Okay, true story time...
Air Refueling track up near northern Norway...an SR71 track. We fly our tanker from RAF Mildenhall ALLLLLLL the way up there...meet up with "the sled" and give him a full load of fuel.
Then we bet him: "...last guy up to FL450 buys the beer at the Smoke House Inn bar!" For non flyers, FL450 is 45,000 feet.
So off we go!!! We in our mighty KC-135Q Stratobladder and they in their super secret, super fast, lead sled.
We leveled off at FL450...and waited...and waited...and waited. FYI...the sled, with a full load of fuel, and NOT in afterburner...was/is a PIG!
So we won...they acknowledged their loss and said: "Meet us at the bar when you're done with your preflight and we'll pay up! See ya!"
So we headed back to RAF Mildenhall...and about 7 hours later (5 hours flying time, 2 hours postflight/debrief) we arrived in the bar of the Smoke House...and they were there: SLOSHED!
You see...they had flown their 3,000 mile mission and returned to Mildenhall in about an hour and ten minutes and then had their mission debrief, intel, etc...etc...
And had been at the bar for about 3 hours!!!
VERY fast jet!