548,000 Gallons in One Night | Operation Midnight Hammer | Fuels NCOIC MSgt. Edge
The Afterburn PodcastShow Notes
Operation Midnight Hammer through the eyes of the people who flew it. MSgt. Edge was the fuels NCOIC responsible for getting gas into every aircraft, supporting the Wild Weasels who flew Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses ahead of the B-2 strike on Iran.
Watch the three-part documentary series on Afterburn Defense:
Part I: https://youtu.be/MgQ_X3Td8a4
Part II: https://youtu.be/GzdL6NMYDso
Part III: https://youtu.be/Xc22-2RaGSY
This is the full interview.
Nothing flies without fuel. In this conversation, he explains how his team pumped 548,000 gallons in a single night, why one three-mile transfer line put a hard ceiling on the entire operation, how a project that normally takes years got done in a matter of days, and what it took to convince a host nation to change an order.
Before Iran, the 55th Fighter Squadron fought over Yemen in Operation Rough Rider, a sustained air campaign against Houthi surface-to-air threats. What they learned there is the reason the F-16 Block 50 and the AGM-88 HARM were part of the strike package on June 21st, 2025.
These interviews were recorded between December 2025 and January 2026 and preserve firsthand accounts from pilots, maintainers, intelligence officers, and logistics airmen who were there.
0:00 A Deployment That Was Supposed to Be Routine
2:20 Planning for a Buildup Nobody Expected
4:03 Twenty-One Days of Work in Three Days
6:21 The Fuel Line That Capped the Whole Operation
12:09 548,000 Gallons on the Night of Midnight Hammer
15:00 Hot Refueling F-35s for the First Time
17:02 Find a Way to Yes
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