The port horizontal stabilizer of a KC-135 collided with the starboard stabilizer of another tanker parked nearby.
The US KC-135 Stratotanker fleet continues to be plagued by various setbacks. The last one, fortunately minor but enough to keep the aircraft involved on the ground for a few days, occurred during ground operations at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom, between May 28 and 29, 2026.
While being pushed toward a parking spot by a tow vehicle, KC-135R 59-1509 of Tennessee ANG’s 151st Air Refueling Squadron (ARS) struck the adjacent aircraft, an unmarked KC-135R(T) 60-0362 of the 22nd ARW (Air Refueling Wing). The port horizontal stabilizer of 59-1509 struck the starboard stabilizer of 60-0362, leaving visible tears and deformations.
Repairs were made to the parking ramp where the accident occurred on May 30, and as of June 2, both aircraft were still there, having not moved from their original positions.
Although taken from outside the base, and therefore from a considerable distance, the images captured by photographer Bob Archer give an idea of the extent of the damage suffered by KC-135R 59-1509.
Despite six decades of service, the KC-135 is a crucial asset in the US Air Force inventory. The fleet size remains impressive, counting more than 350 KC-135s in service and just over a hundred KC-46s, hundreds of tanker sorties are still needed to maintain high-tempo operations. As explained in a previous article where we reported on the transit through RAF Mildenhall of another KC-135 massively covered by patches (or BDR – Battle Damage Repairs), the tanker fleet suffered a severe blow during Operation Epic Fury: not only did the service lose one Stratotanker in a fatal mid-air incident over Iraq that took the lives of six crew members, resulting in one tanker lost and another damaged, but an unspecified number of KC-135s (and at least one KC-46, according to images circulating online) were damaged in Iranian missile and one-way drone attacks on Prince Sultan Air Base and other bases across the region.
