USAF's Extender in the twilight

With the last two remaining McDonnell Douglas KC-10A tanker/transport aircraft with the 60th Air Mobility Wing and associated 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB (CA), the Extender is now in the twilight of its career.

The remaining duo, 79-1948 and 86-0031, are now flying the last sorties from Travis before retirement which is expected during September. With the Extender gradually being phased out, there were only a handful remaining at Travis at the beginning of July.

Since then, 86-0030 left Travis on 11 July for the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB near Tucson (AZ) to be stored with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Group.

On 1 August, 87-0119 also flew to the desert to be stored. Of note is that both aircraft flew at low altitude over California, Nevada and the Grand Canyon area towards there future resting place. On 22 August, 86-0038, which flew with callsign TOGA79, made some low passes over the San Francisco Bay Area before flying towards the Boneyard in Arizona.

For now, while their retirement is imminent, both 79-1948 and 86-0031 are flying local sorties from Travis. On 27 August, 86-0031 did some regular flying as ORCA24. Besides that it was noted that the aircraft did some sightseeing as well. It flew some passes near Shastina Mountain (CA). The latter has one of the highest peaks in the United States.

KC-10A 86-0031 also has also gained some "lasts". During July it was one of the most welcome guests, as a static display, at the Royal International Air Tattoo which was held at RAF Fairford (UK). On 17 August, 86-0031 arrived at Prestwick Airport (Scotland), from Al Udeid Air Base (Qatar), as a last support of five F-16s that flew back from the Middle East towards the Continental United States (CONUS). As the Fire Fighters at Prestwick were aware of the special occasion, 86-0031 was greeted with a water cannon salute. While KC-10A 84-0191 was retired in April 2024 and flown to the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton (OH), it is hoped that one of the last two will also be preserved at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum.

On 10 October 2023, Scramble Magazine first wrote about the USAF Extender's last operational deployment, and on 23 January 2024 about the Swansong for USAF's Extender.

Credit photos: Derek Beattie on X and USAF / Credit radar images: www.radarbox.com and ADS-B