Did I just witness mid-air refuelling?

[funkyrobot]

I live in south Lincolnshire and we regularly get a lot of military air traffic over the house.

Was in the garden just now and a large, white jet with four engines flew over. It was quite low for a large jet and going quite slowly. I noticed something sticking out of the back.

Then, over the next five or so minutes, eight F15's flew over in the same direction at a similar speed.

Mid-air refuelling? Never seen it before.

I'm not sure if it was the same jet, but another white one just flew over.

[Eric Mc]

Sounds like F-15s chasing a tanker KC-135.

[T-195]

Probably Greta.

[aeropilot]

Eric Mc said:

Sounds like F-15s chasing a tanker KC-135.

Not if it was white....

Or OP is mistaken with the colour, as all USAF KC-135 are now in that dark grey overall finish.

[funkyrobot]

aeropilot said:

Eric Mc said:

Sounds like F-15s chasing a tanker KC-135.

Not if it was white....

Or OP is mistaken with the colour, as all USAF KC-135 are now in that dark grey overall finish.

Definitely white. Was fairly low. Do they have a white underside?

[RizzoTheRat]

The US use private contractors for training/transit air to air refuelling. There was an Omega tanker at Farnborough a few years back that I'm pretty sure was white.

[Eric Mc]

aeropilot said:

Eric Mc said:

Sounds like F-15s chasing a tanker KC-135.

Not if it was white....

Or OP is mistaken with the colour, as all USAF KC-135 are now in that dark grey overall finish.

He said one was white - which means that particular aircraft could be one of the more specialised members of the C-135 family, some of which retain their tanking capability..

[dr_gn]

Omega Boeing 707?

[funkyrobot]

dr_gn said:

Omega Boeing 707?

Just checked some images and that looks like the one.

Wish I had got my binoculars now because I would have seen plenty more detail.

[JuniorD]

dr_gn said:

Omega Boeing 707?

That's what I would think, though their DC-10 would be a great thing to see in action

[LotusOmega375D]

Maybe (practice?) refuelling the Israeli F15s prior to their long journey home from Waddington? Would they be compatible with our Voyagers?

[Zetec-S]

Out of curiosity, would they try to avoid aerial refuelling over populated areas unless necessary, or would the additional risk be deemed negligible?

[Mave]

LotusOmega375D said:

Maybe (practice?) refuelling the Israeli F15s prior to their long journey home from Waddington? Would they be compatible with our Voyagers?

Voyagers are 2 rather than 4 engined; but that got me thinking. IIRC F15s are boom refuelled, whereas legacy RAF aircraft (and hence Voyager) are hose. Are the Voyagers going to be / have they been modified for F35?

[Zetec-S]

JuniorD said:

That's what I would think, though their DC-10 would be a great thing to see in action

Quite an impressive aircraft, and converted in the UK too.

[Johnnybee]

LotusOmega375D said:

Maybe (practice?) refuelling the Israeli F15s prior to their long journey home from Waddington? Would they be compatible with our Voyagers?

They've gone home today and have their own 707 with them so it could well be that the OP spotted.

[roadsmash]

Typically mid-air refuelling procedures are done at a significant altitude so I would say it’s unlikely to have been that.

[Horsham558]

It was indeed the Israelis going home from Waddington. Saw the 707 and one of the F15s from Mildenhall as they passed overhead heading South. There was a 2nd 707 about 15 minutes behind also heading South playing catch-up.

[twister]

Mave said:

Voyagers are 2 rather than 4 engined; but that got me thinking. IIRC F15s are boom refuelled, whereas legacy RAF aircraft (and hence Voyager) are hose. Are the Voyagers going to be / have they been modified for F35?

F35B is probe & drogue, not boom, so no modifications required...

[kurt535]

Are the joint German/Merrycan/Italian/IDF exercises still ongoing?

[zsdom]

kurt535 said:

Are the joint German/Merrycan/Italian/IDF exercises still ongoing?

Nope, finished yesterday & the Israelis went home today, as above 2 Israeli 707s dragged their F-15s home