kfr@hou5f.UUCP (Kevin Redden) (10/30/84)
Loring Air Force Base, Maine USAF Capt. Robert Goodman used towing and mid-air refueling skills to possibly save the lives of two men and a $4 million aircraft. Capt. Goodman learned to tow gliders while a civilian. That experience came in handy while he was flying a KC-135 tanker aircraft - one that refuels other airplanes, in midflight - over the chilly North Atlantic recently. One of the accompanying F-4 fighter planes lost power. The captain dropped to the F-4's level and hooked his craft's four-inch refueling pipe to it, then towed the fighter as if it were a glider. When the disabled plane's engines came back on, he disconnected, only to see the plane again lose power. He dived and reconnected, but the fighter jerked free. Capt. Goodman managed to connect a third time at his tankers maximum speed, 500 mph, catching the F-4 just before its two pilots would have had to eject. Capt. Goodman then towed the craft to the nearest airport where it landed safely. He towed it a total of 160 miles. "Once they had landed, the two F-4 pilots were so grateful they kissed the ground and Goodman," reported a spokesman. "The North Atlantic is so cold...you can make a valid case that Goodman saved their lives. He certainly saved the airplane." Copied (with permission) from "free flight" - the journal of the Soaring Association of Canada.