A CF-18 Hornet in perfect position "on the basket" during the sortie with "Husky 50" accompanied by the author. The white hand on the hose shows the centre of the refuelling envelope, with the inner limit marked by the central orange and white stripe.

A scene that is repeated somewhere in the world many times a day, when a combat aircraft takes on fuel from a tanker - in this case, a CAF CF-18 Hornet photographed by the author from a CC-137 operating as "Husky 50".

A CC-137, with the wing-tip pods attached, shows the new livery of the Canadian Forces (with the previous "Armed" deleted), and modernised lettering style. The United Nations flag is carried on the fin, as well as the national flag.

Still in the earlier livery, a CC-137 displays the prominent red markings on wing-tips and tailplane, to help receiving aircraft make the rendezvous.

Canadian Armed Forces livery that has subsequently been revised taxies in after a mission.

Early flight testing of the Boeing 707 as a tanker used this -320C (N68657) in the late 'sixties, before it was sold to LAN-Chile in December 1969. The F-86 Sabre was at that time Boeing-owned and used as a chase plane: for the tanker development, it featured a probe on the port wing.

Prior to the sale of KE-3A tankers to Saudi Arabia, Boeing conducted further trials and demonstrations, using N792TW after it had served TWA, Northwest and Monarch in civil guise.

A close-up of the Beech Model 1080 under the wing-tip of a CC-137, with the drogue arm extended.

This Boeing 720-025, ex-Eastern and Trans Polar, was repossessed by Boeing in 1971 and became an ASW test aircraft at the time in the early ’seventies when Canada (and Australia) were seeking new maritime patrol aircraft.