Original subtitles

♪ ♪

Narrator: When thirsty aircraft need a drink,

The kc-135 serves them up.

Pilot: Looks like he's taking gas.

Col. Lenderman: Some people have referred to it as

A flying gas station.

Narrator: Born to service the cold war,

Tested in the heartland... Pilot: Mayday. Mayday.

Dr. Hopkins: As with any new airplane, the kc-135

Had things to work out.

Narrator: ...And christened in the skies of south vietnam,

Lt. Col. Casteel: They called us the young tiger because tigers --

They're very fierce.

Narrator: This flying behemoth is smack dab in the middle

Of every air campaign.

Rebecca: Without the kc-135 we wouldn't have air power

As we know it today.

Narrator: The kc-135 stratotanker:

American air power's unsung hero.

Col. Lenderman: Nobody kicks "a" without tanker gas.

[♪ theme music ♪]

♪ ♪

Narrator: June 19th, 2013. Afghanistan.

A rocket attack kills four u.S. Army soldiers.

The taliban claims responsibility.

The response is fast and furious.

U.S. Commanders mount an aggressive air campaign.

U.S. Fighters fly around the clock,

Watching over troops on the ground.

Keeping the fighters on constant patrol is crucial,

But their endurance is just four hours, or even less.

The solution: Air-to-air refueling.

For that, they rely on the kc-135.

Col. Lenderman: Behind me here is the kc-135,

Known officially as the stratotanker,

But for those that have operated it or maintained it

Pretty much just the tanker.

Narrator: The kc-135 has a hundred and thirty feet wing span.

It's a hundred and thirty-six feet long

And almost four stories tall.

It can carry up to two hundred thousand pounds of fuel.

The stratotanker's specialty: Pumping gas.

There are tanks in its forward fuselage, center,

Back fuselage, and upper deck.

There are three more in each wing.

This flying gas tank is designed for one crucial thing:

Aerial refueling.

Col. Lenderman: Aerial refueling is the process

Of taking two aircraft and getting them into the same spot

In the sky at about the same time and joining together

And then passing that fuel from the tanker to the receiver.

[radio chatter]

Col. Lenderman: In-flight refueling enables the air force

To do what it does, which is global reach, global power

And global vigilance. Nobody kicks "a" without tanker gas.

Narrator: In afghanistan, coalition pilots fly over twenty types

Of fixed-wing aircraft. The kc-135 refuels almost all.

Mjr. Baker: We refueled reconnaissance aircraft, fire aircraft,

Bomber aircraft.

Narrator: Major derrick baker has piloted kc-135s in war zones

For more than 9 years.

Mjr. Baker: Usually you had a pretty general idea

Of what you were going to refuel that day,

But of course any plan is a plan until it hits execution

And then all of a sudden you have to adapt.

Narrator: November 2013. Operation enduring freedom.

Major baker and his three-person crew head out

Over the eastern border near pakistan,

A hotbed for enemy activity.

Mjr. Baker: Our initial flight plan that day

Was to refuel several sets of f-16's.

They were pretty much the biggest part of our gas bill

At that time. Everything seemed like a normal day to us.

♪ ♪

Narrator: High above afghanistan, baker and his crew

Meet up with the f-16s and begin to refuel.

Mjr. Baker: It takes about five minutes to refuel an f-16.

It's not a huge amount of time,

And it being a fighter aircraft,

They don't take a huge amount of fuel.

Narrator: Baker is halfway through the refuel

When he hears a troops in contact call on the radio.

He knows this is no longer an ordinary mission.

Mjr. Baker: Troops in contact is troops that are taking fire

On the ground. When that comes across the radio,

It perks everybody's ears up.

We know that it's critical. Lives are at stake.

Narrator: The f-16s race towards the firefight,

With the kc-135 not far behind.

Mjr. Baker: The gas was critical for them

To be able to stay on station longer,

So we decided we needed to be closer

To where the operations were.

♪ ♪

Narrator: To refuel in a hurry, the kc-135 relies on

A 12-foot tube attached to the back of the aircraft.

It's called the boom.

The boom lets parched aircraft guzzle gas

At a thousand gallons of fuel per minute.

That's enough fuel in one minute

To operate an average family car for an entire year.

Col. Lenderman: The boom extends out

While the receiver aircraft comes up,

And then the boomer will fly that boom into a receptacle

And then we offload the fuel.

Narrator: It's a delicate ballet, two multi-ton aircraft

Flying five hundred miles an hour, just a dozen feet apart.

Controlling this carefully choreographed dance

Is a crewman called the boomer.

