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#11
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Considering the fact that the whole fleet of F/A-18E/F & EA-18G in
future IS NOT to refuel F-35s, but IS to refuel all F/A-18s and UAVs, I think emerging that question again is probable. By the way, I learnt it just a few weeks ago that who actually invented aerial refueling were Germans in WWII. They also thought about a winged fuel tank towed by a bomber. Quite an interesting idea. To be adopted in F/A-18s to compensate "short legs" problem?;-) Best regards, Jacek Zemlo Mike Kanze wrote: When the Prowler came into service in the early 1970s, the question in some misinformed quarters was: "How much gas can it give?" This was actually a very serious question coming from folks accustomed to operations with the Electric Whale (EKA-3B). With tanking assets at a premium, I am sure this question will resurface with the Growler if it hasn't already. |
#12
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wrote in message oups.com... Considering the fact that the whole fleet of F/A-18E/F & EA-18G in future IS NOT to refuel F-35s, but IS to refuel all F/A-18s and UAVs, I think emerging that question again is probable. By the way, I learnt it just a few weeks ago that who actually invented aerial refueling were Germans in WWII. Then you learned wrong The first inflight refuelling took place in 1921 when Wesley May, a barnstorming stuntman, strapped a five-gallon gas can to his back and stepped from the wing of his Lincoln Standard to the wing skid of a Curtis JN-4, unstrapped the can and emptied its contents into the Jenny's fuel tanks. In July of 1923, the Army Air Service, conducted the first successful air-to-air refueling that used a hose to refuel one aircraft from another and two Air Service lieutenants, John Richter and Lowell Smith, used aerial refueling to fly their de Havilland DH-4B non-stop from the Canadian border to Tijuana, Mexico, covering the 1,300 miles in twelve hours with two refuelings. The USAAC let things drop after an accident but another of the early barnstormers, Sir Alan Cobham founded Flight Refuelling Ltd and manufactured the first commercially available refuelling systems. In 1939 these were use to refuel Imperial Airways 'C' Class flying boats from FRL's Harrow tankers allowing the aircraft to cross the Atlantic non-stop. In 1945 the RAF were planning to use IFR operationally to provide its Lancaster bombers with the range to bomb Japan when the war ended. In 1948 the US Air Force purchased Flight Refuelling Ltd 'looped hose' AAR equipment for their KB29 tanker fleet and in 1949 Flight Refuelling Ltd invented the 'probe and drogue' method of AAR still used by the USN and RAF. Keith |
#13
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Anyone stationed at NAS Meridian, Mississippi, might remember the Key
brothers. Al and Fred Key took a modified Curtiss Robin aloft from Meridian's airport and kept it airborne via an improvised in-flight refueling scheme for 27 days (!) in July 1935. (Those among us who bitch about being double- or triple-cycled, or whine about 8 hour hops over Afghanistan can shut up for a while.) I remember when Fred Key died in 1971, a noteworthy event in Meridian then. Key Field, Meridian's commercial / general aviation field, is named after Al and Fred. http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/old.htm http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smi...ct97/flew.html http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/key.htm -- Mike Kanze "Experience proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no matter whether right or wrong, occupies no enviable place in life or history." - U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs "Keith W" wrote in message ... wrote in message oups.com... Considering the fact that the whole fleet of F/A-18E/F & EA-18G in future IS NOT to refuel F-35s, but IS to refuel all F/A-18s and UAVs, I think emerging that question again is probable. By the way, I learnt it just a few weeks ago that who actually invented aerial refueling were Germans in WWII. Then you learned wrong The first inflight refuelling took place in 1921 when Wesley May, a barnstorming stuntman, strapped a five-gallon gas can to his back and stepped from the wing of his Lincoln Standard to the wing skid of a Curtis JN-4, unstrapped the can and emptied its contents into the Jenny's fuel tanks. In July of 1923, the Army Air Service, conducted the first successful air-to-air refueling that used a hose to refuel one aircraft from another and two Air Service lieutenants, John Richter and Lowell Smith, used aerial refueling to fly their de Havilland DH-4B non-stop from the Canadian border to Tijuana, Mexico, covering the 1,300 miles in twelve hours with two refuelings. The USAAC let things drop after an accident but another of the early barnstormers, Sir Alan Cobham founded Flight Refuelling Ltd and manufactured the first commercially available refuelling systems. In 1939 these were use to refuel Imperial Airways 'C' Class flying boats from FRL's Harrow tankers allowing the aircraft to cross the Atlantic non-stop. In 1945 the RAF were planning to use IFR operationally to provide its Lancaster bombers with the range to bomb Japan when the war ended. In 1948 the US Air Force purchased Flight Refuelling Ltd 'looped hose' AAR equipment for their KB29 tanker fleet and in 1949 Flight Refuelling Ltd invented the 'probe and drogue' method of AAR still used by the USN and RAF. Keith |
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