[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Kill 31Over the Mediterranean SeaThe coming day proved to be short, with less than seven hours between sunrise and sunset.The two crew members took turns sleeping briefly in their seats in the midafternoon.Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were the same: sandwiches, orange juice, granola bars, and nuts.They drank plenty of water, keeping themselves hydrated to fight the elements of fatigue that were exaggerated by the dry cockpit air.In the late afternoon, with the sun passing behind them, the two B-2s prepared to refuel from a pair of KC-10s from Aviano, a military installation situated near the base of the Italian Alps.The bombers hadn’t talked on the radio since they had taken off from Whiteman AFB.As per the rules of engagement, the second air refueling was also conducted under radio silence.Tia was at the controls and in the lead.The second B-2 tightened up the spacing, moving in on lead until he was right off the wing.Two KC-10s were already level at twenty thousand feet.The B-2s descended to nineteen thousand five hundred and the rolling pastures and terraced vineyards of Sicily passed peacefully below as the four aircraft came together in a carefully orchestrated maneuver.With the huge tankers five hundred feet above them and one mile ahead, the B-2s began to climb and move forward.Tia moved into position expertly, fifty feet behind and below the first tanker.She cleared off her wingman, and the second B-2 moved in on the second KC-10.The two bombers would refuel simultaneously to reduce the time.The lead tanker’s air refueling position lights, a double line of green and red lights on the underside of the aircraft, began to blink, the signal for the bomber to move into the contact position.Tia moved the four throttle controllers forward almost imperceptibly and the aircraft began to creep forward and upward.Bradley reached to the console above him and exposed the air refueling receptacle, which was on top of the aircraft and nearly in the center of the body.He felt a quick clang as the air refueling receptacle rotated one hundred eighty degrees to reveal itself from underneath the aircraft’s skin.A “ready” light illuminated on the center console between the two pilots.Bradley opened the rudder brakes slightly in order that the high performance B-2 might more closely match the flight characteristics of the lumbering KC-10.The B-2 moved forward through two separate downbursts, one from the KC-10’s engines and one from its wings.As the bomber moved under the tanker, the bow of compressed air that was pushed out in front of its nose began to fight against the tanker, causing the aircraft to interact with each other.The tanker moved up and the bomber moved down.Tia held the control stick lightly with her fingers, sensing more than thinking, flying by feel.She moved herself exactly into the proper refueling position.The tanker’s air refueling lights went suddenly off, the signal to halt the maneuver.Tia backed the B-2 away from the tanker, sliding back into the precontact position.The bomber crew waited.Almost a minute passed.Something was wrong.The refueling lights flickered, then illuminated again.Tia moved forward and upward until she was in a position right under the tanker again.She stopped the aircraft and held it steady, matching the tanker perfectly as it flew at three hundred twenty knots.The boom operator extended his boom, careful not to touch the delicate skin of the bomber, knowing even a tiny scratch would expose the Stealth aircraft to radar and cost untold millions to repair.The boom operator finally pushed the air refueling boom toward the bomber’s receptacle.Bradley felt a solid thunk, but the two aircraft didn’t latch.He felt the boom probe once again, hearing it knock against the refueling plate.The boom seated into the receptacle, but again, the aircraft didn’t latch.The boom jabbed a final time, then pulled back, lifting away from the tanker.Tia remained in position, holding the bomber steady.The boom extended again.Bradley felt himself tense.The boom scraped the top of the bomber and Bradley visibly cringed.Tia sucked in her breath.“What’s going on up there!” she said angrily.On the third attempt, the two aircraft latched and the air refueling finally began.Bradley let out a breath.Tia slowly shook her head.“Good job,” Bradley said over the intercom in his mask.Both of the pilots had their combat helmets on now.“Do you think he got us?” Tia asked.“I don’t know.He pulled the boom across the top, but it felt pretty light.”“A tiny scratch is all it takes for us to radiate like a 747.“We’ll be okay,” Bradley said, though he wasn’t sure.He began to monitor the flow.The fuel was coming on very slowly.“There’s a problem with the boom,” he announced.Tia didn’t take her eyes off the tanker.“What’s the fuel flow?”“Two thousand pounds a minute.”“It should be six thousand.”“I know, but let’s not push it.We could unlatch and have the tanker reset the boom, but I’d rather keep the connection than go through that again.It will take a little longer to get our full offload, but I’d rather have that than give them another chance to ram the boom through our front window.”Tia nodded agreement, concentrating on flying the jet.The enormous KC-10 bumped lightly as the aircraft passed through a thin stream of clouds, and Tia adjusted the throttles to stay in position.Bradley glanced at the tanker through the top of his windscreen.Tia remained within a few inches of the center position.The minutes passed and, as the bomber became more heavy, Tia slowly increased power to compensate for the increase in drag.She glanced at the fuel readout.Bradley followed her eyes.“It’s slow, but we’re getting gas.We’ve taken on forty thousand pounds.Another fifty-five thousand to go.”Bradley glanced off to his right.His wingman, the second bomber, had already completed refueling.Bradley watched as the bomber dropped away from its tanker and slid straight back.After clearing the KC-10, the second B-2 slid left and down, moving toward the lead jet, where it would take up a position fifty feet below and a couple hundred feet back.There it would stay until the refueling was complete.Bradley watched the second bomber, the afternoon sun glinting off its black skin, sliding into position until it had disappeared below him.“Two is complete and in position.”Tia clicked her microphone in reply.The boom was beginning to wobble and she was fighting to stay connected to the air refueling receptacle.It was a battle.She was winning, but it was hard work, Bradley could tell.He didn’t say anything to distract her, letting her concentrate on the boom.His eyes scanned across the cockpit.Everything was in the green.Suddenly Bradley heard a crack and looked up with a start.Another crack, this one louder, then a shudder ran through the jet.The refueling boom broke away, sending a jarring vibration throughout the B-2
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
