| "Hot"
Refueling |
| We
leveled off from the decel 40 nm from the ARCP (Air Refueling
Control Point) and 2,000 feet below the air refueling altitude,
continuing to close at 0.9 Mach. Once the lead tanker was ranging
on us, they began timing and controlling the length of their
racetrack orbit legs, planning to end up at a precise point
when the SR was about 15 miles out from the ARCP. The tanker
navigator used timing charts, based on the distance between
the two aircraft, to help him compute when to make the final
turn to join up. |
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|
|
When
the time was right, the lead tanker navigator had his pilot being
their final left-hand turn, planning to roll out about three to
four miles in front of us. With ARC-50 giving us range and bearing
we were allowed by "the book" to rendezvous down to one
mile in the weather before we had to visually sight the tankers.
To get their gas, many Habus joined up on the tankers with visibilities
well below one mile.
|
|
Fuel
for Control!
|
The
SR-71 was the first aircraft to use its own fuel for hydraulic
fluid-called the Fuel-Hydraulic system. An engine driven pump
provided 1800psi of recirculated fuel to actuate various engine
components and then returned it back to the aircraft's fuel
system to be burned. |
|
| If
everything proceeded normally during the rendezvous, the tanker cell
initiated their "descend and accelerate" maneuver when the
SR-71 was one mile behind them and closing fast. The maneuver called
for the tanker cell to add power, descend 1,000 feet, and accelerate
to 310 knots. We remained at our altitude until sighting the tankers
visually, then slowly closed in, and up to the pre-contact position.
Normal refueling altitudes were anywhere between 25,000 and 28,000
feet. Once the rejoin was accomplished there is no difference between
a "hot" rendezvous and the "cold" rendezvous previously
described. |
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Return to Sortie
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| ©
Copyright
Richard Graham |
|