Pilots get a seat in the cockpit.

Boomers fly underneath the cabin floor,

In a compartment called the boom pod.

Mcfalls: It gives us the optimal angle to look out the window

And see the receiver aircraft as he's behind us and below us.

Mcfalls: We're talking to the receiver,

We're talking to our pilots,

We're making sure that the other aircraft

Isn't doing anything unsafe.

At times it can be very stressful because we're

Responsible for two aircraft

In very close proximity to each other.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Over afghanistan, major baker and his crew

Pull into position just outside the firefight.

[explosions]

[gunfire]

It's a dangerous location.

Mjr. Baker: There was a lot of aircraft,

And we could see that it was kind of like a beehive.

So we were being extra vigilant because

We wanted to make sure nobody

Accidentally comes into our airspace,

Because then we are in a lot of danger

Of running into that aircraft.

Narrator: A midair collision isn't the only threat.

Baker's large, defenseless tanker is an easy target.

Mjr. Baker: Air defense artillery, surface-to-air missiles,

Man pads or man portable air defense systems,

You're always planning to stay away from danger

As much as you can, but when you're actually in the mission

You just don't have time to think about

What the dangers could be.

Narrator: The kc-135 circles warily,

Refueling the f-16s again and again.

The jets continue to pound the enemy below.

[explosions]

Mjr. Baker: One would come up, get gas for five minutes or so,

And then twenty minutes later another one would come up.

It was a busier day than normal, but

It's what we're used to doing quite often in afghanistan.

Narrator: Baker and his crew circle patiently.

Two hours later, the f-16s slow their attack.

Mjr. Baker: We could tell that the troops in contact

Was starting to wind down,

And it was just going to flow back into a normal day for us.

Narrator: In the boom pod, the boomer gets ready

To refuel the f-16s one last time.

Mjr. Baker: We were going to top him off

With a little bit more gas, they were going to go home,

And we would go on to to our next refueling.

When he came up, that's when things got a little crazy.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The two aircraft line up.

Before they can connect, the boomer notices

Something wrong with the f-16.

Mjr. Baker: Our boom operator, he said that

It looked like a very large cloud of fuel spray

Was coming out of the back of the aircraft.

And it was coming out from a location that it

Doesn't usually come out of by the engine.

Narrator: The kc-135 acts fast, connecting the boom once again

And giving the fighter gas.

But the f-16 radios back bad news.

Mjr. Baker: The gas that we were giving him

Was coming out of the back of his aircraft.

He was not receiving fuel in his fuel gauge

That he normally would.

Narrator: The two planes fly over enemy territory.

For the f-16, bailing out is not an option.

Mjr. Baker: We were right on the border

Of pakistan and afghanistan, and our combat operations

Were really intense in that area.

So we didn't want him to be in that kind of danger.

Narrator: Baker radios his boom operator

And tells him to keep connected, no matter what.

Mjr. Baker: We knew that he wasn't going to

Be able to remain airborne on the amount of gas he had.

The fuel leak was still getting worse.

There was more spray coming out of his aircraft.

And we could tell in his voice that the situation

Was pretty dire.

♪ ♪

Narrator: High over afghanistan, major derrick baker

And his kc-135 crew pump gas into a leaking f-16.

Fuel sprays out of the f-16's engine.

Without constant refueling, the f-16's pilot may have to bail.

Mjr. Baker: Essentially at that point

We're just feeding his engines and trying to keep his tank

At the current level so he doesn't run out of gas.

Narrator: The kc-135 and the f-16 fly connected

Through enemy skies.

One sudden move from either aircraft could spell disaster.

Mjr. Baker: We did have a lot to worry about.

As you can imagine, having two aircraft

Really close to each other,

In fact actually touching each other,

And then conducting air refueling over enemy territory

You are going to have some danger.

Narrator: It's thirty minutes to the border,

Plenty of time for something to go wrong.

Mjr. Baker: We were a lot slower and less maneuverable.

We are also looking out to make sure nobody decides

To start shooting at us as well.

Narrator: Finally, the air base is within sight.

The f-16 disconnects and descends downward.

♪ ♪

Baker makes a radio call and confirms mission accomplished.

The jet is safely on the ground.

Mjr. Baker: It felt really good to know

That we were part of saving the aircraft,

And also the bigger part -- the pilot's life.

Narrator: With the f-16 safe on the ground, the tanker crew

Turns its attention towards the next mission.

Mjr. Baker: Everybody is always going to need gas.

It's a high demand.

And right after he got on the ground, after a quick high five,

We went off to another refueling and continued the day.

