Battle-scarred stratified tanker moves from UK to US for repairs

A strikingly patched KC-135R Stratotanker arrived at RAF Mildenhall on 12 April 2026 and was one of the aircraft deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base when it was attacked by Iran in March.

After KC-135 Stratotanker 59-1444 arrived at RAF Mildenhall as REACH 717, observers on the fence line immediately noted this unusual sight. Small unpainted body patches are visible throughout the aircraft, indicating that Battle Damage Repair (BDR) has been performed in the field. The spread of small repairs indicates debris damage from a nearby explosion.

The aircraft was reportedly deployed from the United States to the Middle East in early March. Specifically, the destination was known to be Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. In the weeks after the jet arrived in theaters, Prince Sultan Air Base came under several Iranian attacks.

The headline of these attacks was the complete destruction of 81-0005, one of the few valuable E-3G Sentry AWACS aircraft remaining in the U.S. Air Force. This comes after an earlier attack in mid-March reportedly damaged five KC-135s. Flight tracking data suggests that this attack may have damaged this aircraft.

Other details about the various attacks on the air base have not been confirmed at this stage, but there are unconfirmed reports that US Air Force EC-130H Compass Call and KC-46 Pegasus aircraft may also have been damaged in the attack that destroyed the E-3, along with another KC-135.

In the days following the second attack, the U.S. Air Force reportedly mobilized a number of KC-135s stored in a “skeleton yard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to return to full service at Tinker AFB. This may indicate that some of the damaged KC-135s in theater are not expected to return to service anytime soon.

The trip to Mildenhall in 59-1444 was uneventful. On April 10, the jet headed northwest over the Mediterranean and over Greece, changed its squawk code to 7700, the general worldwide emergency code, and immediately began circling and descending to Chania International Airport, a joint civilian-military airfield near Naval Support Activity Souda Bay.

The exact nature of this emergency has not been confirmed, but current images of the aircraft make it appear that cabin pressurization issues are very likely. Typically, this type of defect becomes apparent in a dive and then leveling off at about 10,000 feet, where it is safe to fly without pressurization. However, in this case the aircraft already had to descend fairly quickly to successfully divert to Chania. If the diversion had indeed involved a temporary BDR, it would have been necessary to make further temporary repairs in Chania before continuing on the trip.

When the aircraft returns to the United States, it will almost certainly arrive for evaluation and, if possible and economical, a major overhaul to correct damage and return it to full service.

Performing BDR is a fundamental skill for military aircraft engineers, and it is very common to see similar patchwork repairs performed on retired aircraft classified for ground training. Some military services, including the U.S. Air Force, even hold competitions among maintainers for the best BDR effort.

Aircraft flown in previous high-intensity crashes often still have BDR scars visible on the aircraft. In airframes maintained for heritage purposes, the BDR itself may often be the subject of conservation efforts, and even when fully repairable with modern technology, patch repairs are maintained to record the historical provenance of the airframe.

Many thanks to Mark Lynham for permission to use his image in this article. You can follow him on Instagram and see more of his aerial photography here.