Welcome to Warbird Wednesday! Today we will begin our journey looking at air refueling aircraft starting with the KB-29 Superfortress. The need for aerial refueling aircraft was driven at the time by the U.S. Air Force along with the  United States Navy who were racing to carry nuclear weapons to defend against the  Soviet Union. Those first nuclear bombers needed fuel to stay in the air all 24 hours, which lead to the first refueling tankers, the KB-29M & KB-29MR.