Midas Refueling The Bear with Wingtip and Prop Vorticies

I spent twenty-four years in the Air Force flying KC-135s and this is one of the COOLEST refueling videos I’ve seen. Why? It’s not because a jet tanker is refueling a turboprop bomber, although that is part of it. It’s the atmospherics of being at a high altitude and moist weather causing the wingtip vortices. As an added bonus, which makes this video by @t.me/bomber_fighter such a unique and fabulous video, is that the Bear prop tips traveling near the speed of sound create circular vortices off the prop blade tips! Probe and drogue refueling with a bomber takes some time, the IL-76 Midas tanker probably transferring about a thousand pounds of jet fuel a minute through the hose… same as the US drogue refueling system. Filling the bomber up may take 90 minutes! This is the reason the US developed the flying Air Refueling Boom system, transferring 6000 pounds a minute with all four pumps on. Video courtesy of @t.me/bomber_fighter. I believe from how this video was recorded, t.me/bomber_fighter may be recording this from another bomber. #aviation #avgeek #military #airforce #army #navy #usmc #pilot #pilotlife #flight #flying #fly #aircraft #airplane #plane #jet #airport #photo #photography #video #videoviral #viralvideos #lessonsfromthecockpit #podcast #show