On 13-24 April 2015 took place Europe’s biggest exercises of the air tankers – EART 2015 (European Air-to-Air Refueling Training). This date is not accidental, because it is linked to the exercise Frisian Flag, where fighter practiced aerial refueling.

The main base for EART was airbase in Einhoven (Netherlands), where tankers flew from Germany (A310 MRTT), France (KC-135), Italy (KC-767) and the Netherlands (KDC-10). The main objective of the exercises is a standardization of procedures AAR in collaboration with AIRCOM and JAPCC – both through theoretical training and practical exercises during flight formation and fighters refueling. It is worth mentioning that not every tanker can refuel every fighter – a need for appropriate certifications and approvals from different countries, as well as the proper fit connection – droque (flexible connection) or the boom (rigid connection). German A310 is equipped with a combination of “droque” KC-767 Italian and Dutch KDC-10 have a combination of “boom” while most versatile is the French KC-135, which has both types of connections.

During our visit the air base Eindhoven had the opportunity to photograph all tankers during their stopover, take a look at their site and talk to the crews. Also we participated in flight operations aboard the AAR KDC-10, making photographed Polish and Dutch F-16s in the air.

Our partner during photoshoot was:

Autor

Filip Modrzejewski

Chief Editor of the Foto Poork aviation outlet. He has accumulated huge amounts of Air-to-Air photography experience, logging more than 500 hours of photo-shoots in the air. Moreover, he has been into photography ever since, and he is striving to bring unusual photos back from any of the unique events he attends.