SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Illinois—An Illinois Air National Guard wing, took off from Scott Air Force, Illinois for a rendezvous with an aircraft out of Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Fort Smith, Arkansas for a refueling mission, March 6.

On this clear day over Northern Arkansas, Happy 51, a 126th Air Refueling Wing KC-135 Stratotanker, and Wolf 02, an F-35A Lighting II were on their way to an historic first.

This marked the first time a Polish F-35 was refueled by a US air refueling tanker and to make it more historic Poland’s state partner the Illinois Air National Guard did the refueling.

“For me being the first Polish F-35 pilot who performed air to air refueling was an honor,” said a Polish Student Pilot. “Plus, the fact that I did this with a tanker from Illinois – a state where there are so many Poles, probably some of them even working at 126th ARW, maybe even supporting this tanker at that day, was just an amazing experience, and makes me feel so proud by doing this.”

“It was exciting for us to see,” said Lt. Col. Tony Meyers, 108th Air Refueling Squadron, commander and mission aircraft commander. “This has been a sixth-month planning process for us to engage with the Flight Training Unit.”

The 126th ARW is now the dedicated tanker wing that trains with the newly activated 57th Fighter Squadron, the squadron training, Polish Air Force F-35 fighter pilots.

The 126th ARW began refueling the Polish Air Force in 2018.

“Historically, it has been us going over there to provide support for their fighters,” said Meyers. “This is the first time we’re able to do it, to my knowledge, domestically, in the US; supporting their training requirements from bases here in the US.”

Illinois has been a state partner with Poland since 1993. The State Partnership Program was established in 1993. It pairs state’s National Guard with international partner’s military for cooperation and training.