Gassing Up Some HAWGS! 

Thanks! That must've been a pretty cool summer job!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 It was two summers and it was the coolest job. I got the job at age 13 because my mother worked at a laboratory on Wright field and she was taking lessons on the dare of the Colonel she worked for. Prior to getting the job, I lived at the museum when it was on Patterson field. So she asked if I could work at the club and I rode with her to and from the base. The A&P put me straight to work and I learned about in detail about what has been a lifelong passion.

Yeah, I would not want to be a bad guy with one of those circling overhead!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 I have seen what they can do. You are correct Sir. LOL

Yes they are!

Thanks for your service Roland! I imagine that wasn't the most glorious of jobs, but a ver important one!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

Thank you for your service as well! A-10 is definitely one of my faves!

That's pretty cool!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 yeah we got a week long air show as they where practicing over the lake and city!

JJ's is good, but not many of them around these parts!

Thanks Joe! My job is pretty easy. The guys in back have the hard jobs!

Thanks Josh! We refuel A10s quite often. I'll get some more footage just for you!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 Please!!! We "fly" the DCS world version of this bird as desk bound nerds. Watching this vid actually made me feel better. I approach the tanker just like that first bird, and thought I was a really poor student.

What exactly is DCS?

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 DCS is an acronym for “Digital Combat Simulator” - it is a pretty thorough simulation of a multitude of modern and historical aircraft which players can fly in different simulated eras and locations. You can divide it into WWII, Cold War, and modern. It runs on Windows machines and people like myself and Brrt Nerd organize sorties and fly online together. Its as close as guys like him and I will ever get to flying an actual combat aircraft. Sometimes we take it WAY too seriously. AAR is a notoriously difficult right-of-passage for DCS pilots - and watching this video did indeed hit home. I can’t tell you how many times I had left a tanker with not enough fuel, but plenty of stress-induced carpal tunnel from gripping the damn stick too hard. Also, I’m pretty certain I saw that 4-ship down in Chicago early 2022. I live in the suburbs and we were downtown during their practice day. We were driving up Lake Shore Drive watching a multitude of different jets flying over the lake when all of the sudden my wife shouts out, “Look - a Warthog!!”. And I’ll be damned if she didn’t see them before I did. So proud of her ;)

Josh you NAILED it; That video was so good that I could have watched those A-10s belly-up to the flying gas tank all day. Honestly, I would have watched all of the other stuff during fast-forward, too. Excellent Audio and Video. Loved the way he teased his co-pilot about his lunch. It was like it was the 80s again with simpler times.

The A-10 is a mean machine for sure!

Appreciate it Otto! I'll try to get the crew more involved!

Thanks for your service! I'm not sure about the other branches, but the USAF has a program called "Space-A", which stands for space available. Essentially, if we are going on a trip, current and retired military may ride along free of charge, as long as there is space available. Being retired, you and your spouse can travel the world on military aircraft free of charge. As for our local training sorties, usually not. We have certain restrictions, that are not conducive to training, when passengers are on board.

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 thanks. As an A-7 driver we didn’t need gas as often as other tactical a/c. Could fly 2.7 hours depending on the profile. A-7 pretty easy to plug in smooth air, day or night. The A-7 was occasionally used as a tanker off an aircraft carrier buy adding the drogue package (buddy store) plus a fuel tank on the other wing but other a/c (particularly F-4s) didn’t like plugging into a smaller jet.

I think I remember hearing you on the radio!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 I thought about deviating for a bit to the north to have a better chance seeing you guys but I was running behind already!!!

You're welcome!

Yes, all boom operators are enlisted.

Sure do ol bud!

That's a whole lot of firepower!

Yeah, I would not want to be a bad guy on the ground with those things above me!

Yeah, they are slow, but that is on purpose! Deadliest aircraft in our arsenal for sure!

Thanks Tom! I almost tried for A-10s out of pilot training, but they didn't have Hawgs in Ohio, which is why i chose tankers.

Yeah, they are MEAN airplanes!

Thanks Jeff!

Thanks Michael!

Ha! We've got a lot of those right now!

Awesome! So you're from Baltimore, or one of the other HAWG bases?

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 I grew up just south of Baltimore. Little town called Linthicum Heights. I was in the Navy early in the 70's. I was a flapjack king. For 43 yrs I was a local owner operator truck driver. Used to go on the MANG base in Middle River to make deliveries. I am now retired.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your service!

I'd rather not get into specifics regarding airspeeds for security reasons, but I'll tell you we have to slow way down for A-10s.

We hope to be harvesting in about a month. Beans are just now starting to turn.

Thanks for your service! We refuel the Ft. Wayne guys quite often!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 Thank you for yours sir!

Yeah, I've heard they started with the 30MM cannon, then built the airplane around it!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 right I think that’s what they said on the doc too just awesome

Great question! It means we have the option to make a low approach or do a touch and go.

I’m guessing the touch and go is for practice then.

Thanks Kevin! I'm trying to get a little better each video. One of these days, I'll figure it out!

Ha! Yeah, pickups in a pond are one thing, airplanes submerged in water are another! Thanks for watching!

Hey Carl! Yeah, we do some refueling at night. When the days get shorter this fall/winter, I should have some night footage.

Not really, but some receiver pilots are better than others!

You need to try it ol bud!

Ha! No, he did fine. Just letting him get some practice in!

If you're talking about the third landing, I think that one was mine!

@@ohioflyingfarmer7050 Then don't tell him what I said. Don't wanna crush his confidence completely,

Heck yeah it matters!