A US Air Force KC-135R Stratotanker that lost the upper portion of its vertical stabilizer in a mid-air collision over Iraq has returned to the air for the first time since the accident, flying with a tail fin taken from a different airframe.
The aircraft, serial 63-8017, arrived at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2026, on a flight from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport using the callsign REACH 564, according to aviation photographer Harry Moulton, who photographed the tanker on the ramp.
She Lives!!!!
— Havoc Aviation (@havoc_aviation) August 2, 2026
63-8017 arrived at RAF Mildenhall this afternoon as REACH 564 from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.
This airframe was involved in a mid-air collision back in March with ZEUS 95, which was sadly lost along with the crew. 63-8017 limped back to Tel Aviv with the top… pic.twitter.com/j29GXo8uN0
The images show a mismatch between the two ends of the airframe. The forward fuselage still carries the serial 8017 and the markings of the 940th Air Refueling Wing, while the vertical stabilizer is painted with the serial 38002.
The replacement fin came from KC-135R 63-8002, which flew to Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, on March 10, 2026. Tinker hosts the Air Force’s KC-135 programmed depot maintenance line, suggesting the aircraft was undergoing depot work when its vertical stabilizer was used to repair 63-8017. Air Mobility Command has not commented on the arrangement.
Fatal collision over Iraq during Operation Epic Fury: what happened
63-8017 is operated by the 314th Air Refueling Squadron, an Air Force Reserve Command unit of the 940th Air Refueling Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California. On March 12, 2026, it collided with a second KC-135 over western Iraq while both aircraft were supporting Operation Epic Fury.
The other tanker, callsign ZEUS 95, came down near Turaibil on the Iraqi-Jordanian border. All six crew members aboard were killed, with US Central Command saying the loss was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. A dignified transfer for the crew was held at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, on March 18, 2026.
63-8017 squawked 7700 and landed at Ben Gurion Airport with close to half of its fin sheared away.
תיעוד: אחד ממטוסי התדלוק האמריקניים, שהיה מעורב אתמול בתאונה בשמי עיראק, צולם בנתב"ג ללא חלק משמעותי ממיצב הכיוון בזנב המטוס. תיעוד המטוס הגיע אלינו הבוקר, ומלמד משהו על התאונה החריגה במהלך התקיפות באיראן
— איתי בלומנטל 🇮🇱 Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) March 13, 2026
המטוס השני שהיה מעורב בתאונה התרסק בעיראק, גורל ששת אנשי הצוות לא ידוע pic.twitter.com/igBPfEOZjf
Third damaged tanker through Mildenhall
The arrival makes 63-8017 at least the third KC-135 to transit Mildenhall carrying damage sustained during the campaign against Iran.
KC-135R 59-1444 landed there on April 12, 2026, covered in battle damage repair patches, before continuing to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base. 63-8028, of the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Wing, followed on May 23, 2026, with shrapnel repairs across its tail and flaps and no refueling boom fitted.
Several tankers were damaged in Iranian missile and drone attacks on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, the same strikes that damaged a US Air Force E-3 Sentry. The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group has since regenerated at least one stored KC-135R, 58-0011, at the request of the KC-135 System Program Office to support operational requirements.