Narrator: In afghanistan, kc-135s offload millions of gallons

Of gas every month,

Allowing u.S. Aircraft to go anywhere

Without ever having to land to refuel.

Mjr. Baker: Missions don't happen without gas.

Fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft,

None of that stuff is going to fly

If it doesn't have a tanker to be able to keep it

Up in the air.

Narrator: Staying up in the air forever,

And giving american air power unlimited reach.

That's been the kc-135's mission for over fifty years.

♪ ♪

August 29, 1949. A remote test site in kazakhstan.

Soviet scientists unveil their latest weapon...

[explosion]

...The atomic bomb.

For the united states of america,

It's an unwelcome surprise.

Rebecca: The soviets' atomic bomb

Came as almost a complete shock to the world.

Narrator: Rebecca grant is one of the foremost civilian experts

On air force history and aircraft.

Rebecca: The u.S. Was no longer the sole nuclear superpower.

This meant game on for the cold war.

Narrator: Capitalist america locks into a nuclear arms race

With its communist foes.

Rebecca: The soviet union, they'd just taken over

Most of eastern europe, and there was great fear

That the large soviet army

Could roll right through western europe

With almost nothing to stop it.

Armies were still poised on the brink of another war,

And this time they were poised on the brink

Of a potential nuclear war.

[explosion]

♪ ♪

Narrator: Stockpiling nuclear weapons

Quickly becomes priority number one

For the u.S. Department of defense,

A priority it entrusts to an air force department

Called strategic air command.

Dr. Hopkins: Strategic air command, sac,

Was the ability to project the atomic bomb

And conventional bombs on targets in the soviet union.

Narrator: Dr. Robert s. Hopkins iii

Is an aviation historian and former kc-135 pilot.

Dr. Hopkins: Sac became really the favored component

Of the u.S. Air force, and it ultimately became

The cornerstone of american defense strategy.

Narrator: Strategic air command's most powerful weapon

Isn't its nuclear warheads.

It's the man who controls them: General curtis lemay.

Lemay is determined to beat the soviets at their own game.

Dr. Hopkins: Lemay argued that we have to preserve capitalism,

And if communism is a threat, we need to defeat communism.

He never used the word deterrence.

It was always defeat.

Narrator: Lemay's talk gets a lot of attention.

But he's missing the tools to back up his plans.

Rebecca: When lemay took over strategic air command,

He was horrified at what he found.

Planes lacked spare parts, the crews didn't have training

In the kind of missions that they needed,

And his bombers didn't really have the range

To execute nuclear attacks. Lemay set out to fix all that.

Narrator: Lemay's first order of business: Get more planes.

In just two years, the number of atomic-capable bombers

Grows from less than thirty-six to over two hundred and fifty.

That solves the problem of numbers.

But it doesn't solve the problem of range.

Rebecca: Lemay's vision for strategic air command

Was that this force would head straight for targets

In the soviet union and attack them with nuclear weapons,

Hit the targets precisely and return home.

Narrator: The heart of the soviet empire

Is deep in enemy territory, too far for the bombers to reach.

Rebecca: No bomber at the time had enough fuel

To surely execute that mission and return.

So the solution was to employ a technology

That was waiting in the wings,

And that was in-flight air refueling.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Airmen have dreamed of unlimited flight

Ever since they took to the sky.

Rebecca: It was obvious to airmen that

Range was a huge limitation, and by the early 1920s

Experiments on air refueling technology were well underway.

Rebecca: One of the first experiments was more of a stunt.

A wing walker took a can of gas

And walked from one biplane into another biplane

And poured the can of gas into that tank.

♪ ♪

Narrator: In 1935, british aviation pioneer sir alan cobham

Comes up with a better method. He calls it looped hose.

In the looped hose method, the tanker trails a cable

With a 50-pound weight.

The receiver trails a cable with a grappling hook.

The two aircraft cross, trying to link these lines.

When the lines catch on, the receiver operator

Attaches the tanker's line to his fuel tank.

Then, the tanker climbs high above the receiver,

Using gravity to allow the fuel to flow.

♪ ♪

In 1949, the air force shows off the new technology.

A b-50 superfortress named lucky lady ii

Teams up with four kb-29m tankers,

Using the looped hose method to refuel.

The lucky lady remains in the air for 94 hours

As it flies around the world.

Dr. Hopkins: What's amazingly complicated

Is just coordinating that kind of flight.

We didn't have global communications networks,

So to tell a tanker crew the bomber is airborne

And be ready to refuel him at such and such a time

Was still limited to telegrams, transatlantic cables,

And occasionally high-frequency radios.

