Sled Driver

at refueling in the B-model were humbling. I soon learned if I lowered my seat, I
could see everything much better. Even when it went smoothly, refueling in flight
was extremely fatiguing for the pilot.
I was accustomed to being on the boom for just a few minutes to top off in
fighters. In contrast, SR-71 refuelings took fifteen minutes or more which could
seem like an eternity. This time was needed because the airplane took on an
incredible amount of fuel. During a normal refueling we usually received over
11,000 gallons. This changed our gross weight by 70,000 pounds and caused a
corresponding change in the center of gravity of our aircraft.
At the slow 300 knot range in which we were flying to refuel, the feel of the jet
became sluggish as the SR filled with fuel. At these gross weights and slower
airspeeds, the SR-71 became thrust limited during the last few minutes of refueling.
In military power, we would start to fall off the boom. A disconnect was highly
undesirable since the jet was less responsive now and to reconnect was more
difficult. It also meant wasting time on the refueling track and this could affect our
overall mission timing. The solution was to light one afterburner with careful
finesse. The fine art of pulling the throttle ever so slightly up and just into the
minimum burner range was handed down from one generation of SR pilots to the
next. The SR is the only airplane I know that required the use of afterburner to stay
on the boom.
Using one afterburner caused another problem: asymmetrical thrust. Some pilots
used a little rudder to handle the yaw. Others left the rudders alone, flew sideways,
and looked out the front quarter panel to see forward. The quarter panels were
located on either side of the windshield. Only the left quarter panel was wired for
defogging so we always lit the left burner to yaw right so we could use this feature if
needed.
The most exciting moments on the refueling track were normally reserved for
those final few minutes in afterburner on the boom with a very heavy jet. Once I
selected min AB and the TEB dumped in, there was a pause, then the airplane
lunged sideways and started to charge up the boom. With the left burner stabilized
in min AB, I controlled our fore and aft position with right throttle. With this method,
the pilot controlled the airplane by leading the power inputs. It was like flying a
freight train because the airplane's inertia caused a lag between throttle input and
aircraft response. It wasn't uncommon at this point for the director lights to
resemble a pinball game, flashing from end to end as the fore and aft movements of
the jet caused continual changes in relative position. I had to ignore the director
lights, grit my teeth, and call on every bit of my experience to get to the end of the
refueling track with a full tank.