Roger and Tony were having dinner together at the Kennedy Space Center Officer's Club. Roger really started to appreciate the secrecy of where they were going when he found out they weren't even leaving Florida until after sun down. That would have them landing in Nevada in the middle of the night, taking the three hour time difference into account.
Roger asked, "So, Tony, where are we gassing up?" With the T-38 Talon's thousand mile range, he figured they would need at least one refueling stop, possibly two.
Tony's answer surprised him, "An Air National Guard Unit from Kansas will refuel us mid-air. The crew will be told that it's a training exercise. Which, actually, it will be. I won't lie Roger, we'll be on fumes before refueling and on landing."
Roger asked, "What about the way back?"
Tony responded, "The flight back will be a little less intense, we'll top up in Nebraska, then we'll head down to Houston for Apollo 11."
Roger was pleased, "I would have liked to watch them launch in person, but being in mission control will be much better."
When the two were walking out to the plane, Tony inquired, "By the way Roger, when you said you were hoping for stick time, where you referring to piloting the plane… or something else entirely?"
Roger just grinned, "I was hoping to fly the plane. I was also hoping to spend some time down on the strip."
Tony gave him some good news, "Even though we'll be spending most of the month we are down there on base, we will have the weekends off."
Roger smiled, "You old dog, you kept that from Jeannie…. four weekends on the world famous Las Vegas strip!"
Having just one jet for the two of them actually worked out better due to the long, late night flight. Tony got comfortable and rested while Roger skillfully handled take off, and brought the jet to a cruising altitude. Tony respected Roger's flight skills. He would never admit it to his Army buddy, but he always believed that flying a helicopter was more difficult than flying a jet. Tony started to doze off in the back seat of the jet.
"Wake up, Tony, we're at the gas station," Roger told his friend.
Tony was immediately awake. Roger could have easily handled the mid-air refueling, but both astronauts decided two sets of eyes would be best on this one. They would be refueling at night with an Air National Guard unit. With the Guard, you tend to either get experienced vets who still want to serve, or very green airman whose only military experience occurs one weekend a month. But not only was this operation necessary to get Tony and Roger to Nevada, this particular Air Guard group was getting ready to be activated. There was a war going on, after all. Refueling in the middle of the night over Kansas was nothing compared to a mid air refueling in a combat situation.
Tony and Roger lucked out. The pilot of the KC-135 was a veteran Navy fighter pilot who joined the Air Guard after going to work for United Air Lines. Due to the tanker commander's experience with both large and small jets, the refueling went off flawlessly. Then it was Roger's turn to catch some z's while Tony flew the two Majors to their destination.
Roger woke up to Tony's voice, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are starting our final descent into Dreamland. Local time is 0300 and temperature is 85 degrees."
Roger looked out over the dark desert and said, "Umm Tony, I don't see a runway."
Tony laughed, "You will."
As if on cue, the landing lights came on for one of the strips. Roger though at least we made good time but 85 degrees at 3:00 AM? All totaled they were in the air for four hours. They could have gone faster, but the sonic booms might attract a little more attention than they would have liked. Roger was also surprised at the minimal radio contact between Tony and the tower. No usual banter, just the bare minimum to bring the plane in.
Once the plane got to the ground, and the canopy was opened, Roger was amazed at the heat of the Nevada desert in June. The two reported to the officer of the day, an Air Force Captain. Roger was surprised of the activity in the duty hut considering the time of day.
The OOD explained, "We'll be getting our regular flights of workers in about an hour and a half. You gentlemen are welcome to get some breakfast in the Officers Mess and grab a rack in the Bachelor Officer's Quarters. Considering the time you came in, the CO will meet you for lunch at 1200 at the Officer's Club, you can report to him then."
Roger and Tony thanked the captain, and went over to get some breakfast. Even though their bodies told them it was only 2300, and they weren't that tired, they knew to get sleep when it's offered. All to often their careers required them to go days even without shut-eye. The two NASA Majors ended up sharing a spacious room at the BOQ, and called it a night at 0400 local time, midnight Florida time.
