The World’s only Air Refueling Graduate School


Welcome to the fifty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! Thanks for downloading and listening.

A three-inch thick manila folder on my desk in my new assignment to the Air Mobility Command Director of Operations or AMC/DO staff ended up being the worst four years of my career and yet the most rewarding looking back on it. This graduate-level curriculum changed the way the US Air Force air refueling community did business… right before 9/11! And nobody wanted us! I was second in command of the Initial Cadre of eighteen airmen tasked with creating the KC-135 Weapons School, now the 509th Weapons Squadron. Twenty-five years later, the 509th Weapons School has produced over 200 graduates. 

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, found in all four formats; Hardback, Softback, Kindle, and Audible. Thirty-two pictures taken during air refueling operations are contained in the book. Please buy one or two copies as sales keep the podcast financed and running.

A print of the KC-135 with the 909th ARS markings can be purchased here.

KC-135 of the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, 18 Wing, Okinawa Japan

Prints of the 57th Wing Flagship, an F-15C Eagle based at Nellis Air Force Base Nevada, home of the US Air Force Weapons School, can be purchased here. The 65th Aggressor Squadron’s F-15C Eagles in the Flanker and Splinter paint schemes are also available from Wall Pilot.

65th Aggressor Squadron F-15C in the SPLINTER paint scheme replicating the Russian Su-57 Felon

Prints of Nellis AFB 64th Aggressor Squadron F-16Cs in the all-black Wraith,  the Splinter, the Digital, and the Flogger paint schemes are available at Wall Pilot. 

64th Aggressor Squadron F-16C in the all-black WRAITH paint scheme replicating the Communist Chinese J-20
64th Aggressor Squadron F-16C in the FLOGGER paint scheme replicating the MiG-23 Flogger

Thanks to all of you for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on the Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pulldown.

Check out this episode!

Mark Hasara

Have a great Day!

Sluggo Sends!

P.S. — If you’re reading my book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, I’d really love to hear your thoughts in a review on Amazon here, I read them all.

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