The 'safest' way to practice Air-Refueling ...

[JohnB]

sandiego89

I believe you are mistaken that the F-104 was ever equipped for boom refueling.

The 102 was interesting in that the probe attachment was a makeshift affair with an external pipe...IIRC, they were added just prior to deployments and were not a fleet-wide mod.

The 102 and 106 boom receptacle was a later mod.
Remember, the 102 & 106 were designed as ADC interceptors and in the '50s, AAR wasn't seen as necessary or part of ADC doctrine. What icy is why the CF-100 also didn't have AAR capabilities...also, I can't recall the RCAF having a tanker force in the 50s or early 60as when the CF-100 was still in widespread use as a interceptor.

[4RG.I.'S]

These guys seem to have a great attitude and sense of humor for refueling:

Attachments

[sandiego89]

JohnB: I believe you are mistaken that the F-104 was ever equipped for boom refueling

I never said the F-104 was. My statement was "....but there are exceptions of a few USAF aircraft having probes (including some F-102's, F-104's)" I never said anything about F-104's having a receptacle for a traditional flying boom- but to get technical booms could be equipped with a drogue so: a probe equipped F-104 could receive fuel from a boom equipped tanker if a drogue was mounted to the boom

My point was a few USAF aircraft have had probes to receive from a drogue, but the USAF has generally used the boom/receptacle method.

Correct on the F-102 probe being a scabbed on affair- apparently it was quite noisy and draggy.