Fred181

Here's some photos that I have taken while working. (I'm an inflight refueling specialist in the Air National Guard)

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/F15E.jpg"img>
US Air Force F-15E

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/F16.jpg"img>
US Air Force F-16

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/FA18.jpg"img>
A US Marine Corps F/A-18

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/Form.jpg"img>
A Formation of US Marine F/A-18s

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/F14.JPG"img>
A US Navy F-14 (just like Top Gun!)

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/EA6.jpg"img>
A US Navy E/A-6b Prowler

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/B2.jpg"img>
US Air Force B-2 "Stealth Bomber"

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/b52.jpg"img>
US Air Force B-52 Bomber (think: Dr. Strangelove)

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/AWACS.jpg"img>
US Air Force E-3 AWACS

Sorry they aren't very big. I wasn't sure how small to make them so that I wouldn't swamp the poor dial-ups and now I 'm too lazy to make them bigger...
Except for that F-14 somehow he managed to sneak through the cracks

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

costello

thats absolutely stunning thank you so much for posting them. just beautiful

__________________
"They don't even know what it is to be a fan. Y'know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts."

-Almost Famous

amonkie

I really like those shots! I always keep the planes straight based on their tails, glad to see I was right in guessing which was which!

__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

inharmony

Amazing pics thanks for sharing.

__________________
"You can't shake hands with a clenched fist."
Ghandi

"Things do not change: We change"
Henry David Thoreau

abel

awesome!! very nice perspective

__________________
Abel
www.LifeAtF8.com

Silvy

Cool pics!
Must've been an awesome sight, the first time you saw it for real....

Prolly routine for you now, but I'd do anything to trade for a day
I esp. like the F/A-18 formation!

I would never have guessed the AWACS. The only pics I've seen of that is with a big top-mounted rotating disc.

__________________
"Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. "
- Murphy MacManus (Boondock Saints)

zenmaster10665

wow. cool pics!! thanks for giving me my Top Gun fix for the day

__________________
"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.
He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."
-Kurt Vonnegut

absorbentishe

Awesome! Not many pictures available like those. I definately appreciate them.

avhg1

Those are really wild. I can't imagine.

Fred181

You are correct about the AWACS, You just couldn't see the "radome" in that picture but you can see it here:
<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/PA020012.jpg"img

Thanks for all of the replies; it is a pretty cool job.

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

tropicdiver

Great photos! Love 'em. I'm going to the air show in Key West in a couple of weekends and I appreciate you stoking the fire. No raptor shots refueling?

__________________
Bob
Life is short. Break some rules.

Fred181

I do have a couple, but I didn't take them. I have only refueled the F-22 once a couple of years ago. At the time the Air Force was really strict about individuals taking pictures because of the various design changes and possible "classified" stuff that could be on the airplane while its going through testing so they gave us some pictures that the AF had taken. I know: lame.

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

shakran

you do realize you could make money off those right?

Put 'em in a calendar!

stonegrody

Now those are just bitchin! I'll think of these pics next time I gas up my car.

__________________

rocinante2003

WOW, thank you so much

mosha

those are some amazing pics!

Flyguy

Cool Pics

Are you based at Elison or Elmendorf?

tropicdiver

Would you mind e-mailing the F-22 photo to me? I really enjoy seeing photos of it and can't wait until it is more common place in our skies and can be seen at air shows.

__________________
Bob
Life is short. Break some rules.

Fred181

I'm at Eielson. I would much rather be at Elmendorf, but oh well...

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

SaltPork

great pics, thanks!

__________________
It was like that when I got here....I swear.

RonRyan85

Super Pictures. Please post a bigger one of the B2. (They look so wild and from
outer space.)

Rodney

Great pictures, and thanks.

Fred181

As requested: A bigger B-2

<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/B-2.JPG" img>

and a C-17
<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/C-17.JPG" img>

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

Almo

The 1st, 4th and 8th pics were specially breathtaking! I'd love to see a higher resolution of those pics.

Awesome pics!

Spanxxx

Fantastic pics! Love those mountatins below you too. Wonder where you are refueling in those last two? =) I'm sure it's some place very unpopulated from the look of it.

Thanks so much for these pics. This is one of those sites that only a handful of people in the world get to enjoy. Now, we do too.

__________________
I think that's what they mean by "nickels a day can feed a child." I thought, "How could food be so cheap over there?" It's not, they just eat nickels. - (supposedly) Peter Nguyen, internet hero

trickyy

very very nice

and as anyone who has played top gun on nintendo knows, refueling is not an easy task

nospam

Great shots! Thanks for sharing those!

GeePeeS'r

I have to say that those shots are absolutely amazing. I am a bit surprised that they let you take pics of stuff like that, but I guess it doesn't matter - there is a lot more info about all of those planes elsewhere on the net.

Thanks for sharing those here. I really do appreciate it. Now I just have to pick which one I want as my new wallpaper!

canuckguy

great pictures thanks for those!

