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UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
GAS STATION IN THE SKY
Passing Gas with the KC-135R Stratotanker
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AFB
REPORT and PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN ADAMS
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We've all filled up our cars with gas. It's not that difficult, right? And yet we've all either pulled up to the pump and found we were too far away to reach, or even pulled up on the wrong side of the pump. Now, try doing it while going over 300 MPH at 23,000 feet. Oh, and the gas tank? It's a speeding airplane carrying over 200,000 pounds of fuel.
Sounds impossible, but that is exactly what the men and women of the 916th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base do each and every day. Assigned to the Fourth Air Force, the 916th is comprised of over 1,100 personnel who maintain and operate sixteen KC-135R Stratotankers in support of Air Force operations worldwide.