Two KC-135T tankers, belonging to the Michigan Air Natioanl Guard’s 127th Wing, from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, arrived at RAF Mildenhall, following a recent deployment to Geilenkirchen.
On Sept. 14, the first KC-135, serialled 60-0345, arrived in the UK to collect spare parts for the other plane, 59-1512, that was unserviceable at Geilenkirchen.
Noteworthy, both aircraft were initially scheduled to depart Geilenkirchen heading back to Selfridge after the problem on the second tanker had been fixed.
However, since most of the local-based 100th Air Refueling Wing Stratotankers are currently deployed abroad (it’s still unclear whether the Mildenhall tankers were detached to support the deployment of special operations planes that followed the Benghazi attack), the two aerial refuelers stopped over in the UK on their way back to strenghten the U.S. European tanker force and support some deployments across the Pond.
Indeed, on Sept. 18, both Michigan ANG KC-135s launched to refuel some B-1Bs over the Atlantic Ocean, one of the routine missions of the 100th ARW.
According to local spotters, only 59-1512 is still supporting Coronet deployments from RAF Mildenhall.
Image credit: Tony Lovelock
