Every airminded schoolboy has wondered why airliners do not refuel from flying tankers. The advantages (longer range, lighter takeoff, bigger payload) are obvious. Today an airliner labors off the ground carrying fuel for the whole flight, though it will not need most of it for the first thousand miles or so.
Last week, Flight Refuelling Ltd., a British company, was about to test flying tankers on the air's toughest main line: the stormy, midwinter North Atlantic. If the trials (scheduled for this month) are successful, refueling may eventually come into general use on...
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