So air refueling to get lucky lady around the world

Was an extremely difficult undertaking.

Narrator: The flight is impressive, but not perfect.

Rebecca: The looped hose had a lot of disadvantages.

One, trouble reeling out the hose.

Two, trouble locking on the hose,

And finally, problems with the rate of flow of fuel.

It was time for a much better technology solution.

Narrator: In 1949 cobham tests a new way to refuel:

Probe and drogue.

In the probe and drogue method, the tanker

Unspools a long hose.

At its end is a basket, or drogue.

On the receiver side: A probe.

The pilot on the receiver side maneuvers the probe

Into the tanker's drogue.

When the probe forms a seal with the basket,

The fuel starts pumping.

It's good enough

For the navy and the air force's smaller jets.

But strategic air command's large bombers

Demand something more.

Dr. Hopkins: Sac found that the probe-and-drogue

Could not transfer fuel fast enough

To refuel a heavy bomber in a short amount of time.

Rebecca: Aerial refueling had to happen

Not just between one tanker and one receiver

But between dozens of tankers

And potentially hundreds of receivers

To make lemay's vision of nuclear deterrents work.

He needed a method that could be reliable and quick

And refuel hundreds of aircrafts, not just one.

Narrator: Soon after taking office, lemay asks boeing

To find a faster way to deliver the fuel.

Rebecca: They came up with what we call the flying boom.

Narrator: In the flying boom method, the tanker extends a steerable boom.

The receiver has a receptacle to catch it.

The receiver pilot flies his aircraft

Into the "contact" position, then holds it steady

While the boom operator steers the boom into the receptacle.

The boom latches in, and sends a signal to the tanker

To start pumping gas.

Rebecca: The flying boom was a big success.

And the number one reason was it allowed the tanker

To transfer fuel at a much higher rate.

Narrator: Strategic air command adds the flying boom

To its kb-29s and kb-50s

And commissions a tanker called the kc-97

With a flying boom built in.

But the kc-97's piston-powered engines make it a poor match

For strategic air command's new jets.

Dr. Hopkins: As a simple matter of aerodynamics,

A piston-powered tanker and a jet-powered bomber receiver

Were utterly incompatible.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Lemay has the jets. He has the pilots.

To defeat the soviets, he needs one more thing:

A jet-powered tanker.

Rebecca: Lemay believed if he had the jet bomber and the tanker

That was an unstoppable combination.

♪ ♪

Narrator: May 1954. The pentagon.

The air force puts out a call for the new jet tanker.

The prize: A contract with a projected value

Of 2 billion dollars.

Behind the scenes, lemay already has his winner: Boeing.

Its 367-80 has been in development

For more than two years.

Dr. Hopkins: Boeing president bill allen

Had the vision to understand the need for a jet tanker.

He committed fifteen million dollars of boeing money

To build a four-engine jet transport jet tanker.

Narrator: A lockheed design wins the competition.

But while lockheed brags about

What its tanker will be able to do, boeing's is already flying.

Dr. Hopkins: Boeing owned several b-52s.

A b-52 was able to refuel from the dash 80.

So, although lockheed won the competition, the air force said,

"until lockheed can build all these tankers,

Let's buy some boeing tankers based on the dash 80."

And ultimately lockheed's winning design was scrapped.

Boeing got the contract to build 820 kc-135s.

Lemay needed tankers and he needed them now.

♪ ♪

Narrator: July 18th, 1956. Renton, washington.

Boeing rolls out the kc-135a stratotanker.

The tanker's fuel capacity is 31,000 gallons,

More than double the kc-97's. It flies 125 mph faster.

To show off the new tanker's range, a kc-135

Flies nonstop from the united states to buenos aires,

With lemay at the controls.

The six-thousand-mile journey sets a world record

For long-range, non-refueled flight.

Rebecca: This sent a strong message to the soviet union.

There was no target, no point on earth

That couldn't be reached by sac's bombers,

As long as they had those tankers to help them out.

♪ ♪

Narrator: In July 1957 lemay makes another move,

Becoming the air force's vice chief of staff.

His old command post continues its nuclear mission.

Strategic air command taps some of its best pilots

To fly the new tanker.

They train hard to master control of the plane.

Dr. Hopkins: As with any new airplane,

The kc-135 had things to work out.

Although boeing designed a really good airplane,

It wasn't perfect.

♪ ♪

Narrator: January 1965. Mcconnell air force base, wichita.

A kc-135 takes off on a routine refueling exercise.

Rebecca: The plane encountered trouble almost right away.

The crew started dumping fuel.

The plane banked to the left

As the pilot made a frantic mayday call.

