Posted on 03/16/2026 8:24:48 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
The Pentagon has identified six U.S. service members who were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during a combat mission in support of Operation Epic Fury.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday, took place in "friendly" airspace during an unspecified incident involving another aircraft. While the other plane landed safely, the KC-135 crashed. Military officials said the incident was not due to hostile or friendly fire and remains under investigation.
The airmen were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio, according to U.S. government and state officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/three-birmingham-airmen-killed-in-iraq-refueling-plane-crash/ar-AA1YEjoz?ocid=BingNewsVerp
Three crewmen from Ohio Columbus's 121st ARW
I just laid to rest a friend who was a former Navy commander. He flew most of his career. He told many stories of his friends who died in accidents. He knew every detail and the fatality list in his twenty plus years was long. None of these were combat related deaths. Just ordinary workdays with a fatal ending. My point is, military life is dangerous. People are also dying in other theaters where there is no danger whatsoever from enemy attack. We just aren’t hearing about it.
My read so far is that this operation has had amazing management and the fatalities are spectacularly low in view of what is at risk.
Sad. I worked KC-135 maintenance back in 1967-1969. Flew many a flight on them in SE Asia.
“Fox News is a little off on the units involved. Three of the airman who died were from the 117th Air Refueling Wing is a unit of the Alabama Air National Guard, stationed at Sumpter Smith Air National Guard Base in Birmingham, Alabama.”
Active command transferred to McDill.
What was your AFSC?
I liked working on the 135s.
The list of lost friends starts during pilot training. A room mate, a guy down the hall would just be gone one day. Then though the years, whenever I heard of an accident, I would look for the name. Some were friends from Reese, Vance or Altus some I didn't know. Their loss, irrespective, of that always saddens me.
Rest easy fellow airmen.
Yup. Noisy, cold as ice feet, Hot, heated head (from the hot blowers atop), reeking of kerosene. No sit down toilet.
I flew from Ramstein to RAF Mildenhall many times on these birds, because of the big refueling wing, the 100 ARW, at Mildenhall and I had a subunit there (488 IS). Did about 15 TDYs back and forth. It was only a 60 minute flight between the two places.
The worst flight was when we got diverted to refuel over the Adriatic during IFOR in former Yugoslavia. 9 hours in the air. I had a snickers bar in my pocket and shared it with my co-passenger Captain.
I know that, Forrest.
Both the 121st and the 117th were under the Active wing at McDill. However, they identified the 121st but not the 117th personnel.
In fairness to them I posted their story too.
Under what scenario would two tankers be flying close enough to each other to have a collision?
Could be transferring excess fuel to a fresh crew and aircraft to let existing crew get some rest.
Just landing and refueling adds to the fuel needed to takeoff again.
Lots of transfers between tankers.
If you watch a lot of flightradar24, you’ll often see KC-135s and KC-46 flying almost on top of each other.
The Fox report was as reported by the DOW.
Kudos to you all. I supported one at Wright-Pat for nearly 10 years. It was sent to the boneyard by senator Ted Kennedy over politics near 2005. The previous year it had a million plus digital cockpit upgrade. One of the funny things was it had a mission to australia and flew near Sydney taking pictures. The Australians thought America was on a mission to bomb them, lol.
“Under what scenario would two tankers be flying close enough to each other to have a collision?”
They transfer fuel to each other, I believe.
Not sure. I was rotary.
Why are you arguing over this?!
Are you a Know It All???
The report was incomplete in identifying the units these heroes came from is all.
These were older 1960’s models that don’t have the capability to take on fuel.
How did you get a ride? Something special you did or just a sign-up sheet? I worked KC-135 (and EC-135 and RC-135) maintenance in 1976, but I never heard about getting a ride.
Where did you hear that? Almost every KC-135 is an older model from the 1950s or 1960s.
Okay, just checked AI and it said:
No, both KC-135 Stratotankers were not simultaneously refueling a third and a fourth aircraft at the exact moment of the collision. According to verified reports, the incident occurred during operations associated with refueling missions, but neither tanker was actively transferring fuel to other aircraft at the time. Investigators indicate the planes were maneuvering in close proximity as part of formations or positioning for refueling, which can still bring risks of collision even without fuel transfer.
From a safety perspective, increased separation could have mitigated the risk. Standard operational practice keeps KC-135s approximately 100 feet apart during refueling-related formation maneuvers—this distance balances operational efficiency with safety margins. Greater spacing would provide pilots with more time to respond to unexpected movements or turbulence, thereby reducing the chances of mid-air contact. However, overly increasing separation could complicate coordination and reduce mission efficiency, so procedures optimize between safety and operational requirements.
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