A Day in the life of a Boom Operator...Part 2- The PICS!!!

Wow boomer, some fantastic pics! Thanks for posting them, can't wait to see the bombers

reply to post by boomer135


I thought the F-117 was retired in 2008? Apparently not?

reply to post by Bearack


A very small number were kept flying for a couple years, it's believed to test foreign radar systems in IS hands.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Bearack

 

A very small number were kept flying for a couple years, it's believed to test foreign radar systems in IS hands.

Ah, makes sense. The modern day Wild Weasels

reply to post by Bearack


The thinking is that they were actually testing follow on stealth against them. Possibly seeing how the last F-117 RAM change worked, then testing something new. That's what I heard from a few places anyway.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I noticed, at least in the images from the OP, that they modified the air intake on the 117's from their original versions so definitely could see your point.

These pictures are amazing. Looks like you had an awesome job up there. Anyway just wanted to save this thread and S&F .
Out of all the planes you refuelled, which would you most liked to have piloted?

Originally posted by Zaphod58

The reason that it was special is because that was the first time that it had ever been seen on an F-16. It was on larger aircraft prior to that IIRC, but again, if I'm remembering correctly, it wasn't an EW pod.

Nope it's an ALQ 188 variant.

You have to prove me wrong by showing something closer and better, you can't just blow it off.

I know what I am talking about. Otherwise, show me wrong. I'd be very happy about that actually because I'd like to learn the specs of this pod.

Originally posted by boomer135

HAHA! Havent heard that one but I'm with ya now. LOL wrong hole. Actually...Early days of OIF...

Look at the F-117

Yah, that's the one. I saw your pics and was "ok, which is the refueling port", then I started noticing other possible places on other planes. It seemed like the sort of thing you could get wrong at least once...

off topic - the "she was yellin' WAHOO! all night" "Oh, in Creek it just means 'wrong hole'" joke goes back to before 1917, it was in a local newspaper as an 'oldie'.

Awesome pics, looks like a fun day at the office.

Originally posted by boomer135

BOMBERS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

edit on 23-5-2013 by boomer135 because: (no reason given)

Lancers please!

Oh and any U-2 variants? Or still classified?
I bet classified.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
you can't just blow it off.

I'm not blowing anything off. I simply don't remember the discussion about it that well, as it was awhile ago. About the only thing that I remember is that this was the first time an F-16 carried it.

reply to post by muzzleflash


The U-2 inflight refueling capability has been known about for awhile now, only it was a very small handful of aircraft. There's even video of it online that's pretty easy to find. It was rarely used both because of the difficulty, and because of the pilot endurance with the range increase.

Originally posted by Bearack
reply to post by boomer135

 

I thought the F-117 was retired in 2008? Apparently not?

It was. But they still fly them. Everyone keep in mind these were all taken before 2006 as thats when I got out of the Air Force.

Originally posted by Bearack
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

I noticed, at least in the images from the OP, that they modified the air intake on the 117's from their original versions so definitely could see your point.

I don't know about that. They are all from the early 2000's. Although I'll admit I don't know too much about the intakes of the F-117.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
These pictures are amazing. Looks like you had an awesome job up there. Anyway just wanted to save this thread and S&F .
Out of all the planes you refuelled, which would you most liked to have piloted?

edit on 23-5-2013 by woodwardjnr because: (no reason given)

I won instructor boom of the year for my wing in 2004 and they gave me an incentive flight on board an F-16 trainer from the Fargo guard guys, so I got to pilot that around on a limited bases. I was able to do a barrel roll, but that was about it. Its amazing how fast those aircraft go! Having said that, I think I would want to fly either the F-22 or the YF-23 cause I would love to see the power that those have.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by Zaphod58

The reason that it was special is because that was the first time that it had ever been seen on an F-16. It was on larger aircraft prior to that IIRC, but again, if I'm remembering correctly, it wasn't an EW pod.

Nope it's an ALQ 188 variant.

You have to prove me wrong by showing something closer and better, you can't just blow it off.

I know what I am talking about. Otherwise, show me wrong. I'd be very happy about that actually because I'd like to learn the specs of this pod.

AN/AAQ-33. SNIPER pod. At the time it was still classified to be shown on the F-16. I've talked about this before on another thread. It's the only time I got a phone call from the men in black about why I was showing a pic of the pod on a plane while it was still classified. The cool thing is that they were really cool about it. They remined me of my NDA and asked that I refrain from posting anymore pics of it until a time designated in the future and asked that I keep the pics to myself. If I could not abide by their wishes, then they would take further action. I guess it was one of those things that wasn't a big deal, yet big enough to ask me to take the pics down.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by boomer135

BOMBERS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

edit on 23-5-2013 by boomer135 because: (no reason given)

Lancers please!

Oh and any U-2 variants? Or still classified?
I bet classified.

Yes I have plenty of BONE pics. I'll get to them later today. As for the U-2, they started refueling them way before my time and realized that it was extremely hard to refuel them cause of the speed and altitude. And yes I left off all aircraft I have pics of that are still classified. Most are one off tech demonstrators, however there's a couple of pics of operational aircraft that having gone white or grey yet. Some members of ATS have had the priveledge of seeing already.


I have a bunch of videos that i'll have to download to youtube or something in order to embed them here on ATS so I'll try doing that soon as well. Right now I'm turning my carport into a room/office for my computer business atm.

So if anyone needs a computer, anywhere ranging from a couple hundred to a couple thousand for a gaming computer, U2U me what your looking for and I can quote you a price. I do work with paypal so your transaction is guaranteed, and as soon as i get the money in hand you will have your newly built computer shipped out in 48 hours. Also, I have "old harddrives full of movies, music, games, programs, etc" that I can "add" to your computer! On top of that I now drive trains for a living. damn I'm getting too old for this shyte!

Thanks for the pics! My 9 year old son thinks its awesome.

Awesome pictures! However, they give me horrific flashbacks of playing Top Gun on the NES from years ago... Those refueling missions were next to impossible!

reply to post by boomer135


The F-14 is one of my favorite fighters of all time.
Too bad they are retired.
A stealth version would of been nice to see.

BOMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

B-52 and B-1

B-52 at almost 90 degree bank during A/R.



















I'll have to find the rest. Not sure where they ran off to.

HEAVY'S TOMORROW!!!

AND SOME VID'S!

Neat planes. I'm surprised to see the F-14 up there. I thought all the Navy planes used the drogue system (the thing that looks like an oversized shuttlecock/birdie and used so other carrier based planes can provide refueling), instead of hooking up to the nozzle or whatever it's called. Although I suppose your plane has those too. (I guess you mostly watch in those cases?)

Also any drones able to refuel in flight? I don't see why some of the bigger ones like Global Hawk couldn't. (Yet I could see where it might be somewhat nerve wracking when the pilot flying a glorified R/C plane has a bit less at stake than you do.)

reply to post by boomer135


Since you're doing bombers, I'm going to hijack your thread for a little video fun.

Ten aircraft B-52 MITO from Minot.