![]() Two slow-flying biplanes would fly in close formation, one above the other, and a fuel hose was dropped to the lower plane. In the early days of aviation, pioneering pilots experimented with crude methods of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another. Aircraft carriers have catapults to fling planes into the air and angled flight decks to capture them when they land, all thanks to British innovation.īut the most important invention – certainly to a pilot running out of gas – might be air-to-air refueling. Those scientists, engineers and researchers came up with tanks, radar and jet engines. ![]() Queen of the skies: The Boeing 747 is playing a hero's role during Covid-19 crisisīritish military “boffins” have been the source of numerous inventions that changed the face of warfare. Instead of requiring one or more landings on the way to a target, the ability to extend a military aircraft’s range and endurance while airborne has become a force multiplier – boosting range and ability – in mission planning and execution. Now move the whole process 30,000 feet into the air, at more than 300 miles per hour, in turbulence, at night, in bad weather – and where there’s simply no possibility of pulling over to the side of the road if you run out of gas.Īerial refueling is a standard operation, but a challenging and critical one, for air forces around the world. If you deftly maneuver and properly seat the end of the probe in the basket, fuel begins to flow from the tanker truck into your gas tank. Just up ahead there’s a tanker truck trailing a long hose attached to a basket that’s floating a couple of feet above the ground.Īpproaching the tanker, a probe rises from the car’s front fender. Imagine you’re zooming down the highway at 70 miles per hour and the car’s fuel gauge is on its way to empty.
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