Pilot: Mayday. Mayday.

Rebecca: And then the jet took a nosedive.

♪ ♪

Narrator: 1965. Wichita, kansas.

A kc-135 refueling tanker takes off on a training mission.

Just moments later, it falls from the sky.

The consequences are devastating.

Rebecca: The kc-135 ended up crashing in a neighborhood,

Spewing 32,000 gallons of jet fuel onto the ground.

Narrator: The crash leaves a crater fifteen feet deep.

A dozen homes go up in flames. Thirty people die.

Investigators discover that a mechanical failure

Caused the pilot to lose control.

Rebecca: The tragedy proved that flying gas

May look like the easiest thing in the world,

But it isn't always the easiest thing in the world.

Narrator: The crash forces an examination

Of the whole tanker fleet.

No deficiencies are revealed,

But concerns about the tanker remain.

Eight months later,

The kc-135 has a chance to redeem itself in war.

♪ ♪

August 1965. The united states finds itself face to face

With the communists. But not in the soviet union, in vietnam.

The air force sends its best aircraft off to battle.

But strategic air command declines to join the fight.

Dr. Hopkins: Sac opposed using b-52s and kc-135s

In southeast asia.

Sac had one mission,

And that was to put h-bombs on the kremlin.

Narrator: In vietnam, the air force relies on piston-powered kb-50s

To refuel its aircraft.

But the kb-50s are soon grounded with corrosion,

And the kc-97s can't pick up the slack.

The kc-97 is too slow for the supersonic fighters,

So strategic air command reluctantly sends its kc-135.

The stratotanker's young pilots are eager

To put their training to use.

Lt. Col. Casteel: So somebody in sac headquarters

Came up with a neat name that we all loved called young tiger.

Narrator: Lieutenant john casteel was an aircraft commander

And kc-135 pilot for twelve years.

Lt. Col. Casteel: They called us the young tiger

Because tigers are very fierce.

We considered ourselves fierce too I guess.

Narrator: May 31, 1967. Casteel and his kc-135 crew

Fly through the gulf of tonkin.

They normally fly with a boom, but today they're equipped

With a drogue adapter to support two f-104s.

Lt. Col. Casteel: Our mission was to refuel the two 104s,

And then we were to leave and go to okinawa.

And on our way home, we then started hearing

This terrible stuff on the radio.

Narrator: Just miles away, two navy a-3 tankers --

Nicknamed "whales" -- have run into trouble.

Lt. Col. Casteel: They were running out of gas

Just like the airplanes they were supposed to refuel.

Narrator: The whales are on site to support two f-8s

Tasked with keeping watch over a downed pilot.

♪ ♪

Lt. Col. Casteel: The navy pilot was out in the open,

Surrounded by anti-aircraft guns,

And the navy pilots were trying to bomb, strafe,

Kill the people that had the anti-aircraft guns.

Narrator: The planes have been on the scene for hours

With no real change for the man on the ground.

Lt. Col. Casteel: Those fighters flew around

In circles and circles around him.

And the tankers were not going to leave

Until they got their airplanes out.

They weren't being cowboys, they were doing

What they thought was the right thing.

Narrator: The whales refuel the f-8s twice with no problem,

Until one whale notices something wrong with his plane.

Lt. Col. Casteel: The tanker could offload it to another airplane,

But due to a valve malfunction, he could not burn it.

He was going to run out of gas

With four thousand pounds of fuel behind him he couldn't use.

They called us and they said we're in real trouble.

Narrator: Their kc-135 quickly heads toward the action,

And straight into danger.

Lt. Col. Casteel: I realized that we were getting

Into enemy territory that tankers were not supposed to go.

When you are flying a gas can with 200,000 pounds

Of flammable liquid in it, it's not a good idea to be shot at.

So we proceeded anyway, because now we're talking

To the people that we're gonna try and save.

And it gets personal.

Narrator: Moments later, casteel and his crew arrive on the scene.

The struggling whale hooks up right away.

Lt. Col. Casteel: The flight leader said,

"I'm going to put the number two guy on.

He's in worse shape than I am.

He's got all of his fuel warning lights on."

He was really just about as close as you can be out of gas

And still be in the air.

Narrator: The whale takes a drink, then leaves so his wingman

Can get on the drogue.

Suddenly, two f-8s make a fast approach from below.

The kc-135 is surrounded by four navy aircraft.

All of them need fuel.

Casteel tells the second whale to move in

And quickly starts the transfer.

Suddenly, one of the f-8s moves into the whale's drogue

And locks on, forming the first-ever

Three-aircraft daisy chain.

