Staff Sergeant Brad Love has only been on the job for a few
months. Even so, he has clocked more than 300 flight hours on some 75 missions.
But some people, he says, have more than 5,000 flight hours.
When he crawls into the boom pit (a small jump in the back
of the plane) to complete his mission (refueling B-2 bombers), Love shows no
sign of rookie nerves. “When your training kicks in there’s really no
nervousness,” he says.
Yesterday, Love had quite the crowd watching him complete that
mission. Local media were invited along for the ride, which took two KC-135R Stratotankers
from the 128th Air Refueling Wing to somewhere over southwest Kansas
and back to refuel three B-2 bombers.
The mission sounds simple enough: Refuel three planes. But
when you factor in the speed (more than 200 miles per hour), the height (more
than 30,000 feet) and the coordination it takes to fly aircraft within 30 feet
of each other, the mission takes on a more artistic bent. One crew member went
as far as to call it an aerial ballet.
The media flight kicked off Armed Forces Week, which begins
tomorrow. The 128th Air Refueling Wing (1919 E. Grange Ave.) will
hold two open houses on Saturday May 12 and Sunday May 13 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00
p.m. More information can be found here: http://armedforces.org/
Check out the photo gallery below.
