On 3 June, 22:01, Peter Twydell wrote:
In message
,
Charles Talleyrand writes





On Jun 3, 12:57 pm, Peter Twydell wrote:
In message
,
Charles Talleyrand writesWhen was the first
modern air-air refueling? By modern I mean
"compatible with a modern tanker/receiver (either boom or hose)".

This question seems to be tricky, in that many of the early systems
would not be compatible with a modern airplane.

AFAIK Flight Refuelling Ltd was the pioneer in probe and drogue systems.

http://www.cobham75.com/cobham-the-c...r-to-air-refue....
g-takes-off.aspx

That's true. *But the early work by them was using the "loop" method,
and a modern F-18 could not hook up. *The early KC-29s were also
incompatible.

Yes, the early work was the loop method, as the article says. Read it
carefully and you'll see that they developed the probe and drogue
system, which is one of the two modern systems. The latest versions
might well differ from the early ones, but the principle is the same. FR
(now Cobham) have always been at the forefront, so it's probably them in
any case.







For bonus points, when was the first carrier based refueling done?
Both the tanker and receiver must be carrier based, but the buddy
system works.

Possibly FR again.

I have seen (a few decades ago) a picture of a mixed bunch of a number
of aircraft in line using the buddy system. ISTR there was a Sea Vixen,
a Buccaneer and an A-3 or A-4, maybe more. Anyone know the photo?

I do know that an A-1 Skyraider could buddy refuel, but I don't know
when this was developed.

There is something I don't understand though. *I cannot imagine an A-1
offloading more than 8,000 pounds of fuel (wild guess based on gross
and empty weight). *How much fuel did a jet of that era use. *It
doesn't seem productive to me, so I figure I must be missing
something.

Depends how much the receiver needs, I suppose. Enough to get you back
to the carrier would do.

-Randy

--
Peter

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Did they not develop a system to refuel Tiger Force Lancasters/
Lincolns for the assault on Japan?

Guy