Lt. Col. Casteel: He slid right in there, and boom,

Connected with us.

We had a navy tanker connected to our probe and drogue system

Taking fuel, and he was in turn transferring fuel to the f-8.

Rebecca: The kc-135 became the top layer

Of an incredibly dangerous intrepid stack of aircraft.

The risks to all of them were very high.

Lt. Col. Casteel: The navy tanker pilot

Had to hold that airplane pretty steady.

Not only did he have to fly in there that close

And get a connection and get his own fuel,

He had to keep his airplane steady so the next guy

Could get his.

Narrator: An hour later, casteel and his crew break off,

Leaving the whale and f-8s to continue the fight.

The kc-135 crew receives the prestigious mackay trophy

For their actions, the first tanker crew ever

To receive the award.

Dr. Hopkins: It was a great, great feat of airmanship

And real courage, and that I think is the legacy

Of the kc-135 in southeast asia.

Narrator: In vietnam, kc-135s fly

Nearly two hundred thousand sorties.

They off-load more than 8 billion pounds of fuel.

Lt. Col. Casteel: We flew every mission

As though it were our last. We did, every one.

And the reason for that is you get sloppy,

And you are going to get sloppy and kill somebody.

You better do it right.

Narrator: After the war, the tankers return

To their primary mission: Nuclear deterrence.

Kc-135 crews are on alert 24 hours a day, waiting for action.

Morale takes a nose dive.

Dr. Hopkins: There were too many pilots, not enough airplanes,

Not enough missions, not enough flying time.

Kc-135s were seen as probably one or two

Of the worst possible assignments you could get

Out of pilot training.

Narrator: On the surface, tanker life may look dull,

But strategists realize it gives air power a big advantage.

Rebecca: In world war ii, to move fighters

From the united states to europe, they either had to

Be disassembled and put onboard ship

Or they had to be flown up through canada,

Across greenland and iceland and into europe that way.

The tanker opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

Narrator: In 1981, the air force introduces another tanker

Into the air fleet: The kc-10.

It shares refueling duties with the kc-135,

And moves troops and cargo too.

Kc-135s act as an air bridge allowing fighters and bombers

To reach europe and asia quickly.

Rebecca: They flew in formation, refueling at set intervals

Until the fighters reached their destination.

It's an incredible addition to combat power, deterrent power

In its own right. But it didn't always go according to plan.

♪ ♪

Narrator: September 5, 1983.

Shaw air force base, south carolina.

♪ ♪

Twenty-four air force f-4 phantoms take off

On a transatlantic flight.

♪ ♪

At pease air force base in new hampshire,

A kc-135 refueling squadron takes off too.

Msg. Simmons: We rendezvous with them out over the ocean.

And when they need gas, we give it to them.

Narrator: Retired master sergeant douglas simmons

Was a kc-135 boom operator for sixteen years.

Msg. Simmons: You take a line from new hampshire

Over to England,

You'll be able to see there's not much out there.

It's all ocean.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Halfway across the atlantic,

The kc-135 gets an urgent call.

[radio chatter]

One of the f-4s has a failing engine.

It's losing gas, and altitude, fast.

Msg. Simmons: He was dropping out of the sky like a rock.

He was trying to keep it airborne and out of the drink.

F-4 pilot says, "tanker, we need you now."

So my aircraft commander put on the throttles as far as they go

And then we broke off from the formation,

And it is, "let's go get them."

♪ ♪

[radio chatter]

Narrator: The crippled phantom needs more than gas.

It needs a tow, but how?

Simmons thinks over his tanker history

And comes up with the answer.

Msg. Simmons: I remembered over in vietnam

They towed some seriously crippled aircraft over there

That were shot up.

So that was always in the back of my mind.

Narrator: The boom is just 5 inches in diameter.

It weighs just 800 pounds.

Using it to tow a thirty-thousand pound jet

Is dangerous.

Msg. Simmons: Anything could happen.

Boom got tore off and hit his canopy and crushed his canopy,

And then they go down in a ball of fire,

But he wasn't staying airborne, so what else can you do?

It was the last option.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Three thousand feet above the atlantic ocean,

A kc-135 crew catches up to an f-4 phantom

With one dead engine.

Msg. Simmons: He was cocked sideways

And just trying to nurse his engine that was overheating.

He said, "well, I think we're gonna go in the drink."

Narrator: Master sergeant douglas simmons

Prepares to connect his boom to the crippled plane.

It won't be an easy task.

The stratotanker's first challenge:

Matching the sinking fighter's speed.

