Science: REFUELING BOOM

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The umbilical cord connecting these two airplanes is a refueling device recently developed by Boeing Airplane Co. Most refueling of airplanes from flying "tankers" has been done by a flexible hose which the airplane must catch and attach. Because the old system has many disadvantages, Boeing switched to this rigid, tubular "boom" that swings below the tail of the tanker. The position in which it hangs can be controlled by small movable vanes near the boom's tip. A man in the tail-gunner's turret of the tanker plane watches the receiving plane approach, and "flies" the boom into a socket on top of the nose. Then the fuel is forced through the tube under pressure.