Crew Captures A Beautiful Nighttime F-35 Mid-Air Refueling

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We’re always really excited when we get to see real live action videos of our armed forces. It’s so rare for civilians to get a peek into the day to day activities of our servicemen and although they’re not always that exciting, it’s still really neat to see.

This video is a prime example. Watching something so seemingly mundane as refueling a plane can be actually really interesting. Just picture yourself in one of these positions. Imagine doing these tasks. You’d be flying through the air, blessed with gorgeous views all the while helping our military be the well-oiled machine that it is. We might have become a bit mushy on this one, but it’s true, right?

As for this video, here’s what we know about this particular mission. It was filmed by LCpl Jessica Lucio while flying over Yuma, Arizona. It took place on a USMC KC130J tanker with the crews practicing mid-air refueling of our new flying wonder (or flop depending on who you talk to), the F-35 Lightning II.

The fighter pilot is flying the F-35B, which is a variant capable of STOVL or short take-off and vertical landing. Some of these birds are already operational, although a few kinks still need to be worked out.