A U.S. Air Force KC-135R Stratotanker that survived a fatal mid-air collision over Iraq earlier this year has returned to flight after receiving a replacement vertical stabilizer from another aircraft.
The tanker, serial 63-8017, arrived at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom on Aug. 2 after flying from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.
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Photos taken after its arrival show the aircraft still carrying its original serial number and unit markings on the forward fuselage, while the vertical stabilizer bears the serial 63-8002, indicating the tail was taken from another KC-135.
The donor aircraft, 63-8002, was transferred to Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, in March. The base hosts the Air Force's KC-135 depot maintenance facility, although Air Mobility Command has not commented on the use of the replacement tail.
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The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision on March 12 while supporting Operation Epic Fury over western Iraq. The second tanker, operating under the callsign ZEUS 95, crashed near the Iraqi-Jordanian border, killing all six crew members on board.
Despite losing much of the upper section of its vertical stabilizer, 63-8017 declared an emergency and landed safely at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.
The repaired aircraft is at least the third KC-135 damaged during operations linked to the U.S. campaign against Iran to transit through RAF Mildenhall on its way back to the United States.
Other tankers have been photographed carrying battle damage repairs after Iranian missile and drone attacks on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
