Germany Quick-turn

After crossing the North Atlantic, we landed in Germany around 3 pm. It was cold, but not much colder than back home in Seattle - about 35 degrees F. I was extremely tired; one of the other pilots had slept longer than his allotment, leaving me awake for nearly 22 hours. He was ready to hit the town for dinner and drinks, but all I was ready for was sleep.

And sleep I did. I was out for nine hours, up for a quick bite to eat at 2 am, then got another five hours of sleep around 7 am. Lt Col F slipped a note under my door at some point; we were being sent back stateside. There would be no downrange flight to the Sandbox. It was disappointing, since we had only been away from home for just over two days. We could possibly pick up another mission on the East Coast, although it was doubtful we'd see Europe again during the trip.

Alert time came, and we were scheduled to fly almost the same leg we had just flown, except in reverse. We even had another night air refueling scheduled, but with a KC-10 instead of the older KC-135. At the end of the 11.5 hour flight, we'd have about 30 hours off in Georgia. By the time we took off from Germany, it was already dark, and it would remain so for our entire flight. It truly would be the longest night, since we were chasing the sun westward.

After crossing the Atlantic, we met the tanker just as planned, perhaps a few minutes late. It appeared out of the darkness like the mother ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, adorned with bright lights and flashing beacons. We climbed up to meet the mammoth tanker and topped off with enough fuel to carry us down the eastern seaboard to Savannah.

As we parted ways, the lights of Boston and Cape Cod appeared beneath us. Farther ahead, the tip of Long Island was visible. As we neared, the lights of the island stretched towards the nexus of the City, its collective illumination flooding the heavens with splendor. Philly, Baltimore, DC, and Richmond all showed their luminance as well, but none of these cities could approach the grandeur of the Big Apple's brilliance.

We started our descent over Charleston, South Carolina, and made our approach and landing in Savannah just after midnight local time. After downloading our cargo and gathering our overnight bags, we made it downtown just after 2 am.

And time to sleep yet again.