Fred181

For those requesting high res pics...
(Don't know how long I'll be able to leave them up though due to bandwidth)
<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/F16high.JPG" img>
F-16

<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/Formhigh.JPG" img>

Formation of US Marine F/A-18 Hornets over the Pacific

<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/Formhigh2.JPG" img>

Another Formation Shot

A lot of the photos were taken over Alaska: Mts and not too many people.
While there are no restrictions on taking photos (they are all over the internet) you aren't technically supposed to do it while YOU are refueling, but I have a tripod type set up with a remote shutter.

Glad you guys like the pictures. I do this everyday so it doesn't seem quite as interesting anymore, but it beats "working" for a living I suppose.

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

skier

Holy moly! I think you have the awesomest job ever! seeing those planes so close and in the air flying next to you... it blows my mind.

Great shots, I love the stealth bomber pics so much as well as the formation ones.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

tropicdiver

Fred, can you arrange free rides in your plane for us, without us having to enlist?

How about a photo of your plane you take the photos and your office (your space on the plane where your camera is set up)?

__________________
Bob
Life is short. Break some rules.

Fred181

Sorry T.D., we do give rides to "civilians", but mostly VIPs and members of the media. The only picture I can find of the refueling position doesn't show very much, but essentially the operator (me) lies down almost on the belly of the airplane and controls the boom with the right hand using a large stick similar to one found in the front of an airplane. in the left hand is another "joystick" which extends and retracts the telescoping mechanism if that makes sense.

<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/PA020026.jpg" img>

and the KC-135R refueling a F-15C
<img src="http://www.homepage.mac.com/jvancil/.Public/fillup.jpg" img>
This picture wasn't taken by me (I know faux pau in the photo forum- my appologies). To give credit it was taken by Mark Farmer who is a photo- journalist in Anchorage. I was the boom operator that was doing the refueling in the picture if that means anything...

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

tropicdiver

Well, I'm no stinking VIP, unless you ask my daughters (does that count?) and I not a member of the media, either, so I guess I'll have to deal living vicariously thru you and your "work photo's", when the sound track of Top Gun is running thru my head.

What kind of plane / jet was Mark in while taking the photo of your tanker?

EDIT: A couple other questions popped into my mind and if the answers are classified, I understand you not answering, but how much fuel do you carry to fill the other jets / planes and is there one of those planes (the B52, perhaps) that can gobble up all the fuel you carry in one fuel trip? How many of the jets (like the F18, F16 or F15's) can you fuel when they come up in groups? How long does it take to fill one of their tanks up? I swear I'm not a spy, just curious.

__________________
Bob
Life is short. Break some rules.

Fred181

Very little is classified: Air Force Fact Sheet
We can take off at 325,000 lbs, of which 125,000lbs is airplane wt. and ~200,000lbs of fuel. A common misconception is that the entire airplane is filled with fuel. Actually the wings are full (like most planes) and sections of the "underbody" or where the baggage would be in a commercial airplane contain fuel, the inside of the plane is wide open. If you were to walk into the cargo are it would look no different than walking into a delta airlines jet except that is pretty stripped down (no seats, overhead bins etc).

We can either burn all of our fuel or we can give it all away. The max transfer rate is just over 6,500 lbs per minute (roughly 6.5lbs per gal so 1,000 gallons per minute) Big planes like bombers and cargo planes can take anywhere from 50 to 100 thousand lbs of gas at a time.

Smaller fighters take much less obviously. They normally come up to us in groups of 2 to 4 but that all is based on thier mission. They normally take off in a group and fly the whole mission like that. It takes anywhere between 2-10 minutes to fill up a fighter (depending obviously on how much gas they need) where as a I have been hooked up to a bomber for over 45 minutes.
EDIT: I think Mark was in one of the F-15s although we often fly in groups (2-3) of tankers so he could have been in another tanker.

__________________
My heart will be restless until it finds its final rest. Then they can weigh it...

craven

very nice photo

tropicdiver

Thanks for the info, Fred.

Craven, thanks for making me have to hunt for the respone.

EDIT: Fred, that was a great link you shared, also. Haven't seen that one before and it's loaded with lots of great info not only on your plane, but loads of others, also. Thanks, again. After reading about yours, it brought one more question to mind. If there was a long duration mission, would your plane be able to use the fuel it has in storage, also, that it normally has allocated for other planes / jets? I had no idea there were so many tankers in the US arsenal and perhaps they (the tankers) are strategically placed, whereas the above question is a moot point.

__________________
Bob
Life is short. Break some rules.

ARTelevision

Awesome is the word!
I'm really appreiative of your post and your service.

Thanks for your most excellent contribution to our forum.

__________________
create evolution

mosha

Those pictures still amaze me. I just got a new wallpaper

Check out the Air Force Civilian Job site and hit refresh until you get the refulling picture. Looks amazingly similar.

http://www.afciviliancareers.com/

biznatch

He already answered your question
Fred. you rock! I was never drawed to the army and all that, but the Air Force and planes and all that cool fancy stuff they do and those landscapes...wow. your job rocks. Are you happy, though? did you go through a lot to get to that level?
Also can you tell me what it's like...like is the back of your plane open (I might sound dumb and all, but i have very limited plane knowledge) or is it a transparent pane so you can see the planes your refuel? if it's open, are you attached to a harness? anything?
once again, these pictures are great.