So, with onset of daylight and many hours flying formation and ARs ahead of us, fatigue was building. Several hours of formation flying and AR in the weather had taken its toll. We were each issued go pills for the flight and stop pills for after landing. By now, I had taken all of my go pills and drank most of the liquids stashed in my nest.
As the hours ticked by, I became more and more dog tired. My trusty WSO hadn’t taken any of his go pills and offered them up. Who was I to say no to such a generous offer? Once the sun was up in the east and out of our eyes the flying became somewhat more relaxed. The go pills were working well by now.
About half way across the Atlantic, two additional KC-10s accomplished an AR rendezvous with our gaggle to refuel our tankers. We moved our two 4 ships out a bit and let the big rigs go at it. That was quite an impressive sight. Four behemoths in close formation passing gas. Kind of like mating elephants; a big deal at high altitude.
With ten ARs behind us, we flew through the Straits of Gibraltor and across the Mediterranean in preparation for the eleventh and final AR before descending for approach and landing at Cairo West Air Base, Egypt. By now, I was very tired and dehydrated despite drinking all the liquids I carried and most of what my pitter offered up, and I now had the enormous need to pee. It was time to break out the piddle pack(s). These things were robust plastic bags with an absorbent sponge inside and a secure tie wrap at the business end. As the internal pressure was steadily building, I was debating with myself if I would be able to make the last hour plus or not. It was time to pull the trigger. First, the PP was unrolled and laid on one of the side consoles. Actually, two of them were placed in deployment mode. Next, the seat safety pin was installed. Then, the lap belly and shoulder harnesses were disconnected. Next, the G suit had to be repositioned so, the front full length flight suit zipper could be retracted upwards. You see were this is going don’t ya?
Well, while I’m doing all this, I obviously needed both hands for this complex operation. So, I gave the perfectly trimmed flight controls to my WSO. I recommended he hold the stick gently with one hand and steady his elbow on the knee to eliminate the Rhino’s characteristic pitch sensitivity. It worked for a few seconds and then a very slight PIO began. I reminded him to hold the stick gently and brace on his knee. The PIO kept getting more and more pronounced as we flew along side the tanker and the rest of our four ship started cycling on the tanker for the last time. When I finally got “plugged in” to the PP the flow just wasn’t happening due to 11+ hours being cramped, folded, pinched, etc. And, it was now our turn on the boom.
So, I left the PP hanging in position while we established the pre contact position behind the boom. Once stabilized, the boomer cleared us to the contact position. AR is basically formation flying behind a bigger aircraft and requires a certain amount of concentrated attention. When cleared to the contact position it was a matter of driving straight at the end of the boom so that it was coming to the center of the windscreen. A few feet from contacting the windshield, the boomer would fly the boom around and above the canopy and plug into the refueling receptacle on top of the fuselage behind the rear cockpit. When positive contact was made, a CONTACT light would illuminate on the front canopy bow. Then, it was just a matter of splItting the apple until the boomer confirmed the planned offload was complete. As I was concentrating on this process, a heavy, warm flow started. It felt so good that I subconsciously moaned over the intercom. My backseater was worried about what was wrong with the jet. I advised that golden flow was in progress. His response, “While we’re refueling?!” Yep! While the jet was on-loading, I was off loading. We completed our last AR, disconnected, and smoothly dropped down and back to clear the boom. We then re-established our position on the tanker’s wing for the short portion of the remaining distance to go and offloaded a second PP. Somewhere under an hour to go and it would be nap time. The rest was going to be easy. Yeah, right!
