Stratotanker!

In the early days of the Cold War, Strategic Air Command was America's atomic fist, poised to send hundreds of bombers streaming toward the Soviet Union for nuclear combat, toe to toe with the Russkies.

To fuel these bombers on their way, SAC employed the Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker, first flown in 1950. Unfortunately, the dawn of the air-to-air refueling era in the USAF coincided with the dawn of the jet era, and ungainly-looking, waddling Stratotankers were soon tasked with topping off the tanks on sleek, swept-wing B-47 Stratojets and then the new B-52 Stratofortresses.

The bulbous "double-decker" look is because it was developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter, a cargo-carrying development of the B-29/B-50. If it looks familiar, it's because the civilian variant, the Boeing 377 airliner, was the aircraft from which the famous "Super Guppies" were made.

Even with four Pratt & Whitney radials churning the air with 14,000 combined horsepower, the difference in airspeed between the flying gas station and its customers was such that various tricks were employed to match airspeeds more closely, such as the B-52 lowering flaps and its rear landing gear, or refueling in a shallow dive.

On the left, a four-row Wasp Major: 28 cylinders displacing 4,362½ cubic inches and thundering out 3,500 supercharged horsepower. On the right: a hair dryer.

The KC-97 only operated in front line service with Strategic Air Command until the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker could be phased into service in 1957 to replace it, but it soldiered on in Tactical Air Command units, and in the Guard and Reserve until 1978. In the early '60s, jet engine pods were added to create the KC-97L, mimicking the solution that had been used to allow Tactical Air Command KB-50s to fly fast enough to top up jet fighters.