A backup device for raising a refueling boom interconnecting a tanker aircraft with a receiver aircraft in flight, the boom being joined to the tanker aircraft by a mechanical articulation and a hoist cable. The backup device includes a secondary cable fixed at one side in the boom, and fixed at the other side in a cable actuator placed inside the tanker aircraft, the secondary cable being extended along the underside of the tanker aircraft and along the boom, and attached to them in at least three intermediate points with clips or staples that can be released by a force exerted through the secondary cable. The cable actuator has rolling devices to roll the secondary cable for raising the boom to the stowed position.