More than two years ago the KDC-10 finally left from the Royal Netherlands Air Force to the United States. Now one of the machines has a scoop.
Both tanker/transport aircraft were sold to the American Omega Air Refueling. This commercial company provides refueling services on a contract basis to, among others, the American defense force. At the beginning of this month, the US Air Force … recognized that one of the KDC-10s was used to refuel a B-52 Stratofortress and a Hercules MC-130J. This makes the plane the first commercial aircraft to refuel these types of aircraft. Pictures show it was the former T-264. The device was also recently tested for refueling C-17s and A-10s.
Late last year published US Air Force photos of the same KDC-10 along with some USAF F-16s. The F-16s of the 51st Fighter Wing flew from their home base in Osan (South Korea) to Singapore to participate in the Commando Sling 23 exercise flying forward to support, not just to support to the F-16 16s for refueling in the air but also for transporting equipment and ground crew. This was the first time that a commercial party supported USAF fighter planes. Until the Dutch KDC-10s came Omega only about tanks with a pipe system, as used by the US Navy. Most USAF aircraft are refueled with the propulsion system. The Dutch machines are equipped with such a ‘grow’, an expandable refueling tube.
Third life
At Omega, the two Dutch KDC-10s have a ‘third life’. Between 1973 and 1995 the aircraft served as DC-10-30-CF with Martinair. In 1992, Martinair signed a contract with the Defense for the sale of two aircraft. In 1995, the PH-MBP and PH-MBT were converted by KLM to the KDC-10 tanker/transport aircraft for the air force. The MBP became T-235 ‘Jan Scheffer’, the MBT changed to T-264 ‘Prins Bernhard’. With the arrival of the Airbus A330MRTT tankers, the curtain fell for the Dutch KDC-10s. In November 2019, the T-264 left for its new owner Omega, followed in October 2021 by the T-235.
Read also: Operational role of the KDC-10 in the Royal Netherlands Air Force
2024-04-16 04:49:00
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