"Gassy 06" Red Flag Alaska 08-2 Tanker Ride, AK - 16/04/2008

With our flight the previous week having been cancelled due to heavy and persistent snowfall in the Fairbanks area, TSgt John Gott went above and beyond the call of duty to give us a second chance. OK, so it meant we had to cough up some more cash for another return flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks and an additional night's hotel accomodation, but tanker rides don't come along every day, so we were all willing to do it.

After spending the morning at Fairbanks we were met at the gate by John, who informed us that it really was as cold as it felt; minus 21 degrees F - a whopping minus 29 degrees C! Never before have I felt anything like it!

All was well with our intended flight, however, and we were taken to the aircraft. KC-10A, 83-0076, a 60th AMW bird from Travis AFB, CA was to be our platform and our callsign was "Gassy 06".

We had eight F-16s and four Hornets booked in to come to us, and with seven photographers onboard and only a couple of seats available (one at the back with the boom operator, and one up front on the flight deck), opportunities were going to be somewhat sparse.

I personally only got to shoot one aircraft from the boom operator's station, a F-16D from the 35th FW at Misawa AFB, Japan.

With our eight F-16s having been and gone, we then heard the Hornets had scrubbed. Due to inclement weather in Anchorage we stayed airborne until all of the jets were on the ground, just in case any of them needed a top up., before we headed back to Eielson.

If anything it was even colder when we were back on the ground, but we had just enough time to grab some shots of the KC-10s on the ramp, and a quick one of our crew from the flight.

Sincere thanks go to TSgt John Gott for humouring us, and to the crew of "Gassy 06" for their hospitality.