Is That a Refueling Probe or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

It was a refueling probe, but they were also happy to see each other:

As reunions go, it only lasted a few minutes.

But Jeff and Christine McLean were thrilled nonetheless to see each other, even though they couldn't hug, let alone kiss.

Married in May 2009 in Fox Point, the couple has spent most of their first year of marriage apart.

Really far apart. As in different cockpits in different airspaces.

Air Force Capt. Christine McLean pilots a refueling plane and Navy Lt. Jeff McLean flies an F/A-18 Super Hornet.

After Christine McLean was deployed from England to southwest Asia in May for refueling missions in the skies over Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, she hoped she might hook up - literally - with her husband, who has been flying combat and support missions from the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier since January.

But it wasn't until last week, on Jeff McLean's final and 40th flight on this deployment that he rendezvoused with the air refuelers over Pakistan and was happy to see it was his wife's plane.

As commander of her KC-135 Stratotanker, Christine McLean speaks to pilots of planes maneuvering behind the refueler to top off their fuel tanks. So the couple spoke for a short time. It was dark, which meant only a brief glimpse for the husband and wife.

The next day, Jeff McLean e-mailed his parents back home in Mequon with the happy news and included a picture taken through night vision goggles by another pilot in his squadron.

Jeff McLean wrote in an e-mail Thursday that he and his wife had tried to coordinate their flight schedules but with more than 50 KC-135 tankers taking off every day to refuel both Navy and Air Force fighters, it was too difficult to connect in the air. On his last combat flight, Jeff McLean knew she would be flying in the same area at the same time but since they had never been able to meet on previous flights, he was merely hoping to hear his wife's voice on the radio.

Chance meeting

"After I was done with my last mission in Afghanistan, the sun was just setting, and I changed frequencies to check in with my tanker and it was Christine!" wrote Jeff McLean, whose call sign is "Lick."

Though it was dark and turbulent - difficult conditions for aerial refueling - Jeff McLean said it was one of the highlights of the deployment. Fighter planes must refuel a few times on each mission over Afghanistan.

"After she gave me about 10,000 pounds of fuel, I flew right up next to her cockpit. She turned on the lights and waved, and I could see her, but it's pretty dark in my jet, so I'm not sure that she ever saw me waving . . .  We were able to fly together all the way out of country and back over the Arabian Sea at 500 knots, then I had to head back and land on the ship and she headed back to her base. As we broke apart, I lit my afterburner, which hopefully looked pretty cool in the dark. It was an absolutely perfect flight."

Nice story.