LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – A delicate dance of mission success and critical failure, that’s what KC-135 Stratotanker operators face when on a refueling mission.
Those missions started from right here in Lincoln.
The men and women of the Air National Guard in Lincoln with the 155th Refueling Wing rehearse this dance many times making sure they know each move they or the receiving plane can make.
On this mission, the crew were headed out to Wyoming and western Nebraska to refuel and meet up with a pair of B-2 Stealth Bombers on their way back from training to base in Missouri.
The work starts before take off with the maintenance crew.
“This thing’s from 1957, so to take care of this thing it takes it takes an entire community,” said Sgt. Dayton Bailey, Flying Crew Chief.
It’s an often forgotten role.
“Everyone thinks of, you know, the big picture, but we are the grind behind the big picture to make sure that that final mission is accomplished,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t happen without the maintenance.”
Just like any flight, the crews are tuned into air traffic control, but it gets a lot more complicated after that, as the crew approaches the B-2’s rally point. A computer on board tells the pilots exactly the speed they need to go because the plane can’t be early or late.
Once in position, this is when the delicate dance begins, traveling at speeds around 400 miles per hour the boom operator and the receiving pilots need to make sure everything is lined up just right.
It’s something boom operators prepare for, for months.
“They go through three to five months of training where they start out with conceptual classroom,” said Col. Kipper Hesse, Wing Commander. “Then they move to the simulator and then they move to the actual aircraft And they’re with an instructor the whole time, and you just have to build that habit pattern.”
The work the men and women of the 155th do is vital to the U.S.’s global reach. While they weren’t the ones flying, the KC-135 was recently used during the U.S. Mission to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities where they played a pivotal role in refueling the B-2 bombers.
“When we see that the KC-135 is playing pivotal roles and missions that are happening all over, I mean, that’s cool,” Bailey said. “It just goes to show the reliability of the aircraft and how important it is to the Air Force to see that it’s always being used in critical mission.”
The crew is flying about seven to 10 flights per week with about half of those times practicing refueling.
So when you see the tankers in the sky around Lincoln, know they are training to be ready to answer the call anytime anywhere.
Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Copyright 2025 KOLN. All rights reserved.