1923, Air refueling has develop into an important element of army and civilian aviation operations around the globe by extending the vary and endurance of plane and enabling them to finish missions that might in any other case be not possible or require a number of stops. In consequence, this functionality is important for strategic and tactical operations, in addition to humanitarian reduction efforts in help of AMC, U.S. Transportation Command and Division of Protection priorities. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Clare Werner
A KC-135 Stratotanker from Fairchild Air Drive Base takes off from the flightline as a part of Operation Centennial Contact at Fairchild Air Drive Base, Washington, June 27, 2023. The motion, which included stops at Yellowstone Nationwide Park, Mount Rushmore and Glacier Nationwide Park, was a part of Air Mobility Command’s celebration of 100 years air refueling operations and demonstrated the 92nd Air Refueling Wing’s world attain capabilities. Since its inception in 1923, Air refueling has develop into an important element of army and civilian aviation operations around the globe by extending the vary and endurance of plane and enabling them to finish missions that might in any other case be not possible or require a number of stops. In consequence, this functionality is important for strategic and tactical operations, in addition to humanitarian reduction efforts in help of AMC, U.S. Transportation Command and Division of Protection priorities. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Clare Werner
KC-135 Stratotankers assigned to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing and the 141st Air Refueling Wing taxi into place earlier than minimum-interval takeoffs as a part of Operation Centennial Contact at Fairchild Air Drive Base, Washington, June 27, 2023. The motion, which included stops at Yellowstone Nationwide Park, Mount Rushmore and Glacier Nationwide Park, was a part of Air Mobility Command’s celebration of 100 years air refueling operations and demonstrated the 92nd Air Refueling Wing’s world attain capabilities. Since its inception in 1923, Air refueling has develop into an important element of army and civilian aviation operations around the globe by extending the vary and endurance of plane and enabling them to finish missions that might in any other case be not possible or require a number of stops. In consequence, this functionality is important for strategic and tactical operations, in addition to humanitarian reduction efforts in help of AMC, U.S. Transportation Command and Division of Protection priorities. U.S. Air Drive photograph by Airman 1st Class Clare Werner
A KC-135R from the 171st Aerial Refueling Wing flies in formation with a EC130J from the 193rd Particular Operations Wing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2023. U.S. Air Nationwide Guard photograph by Senior Airman Diana Snyder
