This is a unique account of the development and operational use of
air-to-air flight refuelling since its early beginnings in the USA
and the UK to the equipment that is in use today. The author draws
upon his life-long career as senior design engineer with the
successful British company In-Flight Refuelling who were
responsible for the development of the hose and drogue technique
now preferred by many of the world's air forces. The story begins
in the early 1920s when the art of air refuelling was part of the
Barn Storming record-breaking attempts that were popular in the
USA. It continues into the late thirties when successful
experiments were made by Sir Alan Cobham using the Handley-Page
Harrow, Short Empire and Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley aircraft.
Amazingly, apart from the enthusiasm of Squadron Leader Atcherley
(later to become Air-Vice Marshal), the Royal Air Force were not
interested in pursuing this great technical advantage during World
War II and it was the USAAF who requested the British invention to
experiment with on their B-17s and B-24s; eventually enabling them
to carry out retaliatory bombing raids on Tokyo after the attack on
Pearl Harbor. Despite successful post-war trials with British
civilian airlines it was again the Americans who placed an order
with In-Flight Refuelling to equip their B-29s and B-50s. The
Korean War saw extended use of operational air-to-air refuelling
for the first time and now the 'tanker fleet' is an essential unit
in major air-forces around the world.
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