The aforementioned Buff EWO provided me with this:
"The comments in the thread were correct when they said it was demo’d during CFIC at Castle AFB. I don’t know if any gas was actually passed in this position, but the stated object of the exercise was to demonstrate the stability of the platforms. Also correct in the threads is that this is an old pic. It is a G model B-52 which was retired around ’92. The significance is that this was in a different AF than what we have now. At the time of this pic, both the B-52 and the KC-135s belonged to SAC, and had been since time immemorial. The main reason for the maneuver was “Because we Can!”.
At the time I went through CFIC (~1988), it was called Consolidated Flight Instructor Course, not “Combat” Flight Instructor Course, the reason being that aircrews from both the bomber and the tanker (and RC-135) went through the same course. They just had different tracks. It was THE instructor course for SAC aircrews. The WHIF was practiced without the full complement of crewmembers on board, just the pilots and the navigator team. The gunner and I (EWO) normally didn’t partake in this exercise. We had no attitude instruments back in our section. Our ADI was looking over our shoulders towards the front of the airplane, over the pilot’s shoulders and seeing what the horizon looked like.
There were two air refueling routes where this was done in northern California; two, big hour long A/R tracks that drove straight north with a 180 turn on the north end at the midpoint. One was centered over the Sierras and the other over the coast range to the west. It was always a mark of distinction for the student pilot to “hang on” during the turn. I’m sure that was the genesis of this.
CFIC was a fun course. The instructor candidates had to demonstrate that they could instruct aircrew members in how to fly and fight a B-52. Their “students” were actually instructors with a million hours who would pull every stupid trick in the book on the instructor candidate. They were very creative. Their goal was to teach the instructor candidate not to let the student exceed the instructor’s limits, and then defined those limits. That’s what the course was all about, finding your limits. Thus, the Whif.
(There is some video of this being done that I’ve seen. It’s a very graceful looking maneuver. Constant motion, constant turns, really pretty.)"
Would love to see the video.
Tarnished