Fuelers get Hoyt Award
Marine_7002 sends us a link to the story of three crew members of a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker who earned the Hoyt Award, named for Brigadier General Ross G. Hoyt, who took part in experimental refueling flights in 1929. It’s given every year for outstanding service by an aerial-refueling crew among the 400 crews that do that dangerous job. Captains Benjamin Oatley and James Quon, and Master Sergeant Jarrett Crawford had just finished fueling some aircraft over Syria when they noticed an A-10 which had lost an engine;
The three-person crew of a KC-135 tanker, from Scott Air Force Base, had just completed an in-air refueling when the ground-attack jet’s left engine disintegrated.
The tanker crew stayed within view of the A-10 at an unusually low altitude for more than an hour, arranged for escort from other fighters and supervised its safe landing at Al Asad in northern Iraq.
That American-occupied forward base is north of Ramadi and, at the time, was within territory claimed by the Islamic State and subject to occasional attack. Air Force and Marines personnel repaired the Warthog, which was flown to a secure base five days later.
I don’t need to tell you how much guts it takes to fly a 31,000 gallon gas can over enemy air space at a low altitude, but these three did just that to help a fellow pilot get home that night.
Category: Air Force
The fact they did it in an aircraft that old is also noteworthy. The KC 135’s replaced the KC 50’s which were converted B-29’s. I used to hitch rides on 135’s in the early 70’s. Our country has all kinds of money to give away at the Chump in Chief’s whim but not to upgrade what our military needs to perform the mission.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!
Don’t forget the KC-97’s. They handled a bunch of refueling during Vietnam.
My dad flew the KC-135 for the majority of his Air Force career, including a couple of Vietnam tours. It’s only been the past few years when I learned just how dangerous it was.
Real pilots. Real guts. Damn.
Congrats ! ! ! !
Isn’t Al Asad in western Iraq, I was trapped there for a while
The KC is similar to the EC-135 I flew on back in the day. KCs are flying gas stations and are based on the 707 airframe. Not as old as the B-52s but close.
Boeing built the jet engine called the Dash-80 with the hopes that the USAF would buy them to replace their KC-47 fleet since the bombers were going jet. After the demo flight (Test pilot Tex Johnson rolled the aircraft) the USAF agreed to purchase the aircraft with some minor modifications. Then Pan Am decided to buy the aircraft if Boeing could make I wider and longer. Note: Boeing built the Dash 80 unfunded.
The brass one those guys is going to affect the weight and balance of the aircraft.
The brass on those guys is going to affect the weight and balance of the aircraft.
Compare to the twinks who need a safe space. I am humbled by men and women such as this.
Refuelers, pajama boys need not apply.
Nicely done men, nicely done indeed.
It’s the 707, Tex Johnson did a barrel roll with one of these in 1955. Geez, that’s over 60 years ago.