Msg. Simmons: We're going 300 some knots,

And they're down to 210 knots,

And so our overtake speed is phenomenal.

Narrator: The kc-135 pilot manages to slow his tanker.

The two planes cruise just eighteen feet apart.

♪ ♪

The f-4 flies at an angle, making it tough for simmons

To hook up his boom.

Msg. Simmons: His engine was cocking his airplane sideways,

And his nose was up descending down like this.

Where normally we're like this in refuel, he was like this.

Narrator: The boom has built-in electronic restrictions.

Boomers rely on them to make a safe connection.

Msg. Simmons: You've got limits up and down, left and right,

And in and out.

And if you're refueling and you hit one of those limits

It automatically disconnects the boom.

So it's a safety thing so that you don't wreck the boom

Or you don't put a hole through his canopy.

Narrator: The struggling f-4 is too crooked to automate anything.

This time, simmons has to fly the boom manually.

Msg. Simmons: That's the only way you can tow a fighter,

Is your limit is disabled so that you can make

A solid connection.

Narrator: Flying the boom manually is difficult,

But the f-4 is sinking fast. It's the only way to save him.

Msg. Simmons: They were at 1,800 feet above the ocean.

I had a crew chief sitting beside me on my left side, and,

Looking down, he goes, "god, you could see a fish jump."

Narrator: Simmons guides his boom toward the f-4's receptacle.

The first time is a miss.

[radio chatter]

He tries again.

[radio chatter]

This time, he makes the connection...

And tries to hold on.

Pilot [on radio]: Looks like he's taking gas.

Narrator: The boom is almost at the breaking point.

Msg. Simmons: You don't know if it's gonna break off,

You don't know if he's gonna flip and go down

Or knock our tail off. You just don't know.

Narrator: With the phantom drinking gas below,

The kc-135 begins a slow climb,

Towing the f-4 up and into alignment.

Msg. Simmons: I'd tell him, "okay, aircraft commander,

Start your climb," and so he'd gradually start

Trying to level the flight and start pulling him up.

Narrator: Over the next three hours, the kc-135 coaxes

The f-4 higher, lifting it to 6,000 feet.

Msg. Simmons: The boom's kind of bent like this,

And he told us, "god, I'm holding air speed.

I'm holding altitude."

Narrator: Finally, the two aircraft approach land...

And an airstrip.

[radio chatter]

The f-4 makes the landing.

The kc-135 crew follows close behind.

Simmons is recognized for his outstanding airmanship.

Rebecca: This was an incredibly risky mission for them all,

Requiring superb flying skills from the tanker

To be able to hold that f-4 on the boom in those unusual angles

And for that duration of time.

Narrator: Throughout the 1980s, the kc-135 air bridge

Moves american combat aircraft around the world,

Ready to support the air war at any time.

Rebecca: Lemay had been right.

The future of all air warfare depended on the use of tankers.

Never would this be more apparent than in 1991

In operation desert storm.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Desert storm is the biggest air war the world has ever seen.

In the middle of it all, the kc-135.

Rebecca: You had to have tankers in place

To support the fighter and bomber operations,

Or that campaign would not go according to plan.

Every fighter that took off would get at least one

Air refueling on its strike mission. Some would get more.

Narrator: 262 kc-135s keep the fighters flying.

They average 360 sorties a day.

Rebecca: Desert storm proved that the kc-135

Really was the ultimate tanker.

It was the tankers that let the fighters mass and deliver

That hard punch to the iraqi air force.

Narrator: But the tanker's performance in desert storm

Is soon overshadowed by other events.

The soviet union collapses.

America's greatest enemy no longer exists as a nation.

♪ ♪

The air force reorganizes.

And in 1992, strategic air command --

Which fathered the tanker fleet -- passes into history.

For the first time in almost forty years,

The kc-135 is not on permanent alert.

Instead, the tanker takes on transport duties

From the aging c-141 starlifter,

Refueling in less than half its missions.

Dr. Hopkins: Ultimately, what that meant was

The limited number of flying hours left in the airframe

Were being spent on things that had little to do

With air refueling and a lot to do with transport operations.

Narrator: Kc-135s are stationed all over the world.

But no one expected that one of its most important missions

Would be over american skies.

♪ ♪

Narrator: September 11, 2001. 6 am.

Bangor air national guard base, maine.

A kc-135 crew readies their tanker.

Col. Marshall: We were planning to refuel some f-15's

Off of long island in an overwater training area.

Colonel andrew marshall has flown

On air national guard stratotankers for 25 years.

