I will double check my copies of the route briefs. Where I think the error lies is in the A and B brackets so to speak. For example between Bermuda and Eglin ( under 4 hours) a Typhoon does not need to refuel twice.There would be an A and B bracket published and 2 receivers would refuel in the A and 2 in the B. Over the entire deployment I would expect the reason for the odd number is that on the first leg to it was not possible to refuel both sets of receivers only once before the abort point without needing a top up for the first pair. A plan that had each ac refuelling 13 times would be a poor one.
Have just double checked the article which definitely says each ac refuelled 13 times- I would lay money on that being half of them refuelled 6 times and the other half 7 times for the reason above. Like a lot of reporting, when you know about the subject you can usually see errors.
Last edited by vascodegama; 11th Jan 2015 at 07:31.
Reason: Addition