FLYING AT 300 KNOTS, CAPT. ALTON (“BOOTS”) McCORMICK FEELS A SLIGHT bump in his F-15C Eagle as he passes through the bow wave behind a KC-135 tanker. He stabilizes his fighter jet about 500 feet back and then accelerates toward the boom, a rigid, telescoping 50-foot pipe coming off the rear of the tanker. As the boom disappears over his left shoulder, McCormick turns his attention to a series of lights on the underside of the tanker: “You’re kind of watching the tanker for an overall big picture, and the director lights tell you forward, aft, up and down.”

Inside the tanker a boom operator, better known to pilots as the boomer, runs the direction lights and maneuvers the boom into position with the fighter’s refueling port. At contact, fuel surges through the boom from the tanker to the fighter. In just a few minutes McCormick takes on 20,000 pounds of fuel. Then he eases back his throttle to disconnect and banks away from the tanker.

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