Aeronautica Militare Italia visits RAF Mildenhall, showcases new tanker

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  International relations were flying high Dec. 9, as the Italian Air Force arrived at RAF Mildenhall.

A crew from Aeronautica Militare Italia, 14th Wing, Pratica Di Mare (Rome), visited RAF Mildenhall on a training mission.

While at RAF Mildenhall, the Italian crew allowed aviators from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, 100th Operations Group and 351st Air Refueling Squadron to visit the new tanker.

Col. Christopher Kulas, 100th ARW commander, Chief Master Sgt. Christopher Powell, 100th ARW command chief, and Col. Bill DeMarco, 100th OG commander, greeted the Italian aircrew on their arrival and had the opportunity, along with RAF Mildenhall pilots, boom operators and maintainers, to view the aircraft.

"We are trying to start an exchange program with the U.S. Air Force, so they invited us here so we could show them our aircraft," said Italian Lt. Col. Mauro Del Giudice, 14th Wing chief of operations and aircraft commander of the Italian plane. "This is an invitation to build relations. We can continue to work together in the future; we both do air refueling, and in the future they [may] come to Rome to visit us."

It's always a good thing when you can learn how other air forces do things, said Del Giudice.

"For us, it's an opportunity to work with the best in the world, so we can learn from them," said Del Giudice.

The KC-767 aircraft offers two methods of refueling - boom and drogue - explained Italian Capt. Claudio D'Ippolito, 8th Squadron, 14th Wing, who was also a pilot on the flight to RAF Mildenhall.

Del Giudice said his air force recently began air refueling mission and are currently only allowed to refuel Italian aircraft. At the moment, they can only refuel with the drogue system, but are learning how to refuel via the boom.

The 100th ARW command chief had the opportunity to check out the "boom suite" on board, and reflected on the capabilities.

"When I refuel in a KC-135, I can only do one boom or one drogue [at a time] - the capability of the [KC-767] allows you to do both all the time," said Powell, who is a boom operator himself.

Several 351st ARS pilots met the Italian aircrew to observe and integrate training, said Maj. James Muniz, 351st ARS pilot.

"Because the KC-767 is a newer aircraft, the systems for navigation and communication work better together than the KC-135's," said Muniz, adding he thinks the exchange is a great way to build international relations.

"As partners in NATO, we work closely with the Italians and many other countries on a continuous basis," Muniz said. "The fact that we train and fly together so often was one of the key aspects of Operation Odyssey Dawn and Operation Unified Protector. From a tanker perspective, the Libya operations were very much along the lines of how we fly and operate daily. Now, we have an opportunity to meet the same pilots we have only talked to in the air, on radios and via phone conversations."

Although the aircraft departed the same day it arrived, the lead pilot and boom operator stayed behind at RAF Mildenhall, to train during a real-world KC-135 mission.

Del Giudice and his boom operator, Italian First Marshal (E-9 equivalent) Luca Gabriele, flew on two RAF Mildenhall missions Dec. 12 and 13, and saw the differences in how the KC-135s refuel receivers. The Italian boom operator said he found the experience very different to flying on his aircraft.

"I definitely learned from [RAF Mildenhall aircrew]," he said. "I'm not used to lying down in the boom. I did my training in a KC-10 Extender, where the boom position is seated. Having to lie down to use the controls is another technology - our [KC-767] jet is all automatic. You push one button and it does everything. I look through cameras, but here you look through the window and physically see the other plane.

"The aircrew here have a lot of experience," Gabriele said. "There are standard procedures that we all follow, but the experience they show in flight is excellent; they handle receivers very well, without any hesitation."

The crews agree that both air forces have a mutual respect for each other.

"We're dear friends with another nation that has tankers, and this builds partnerships," Powell said. "This provides big benefits in how we train crew members - it provides [the Italians] a different way to train, and we will learn from them as well."

Capt. Kurt Wampole, a 351st ARS pilot, shared Powell's thoughts.

"The focus of this event was to improve interoperability and improve from the strengths of our allies," he said. "Just as important, our aircrew got to interact with them on a personal level and got to know them, which will strengthen our already robust partnership and pay dividends throughout our Air Force careers."