Boom fighters4/5/2023 ![]() Many lists of the “greatest” piston engine fighter planes do not even include twin engine fighters, although that second engine often gave its airframe longer range, higher speed, increased ability to carry heavy armament and electronics, a second crewman, and increased safety factor when flying over vast stretches of ocean. Far from an anomaly, the P-38 was not the only important twin engine fighter plane to grace the skies during combat operation in World War II and the Korean War, Today we look at 10 of the best 2 engine fighter aircraft from the peak of the piston powered era, the finest such airplanes designed or adapted mainly for air to air combat. Appropriately named, the Lightning was the fastest fighter in the world at that time, being the first to exceed 400 mph in level flight. This means that, theoretically, it could refuel about 15 single-engine aircraft such as an F-16, which holds about 7,000 pounds.On January 27, 1939, one of the great American fighter planes of World War II, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, made its first flight. (Obviously they need fuel themselves so cannot offload that entire amount.) Airbus says that a MRTT loitering for four hours at 1,150 miles from take-off can offload 110,000 pounds of fuel. The KC-46 carries a total 212,000 pounds of fuel and the MRTT holds 250,000. They can both offload fuel by boom, or by hose-and-drogue. ![]() Air Force at the end of March, is that the fueling system leaks.īoth the KC-46 and Airbus’s MRTT carry their fuel in multiple tanks in the cargo hold and wings. The latest of those problems, announced by the U.S. They are to be partially replaced by the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus-except that this program has ratcheted up five Category 1 problems, meaning the aircraft cannot perform one or more of its core missions. Air Force in 1965 and today nearly 500 are still in service. On US aircraft a “K” (for “kerosene”) indicates a tanker aircraft, while a “C” (cargo) is a transport plane. This led to the development of the first production jet tanker, the KC-135. The first aircraft equipped with a boom was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, re-designated the KB-29P. With this system, the onus is on the pilot of the plane accepting the fuel they have to manipulate the craft so that the probe enters the drogue. Up to 420 gallons of fuel per minute can flow to two aircraft simultaneously, as the hoses are at the ends of the tanker’s wings. That probe locks into the drogue so that fuel can transfer. The hose now has a basket (the drogue, which is shaped something like a bowl) on the end, and the combat aircraft has a probe, which is retractable except on the French-made Rafale and Mirage fighters. It’s known today as the “probe-and-drogue” system, and it was originally developed by Sir Alan Cobham in the United Kingdom in 1950. ![]() ![]() The refueling aircraft released a fueling hose that did the deed. So, on June 27, 1923, the US Army Air Service used two Airco DH-4B biplanes to try out a less extreme approach. Although an impressive stunt, it did obviously not represent a practical way to refuel while airborne. With a five-gallon fuel canister and at an altitude of some 1,000 feet, Wesley May worked his way down the right wing of a plane flown by Frank Hawks he then climbed onto the left wing of another plane and eventually poured the fuel into its gas tank. The first airborne refueling occurred in 1921 between two biplanes.
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