Show-Me State Times

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 110th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron completed a hot pit event with the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber during a Bomber Task Force mission on August 21, 2024.

Hot pitting involves an aircraft landing, refueling, and taking off without shutting down its engines.

“If we lose a tanker or don’t get a tanker for aerial refueling, a hot pit enables us to move our jet from location to location, refuel and complete the mission,” said the 110th EBS deputy commander and B-2 pilot.

During the hot pit, pilots performed an engine-running crew change while the crew chief and ground team hooked the bomber up to a refueling tank, refueled the aircraft, and then got it airborne again.

While hot refueling is not foreign to members of the 110th EBS, it is a process that has been refined within the wing.

“In the past, our hot pit crews have been a large group, with a big footprint, going out and setting up,” said the deputy commander. “With more iterations of this process, we’ve been making it leaner under the Agile Combat Employment concept, where we can land a jet with the minimum number of people, turn the jet, and then get it airborne.”

Conducting hot pit events in various locations around the globe enables aircrew and support Airmen to maintain a high state of readiness and proficiency.

The hot pit was part of an overall BTF deployment conducted from Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley in Australia.

Bomber missions contribute to joint force lethality and deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific by demonstrating the U.S. Air Force’s ability to operate anywhere in the world at any time.

The 110th EBS is composed of members assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing and 131st Bomb Wing, both located at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, as well as supporting members from across Pacific Air Forces.

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