The picture of the F-86 Sabre being refueled was taken by me from atop the refueling tender that I operated for a few weeks early in 1952. Unfortunately all the other pictures I took of the refueling and servicing of the F-86's have been lost somewhere in my travels, only this one remains. The refuelers we were using at the time were relics left behind by the RAF. They were extremely unwieldy and cantankerous old things, terrible to try to operate. The fuel pumping was powered by a small engine located in the rear compartment of the vehicle. It had no starter motor, but had to be hand-cranked to get it going, which it was extremely reluctant to do. Just to make matters more difficult still, the operator had to stand on a small steel ladder which could be temporarily hung on the back end of the refueler while sweating it out hand cranking that damned little engine which seemed always determined not to start. Those engines were also notorious for kicking back when trying to start them. Fortunately no one suffered any broken arms as can happen from such a kick-back, however there was many a time when we operators were tumbled off the ladder by kick-backs. Everyone was very happy when we finally were able to travel up to Liverpool and retrieve our own new, Canadian made refuelers. That was quite a trip when about twenty of us, each driving a big yellow, shiny new 5000 gallon refueler came roaring down the narrow and winding British highways in a great long column. We must have made quite a sight when we rolled through the many small towns and villages enroute to North Luffenham. Funny thing, we made it all those miles without incident, then just as we came onto the base, one of the guys had a small accident right at the Guardhouse gate!
Updated: April 30, 2003