Tanker fans start your engines!

  • Published
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  It doesn't take living in North Carolina long to realize that this is race country.

In 2009, the Air Force sponsored a series of video shorts called "Switching Seats" in which an Airman would trade places for a day with someone in a similiar and exciting civilian career field.

916th boom operator, Tech. Sgt. Steve Stanton, got a first-hand look at Richard Petty Racing, even meeting the legendary racer himself.

From there, an unlikely friendship between race cars and tankers blossomed.

On Dec. 17, the 916th showcased its horsepower to more than 50 members of the Michael Waltrip Racing Team. Every career field from pit crew to back shop fabrication and sheet metal came to Seymour Johnson to see what the Air Force Reserve mission was all about.

Two KC-135Rs refueled seven F-15E Strike Eagles 20,000 feet over the state. Many of the NASCAR team members got to see the mid-air refueling happen from 20 feet while watching in the boom pod, and they were able to watch it from afar while they sat in the  cockpit watching a tanker in the distance refuel.

At the end of the day, the crews were able to watch the F-15 Demo Team take to the skies above base before heading home to Winston Salem.

Follow the 916th Air Refueling Wing as a Fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com