Centennial of Air Refueling

Lessons From The Cockpit

Welcome to the sixty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and veteran of four wars. On Tuesday 27 June 2023, the Air Force celebrated a 100-year anniversary. On 27 June 1923 was an event making aviation history! For the first time, fuel was transferred from one DeHavilland DH-4B Biplane to another DH-4B Biplane flown by Captain Lowell Smith and 1Lt John Richter over Rockwell Field on North Island near San Diego California. 1Lt Virgil Hine and 1Lt Frank Siefert flew the DH-4B tanker which John Richter had reconfigured with a 40-foot hose. Air Mobility Command celebrated the centennial of air refueling with Operation Centennial Contact, KC-10, KC-46, and KC-135 tankers flying over all fifty states passing gas to receivers. This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Over one hundred sixty extremely detailed Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles are available in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics, reproduced on vinyl you can peel off and stick t any flat surface. Wall Pilot will also create your favorite airplanes in custom profiles with your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons load. Wall Pilot even did a thirty-footer for one customer. Go to and purchase one or two of these incredible prints. The KB-50 tanker was Tactical Air Command's front-line tanker for many years. A stationed in the United Kingdom. The has been stationed on the island of Okinawa for decades, flying the KC-135A and upgraded in 1991 to the KC-135R Model. The Young Tiger Tanker Task Force flew missions supporting air operations over North Vietnam. KC-10A Extender has flown with the 60th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base since the mid-1980s after moving from March Field in southern California. This KC-10A was assigned to the and is available in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot's website. The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force purchased the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport as has many other nations. This flies with the RAF's 10 Squadron out of RAF Brize-Norton airfield. Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, which can be found on my website at under the pull-down menu.