Military plane I.D. please

Nose piece must be some sort of antenna or something because refueling receptacle is on top of the plane near the cockpit.

jungle wrote in post #2619935
A few US Airforce tankers can be equipped with a hose on the boom to allow fueling of Navy and Marine aircraft which use the hose and probe system, but this isn't changeable once airborne.

True for the KC135, not for the KC10 (modified DC10-30). All KC10's have at least one hose and drogue system on the aircraft along with the boom. Some have 3 hose and drogue systems along with the boom. I have some great inflight refueling pics, but from an old film camera. One of these days I'll get'm scanned.

Do the markings on top of the cockpit have any significance to you guys ?

That was the actual vibrant color of what you all refer to as the stinger. No color adjustments were done.

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Wow, nicer!

The white stripes over the cockpit aid the boom operator in flying the boom to the fuel port which is the dark area in the center of the white outline.

And based on quick research that appears to be the first production C-5M.

A short desription of your catch. http://www.globalsecur​ity.org …systems/aircraf​t/c-5m.htm

Check out the pictures section-they have some nice shots of what appears to be the same aircraft.

Great capture

Yeah, this has to be a flight test aircraft. When I first went to work on the Apache program back in the 1980's, I remember seeing pictures of the test flight prototypes that had orange painted probes on them. None of the production models have any type of probe and they were never equipped for mid-air refueling. Besides, the probe on this C-5 is too skinny and has the wrong type of fitting on the end to be a refueling probe.

Blue Deuce wrote in post #2620194
Do the markings on top of the cockpit have any significance to you guys ?

If your talking about the white and back just over the cockpit, this is what "Jungle" was mentioning,.

The black part is the actual "gas cap" (for lack of a better word ) for in flight refueling..
The white marks are essentially the "target" to aid in aligning the gas nozzle on the "flying boom"

In this system, the receiving plane needs to fly straight and steady, but the tanker does the more precision work, they need to "fly" the gas nozzle in the flying boom right into that black hole.. it's quite a trick.

But the upside is that the receiving pilot needs less training.
The downside is that the "tanker" needs to be a very highly modified plane to accommodate the boom, whereas with the hose and drogue method, almost any aircraft can be equipped with tanks and hoses, but the pilot in the plane receiving the added fuel needs more training to pull the stunt off, and the receiving plane needs that probe which can effect aerodynamics.

Heres some info;
http://www.dmna.state.​ny.us/ang/107/boomer.h​tml
http://www.swri.org/3p​ubs/ttoday/Summer05/to​c.htm
http://www.centennialo​fflight.gov …gy/refueling/Te​ch22G3.htm
http://www.centennialo​fflight.gov …gy/refueling/Te​ch22G2.htm

Hah, I should have just gone to Wikipedia first;
http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Aerial_refuelin​g
Descriptions and images of both types of system.

Good Wiki article CDS, it covers all the bases and NKAWTG. I always had to use the hose and probe and it can be entertaining on dark nights.
The opening of Dr. Strangelove has some lovely B-52 tanking footage.

Wow, it's a flying skewer! Are we taking orders today?

The 2nd photo is really great, for the detail captured.

Wazza wrote in post #2632144
The 2nd photo is really great, for the detail captured.

Do you suppose men in suits with microphones in their ears are going to come knocking on my door ?

Blue Deuce wrote in post #2633313
Do you suppose men in suits with microphones in their ears are going to come knocking on my door ?

If they do I suggest you be very, very nice...

Les

It's probably some sort of worst case scenario device, similar to what knights called "jousts."
/joke