USAF KC10A 1 640Swansong for USAF's Extender

The last days of the McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender are numbered! While one of the few left Extenders makes a global farewell flight, the final throes are taking place at Travis AFB (CA). Earlier, Scramble wrote about Extenders being used operationally for the last time.

With just a handful of KC-10As still operated by the 60th Air Mobility Wing and associated 349th Air Mobility Wing, an icon will soon disappear from the Travis tarmac. Recently, 9th Air Refueling Squadron's flagship aircraft (79-1946) was brought for storage to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, near Tucson (AZ). For the occasion, the retired Extender was especially adorned with the squadron's "Universal" crest. USAF KC10A 3 320

Almost simultaneously, KC-10A 84-0191 started the Extender mondial farewell flight. Having seen Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (HI), Andersen AFB (Guam), Christchurch (New Zealand) and Sidney (Australia) last week, the Extender, coming from Souda (Crete, Greece) is currently residing at Ramstein Air Base (Germany). At this moment it is not known if more farewell flights will take place and what the next destination of "40191" will be.

USAF KC10A 2 320On 16 July 2020, Scramble Magazine wrote about the first USAF KC-10A to be decommissioned and if there could be a second life. It is expected that one of the last operational KC-10As will be displayed at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum.

Credit photos: Sundown at Ramstein: Recceview (Reinold) on Scramble Message Board and USAF
Credit patch: www.aviatorgear.com

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