Message posted by Jim Bob on March 28, 2005 at 15:18:30 PST:
As a frequent Nellis observer, I think I can correctly shed some light on tankers and fighters joining up (formation flying) in the area discribed in the original post on this topic. When fighter aircraft return to their home bases after a flag, they routinely do so by flying in formation with a tanker. The tankers are able to refuel the fighters and negate the need to land and refuel. Landing takes time. The tanker can also transport maintenance personnel and associated equipment at the same time. The tanker crew can also do most of the navigation for the formation. The person making the original post mentioned weekends. Many Red Flag participants depart on Saturdays following two weeks at RF. They depart and are radar vectored into the Nellis airspace for join-up with the tanker. Once they are joined and reach sufficient altitude they are fed back into the FAA controlled airspace. Many times I have seen a tanker depart and then be followed by 4-8 fighters. Approximately 15-20 minutes later they pass back over Nellis at altitude(in formation)and head towards their destination. The gray tankers are almost certainly KC-10s. KC-135s are also used but don't have the fuel capacity. Someone mentioned seeing a white aircraft refueling a B-2. This was probably a RAF Lockheed Tristar KC Mk. 1. They take part in RF. I photographed one last year during the JEFX 2004 exercise. The Dutch also fly KDC-10s and have come to Nellis for RF. BTW Many RF arrivals come to Nellis in the same manner as they depart....with tanker support.
In Reply to: Periodically I see these flying out of Nellis posted by Peter A. Forkes on March 27, 2005 at 10:26:19 PST:
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