CoolPix: What A View Looking Up At The 434th ARW KC-135 From The 445th AW C-17!

(click pic for hi-res) My view from the cockpit of the C-17 as we took on 20,000 pounds

 I had a perfect day riding along in a C-17 Globemaster III from the 445th AW out of Wright-Patterson AFB as it was refueled by my Indiana friends in a KC-135 from the 434th ARW based at Grissom ARB. Both aircraft departed WPAFB before noon today and then we met up over Kentucky to pump some petrol. YeeHaw! It was aswesome!

 The KC-135 would normally have been operating out of Grissom in north central Indiana but runway work there has the 434th temporarily flying out of Wright-Patterson in Dayton Ohio. This presented the unique opportunity to have both aircraft carrying about 8 media representatives each. Typically only aircraft at a time would have guests like this onboard. It was an incredible opportunity to see Air Force reserve personnel at work... and just like back in 2010 when I rode in a 434th KC-135, everyone today represented the United States and the Air Force at the highest level of professionalism and performance. I am very impressed! 

 I captured lots of images and quite a bit of video on the 3-hour flight but I only have the energy tonight to share this one great CoolPix image. Each of us on the flight had several opportunities to view the refueling action from inside the C-17 cockpit, which is quite roomy actually, and this pic is from the eyebrow window above the left seat. The boom extends back over the cockpit to the refueling receptacle which puts us very close to the KC-135! That sight looking up is, as you should imagine, totally stunning.

 I hope you enjoy this pic (remember to click it to open it up, and then click the image again to make it even bigger) and then watch in a week or so as I put together a lengthy and detailed post about being right there for the inflight refueling exercise.

 A huge Thank You to everyone involved for allowing us to come along and see such excellent work in progress!

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