HH-60 Helicopter refuels from HC-130 in one of the most awesome aerial refueling photos ever!

January 19, 2015 Helicopters, Military Aviation

David Cenciotti

Helicopter Air to Air Refueling as you’ve (probably) never seen it.

The image in this post was taken during a training Helicopter Air-to-Air Refueling (HAAR) mission over Alaska.

It was taken from a 210th Rescue Squadron HH-60 Pave Hawk as it refuels from a 211th Rescue Squadron HC-130N.

Both aircraft belong to the 176th Wing (176 WG), a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), Anchorage, Alaska, and they are tasked with combat search-and-rescue missions.

The point of view and the stunning background make the photo awesome. By the way, this video provides another pretty unique point of view, whereas this one shows how difficult HAAR can really be (hence the need to practice a lot).

Image credit: MSgt Sean Mitchell via AFSOC FB page

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.