Col. Marshall: It was a mission that we were well familiar with,

And we anticipated no surprises of any kind.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Marshall reviews his checklist,

Confirms the fuel load, and takes off.

♪ ♪

Just short of the long island coast,

Marshall picks up some strange radio chatter.

[radio chatter]

Col. Marshall: We began to hear radio traffic

That didn't make much sense.

[radio chatter]

It was some urgent calls on the radio,

And it became clear to us that we were being directed

In kind of an unusual way.

Narrator: Marshall dials in and receives his new orders.

It's not what he's expecting.

Col. Marshall: We were being directed

To head over towards manhattan. And that was unusual.

But seemed like valid instructions

And valid clearance, so we headed over in that direction.

Narrator: 15 minutes later, the crew arrives over manhattan,

Ready to respond. The world trade center catches their eye.

Col. Marshall: One of the towers was on fire.

On our next pass around where we got a good view of things,

We could see that both of them were on fire.

And at that point, there's no doubt in anybody's mind

That this was hostile action.

Narrator: By now, u.S. Air space is on lockdown.

Civilian flights are grounded.

Military planes patrol america's skies.

Col. Marshall: Nobody knew whether there were

Additional intended targets

Or what the time phasing might very well have been

Of additional attacks.

Col. Marshall: Nobody really knew what was coming.

That's when the activities of the day

Took on a different character.

♪ ♪

Narrator: September 11th, 2001. New york city.

Terrorists crash two civilian airliners

Into the world trade center.

Col. Marshall: We all assumed that it had been

An accident of some kind.

But it became clear shortly after that there

Was a little more to the story.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Within minutes, two f-15s arrive,

Tasked with defending the skies.

To keep the fighters in the air: The kc-135.

Col. Marshall: We were just calculating how much fuel

An f-15 burns and how long we could stay on station.

A fighter without a tanker is not fully combat capable.

Narrator: Colonel andy marshall and his kc-135 crew

Refuel the f-15s flawlessly.

The fighters take turns drinking fuel

As they protect new york against further attacks.

But one hour later, tragedy.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Col. Marshall: When the towers fell,

We wanted to stay in the fight for as long as possible

To do whatever it was we could.

Narrator: Marshall and his crew continue to orbit,

Refueling the f-15s four times

And offloading 60,000 pounds of fuel.

Two hours later, they land at mcguire air force base

In new jersey.

Col. Marshall: Another tanker followed in close succession

Behind us.

We were sure there was another tanker inbound

To provide support for fighters on air cover.

♪ ♪

Narrator: In the months after 9/11, 78 kc-135s support

6,000 sorties of fighters guarding high-value targets.

It's a reawakening of the kc-135's original mission:

To be ready to refuel, anytime, anywhere.

Col. Marshall: We saw a ten-year gap in alert,

And now we're back on alert again.

Although the purpose is different now,

The importance is probably greater.

Col. Marshall: You can't have big-time credible air defense

That will really stop anything without a tanker.

And so there's a universal understanding of that now,

No doubt.

♪ ♪

Narrator: 2003. Washington, dc.

The kc-135 is beginning to show its age.

The general accounting office files a report

Stating an urgent need to replace the entire fleet.

Since 1993, maintenance costs have doubled.

They're projected to increase 130 percent more

In the next fifteen years.

Rebecca: Tests had revealed that there might be

Problems in the future with the kc-135.

No one wanted to count on a single airframe

That might have a problem that would ground the whole fleet.

Rebecca: No kc-135, no operation desert storm.

No kc-135,

No ability to go after terrorists around the globe.

No kc-135 and all these fighters are just short-legged shooters

That don't have the global reach.

♪ ♪

Narrator: February 2011. Seattle, washington.

Boeing debuts its brand new tanker: The kc-46.

It's a tanker made for a new generation.

The kc-46 ups the kc-135's fuel capacity

To a whopping 212,000 pounds.

It can transfer fuel at twelve hundred gallons a minute,

Twenty percent faster than the kc-135.

It can refuel all fixed-wing receiver aircraft at any time,

On every mission.

♪ ♪

The kc-46 is scheduled to deliver in 2017.

Until then, the kc-135 continues its mission.

♪ ♪

On an average day, american kc-135s refuel aircraft

All around the world, offloading nearly 3 million pounds

Of fuel,

Refueling on a scale that no other tanker can beat

And changing the course of wars.

Dr. Hopkins: The kc-135 has been

The single most influential weapons system of the cold war.

Without tankers, bombers could not reach their targets.

Narrator: Sixty years after its birth,

This flying gas station is still going strong.

The kc-135 is u.S. Air power's great enabler.

Without refueling, the air war stops.