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The
newly formed Strategic Air Command quickly realized that it needed
the means to extend the range of its aircraft. This resulted
in the decision to create tankers. The B-29 was chosen as
the first model for experiments. It first use the drogue
system developed by the British in which a fuel line was dragged
behind the tanker. The other plane had to catch it. It
was an unwieldy system and the transfer rate of the fuel was too
slow.
Boeing developed the flying boom system, in which the boom
was "flown" by a boom operator. It proved so successful that
it has been used ever since. |
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