Photo By Sean Cowher | A B-52 is refueled by a 117 Air Refueling Wing KC-135 during an incentive flight...... read more read more
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HOUSTON, Texas - Most military spouses and civilians don’t get the opportunity to experience military life as service members do.
They don’t wear the same outfit every day or get the same haircut every 2 weeks.
They’ve never known the familiar smell of an aircraft burning fuel or know how uncomfortable it is to sit extremely upright for a very long military flight overseas to a deployment zone.
The wing commander for the 147th Reconnaissance Wing in Houston, Col. Terrance Winkler, decided to arrange an incentive flight to help give people the opportunity to experience at least a few of those things and for some civilian bosses to get a better understanding of what their employees do on their guard weekends.
With the help of a few neighboring units, the idea took flight.
Approximately 30 spouses, 40 civilians and 70 service members were selected to participate in seven incentive flights on a KC-135R, a refueling aircraft from the 117th Air Refueling Wing in the Alabama Air National Guard. The 138th Fighter Wing, Oklahoma Air National Guard, provided four F-16’s to be refueled during the 2-hour flights. A B-52 Stratofortress from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana was also provided.
The civilian and spouse participants were selected based on nominations from co-workers, military significant others and whether they had ever flown or not.
“Unfortunately, there weren’t enough seats for kids, relatives, etc.,” said Lt. Col. Roland Dansereau, the project officer in charge of the flights. “As for the troops, I had researched the wing population and equated a ratio per group.”
“There is a brand new requirement for a medical evaluation to be done,” said Dansereau. “But the Medical Group worked out a solution with no example to go off of. Special thanks to them and many others!”
“My husband told me about the opportunity to go on the flight,” said Mrs. Judi Strotkamp, wife of Capt. Timothy Strotkamp. “And I jumped at the chance! He’s been flying for years, both as a military member and a civilian, so it was very exciting to be able to share that with him.”
The fuel is pumped through a flying boom, the KC-135’s primary fuel transfer method. One crewmember, known as the boom operator, is stationed in the rear of the plane and controls the boom during in-flight refueling.
Each passenger was able to lie down in the boom pod on either side of the boom operator and watch the aircraft dock for refueling.
“I was really excited to go on this flight, and excited for my wife to see what air refueling was like,” said Capt. Timothy Strotkamp, who is prior aircrew on an RC-135 and has been on the receiving end of aerial refueling many times. “I’ve shown her many pictures and videos, but it doesn’t come close to the real thing.”
“The experience was definitely one of the most exciting things I’ve ever been able to do,” said Mrs. Strotkamp.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Airman 1st Class Diana Patino, who was accompanied by her spouse on the flight. “I’ve only seen it in pictures. It was more than I expected and very cool.”
“When I was on the flight I thought it was an amazing experience,” said Mrs. Katy Cave, the wife of Staff Sgt. Michael Cave. “Being so close to the F-16’s while in flight was a lot of fun, and I would definitely do it again.”
“Some passengers seemed nervous, seeing as this was their first time,” said Senior Airman Evan Harwood, who volunteered to help out from the 106th Air Refueling Squadron and has been a boom operator for two years. “I tried to make everyone feel comfortable and tell them fun facts about the plane and my job. I had many conversations with the passengers explaining things about the world of aerial refueling.”
“I’ve only ever flown commercially, so this was very different,” said Mrs. Strotkamp. “To be very honest, I was nervous about the flight. I guess because I didn’t know what to expect with the configuration of the seats, the noise level, it was all so foreign to me.”
“Every flight people were asking tons of questions about everything,” said Staff Sgt. Jacob Nenneman who volunteered to help out from the 99th Air Refueling Squadron, and has been a boom operator for seven years. “The jet, how long we could fly, where the fuel is stored and how we actually refuel and stay connected with the receivers. They all seemed to love going up with us, they took tons of pictures and videos of everything.”
The KC-135R was first deployed in August of 1956 and has been in use ever since. The maximum amount of transfer fuel it can carry is 200,000 pounds and under special conditions, it can refuel two aircraft simultaneously. It flies with a crew of three: pilot, copilot and boom operator. A navigator is included when the missions dictates.
“Everyone we showed the pictures to and told about it was jealous,” said Capt. Strotkamp.
“I absolutely would volunteer to do it again,” said Nenneman. “It’s a great opportunity for us to show people what we do and what we are capable of.”
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.07.2014 12:04 |
| Story ID: | 144491 |
| Location: | HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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