The visibly patched-up KC-135R Stratotanker that arrived at RAF Mildenhall on Apr. 12, 2026 was among the aircraft deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base when it was struck by Iran in March.
After KC-135 Stratotanker 59-1444 arrived at RAF Mildenhall as REACH 717, spotters at the fenceline immediately noted its unusual appearance. Small unpainted patches of bodywork could be seen across the airframe, a telltale sign of battle damage repairs (BDR) made in the field. The spread of the small repairs is indicative of shrapnel damage from nearby explosions.
The aircraft had been noted deploying from the U.S. to the Middle East at the beginning of March. Specifically, its destination was noted as Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. In the weeks after the jet arrived in theatre, Prince Sultan Air Base was hit by several Iranian attacks.
The headline of these attacks was the total destruction of 81-0005, one of the U.S. Air Force’s precious few remaining E-3G Sentry AWACS aircraft. It came after an earlier attack in mid March which reportedly left five KC-135s damaged – flight tracking data suggests that this earlier attack may have been the one where this aircraft was damaged.
I will remind folks that the WSJ reported that 5 tankers were damaged in a missile strike March 13th “in recent days”. Given that other Prince Sultan AB tankers had been seen since that report, my theory is that 59-1444 #AE0361 was one of those five tankers hit before 3/13. pic.twitter.com/ThsH5ReO6T
— Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) April 12, 2026
Few other details about the various attacks on the air base are confirmed at this stage, though unverified reports have said that U.S. Air Force EC-130H Compass Call and KC-46 Pegasus aircraft may also have suffered damage in the strike that destroyed the E-3 alongside other KC-135s.
In the days following the second attack, the U.S. Air Force was noted to have mobilized a number of stored KC-135s from the ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for restoration to full service at Tinker AFB. This might indicate that some of the KC-135s damaged in theatre are not expected to return to service any time soon, if at all.
KC-135 58-0011 being flown from the boneyard over to Tinker AFB to be restored into service. Explains why the landing gear was down for most of the flight. pic.twitter.com/IcRYCnsPpX
— CorreaPhotography (@CorreaPhtgphy) April 3, 2026
59-1444’s journey to Mildenhall was not without issue. On Apr. 10, as the jet was heading northwest over the Mediterranean, about to overfly Greece, it changed squawk code to 7700 – the worldwide general emergency code – and began an immediate turn and descent for Chania International Airport, a joint civilian-military airfield near Naval Support Activity Souda Bay.
The exact nature of this emergency is unconfirmed, though now we have images of the aircraft it would appear that a cabin pressurization issue could very well have been possible. Usually these types of faults are evident from a rapid descent and then levelling off at around 10,000 feet, where it is safe to fly without pressurization, though in this case the aircraft would already have needed to descend fairly quickly in order to successfully make the divert to Chania. If the diversion was indeed related to the temporary BDR, there may have been a need to make some further makeshift repairs at Chania before its onward journey.
Once the aircraft returns to the U.S. it will almost certainly head in to be assessed, and then, if feasible and economical, a major overhaul to rectify the damage and return it to full service.
Undertaking BDR is a fundamental skill for military aircraft engineers, and it is very common to see similar patchwork repairs made to retired aircraft relegated to ground training use. Some forces, including the U.S. Air Force, even hold competitions between maintainers for the best BDR efforts.
Aircraft that have flown in previous high intensity conflicts quite often still have BDR scars visible on the aircraft. On airframes maintained for heritage purposes, the BDR itself can often become a target of conservation efforts, the patch repairs being maintained to record that airframe’s historical provenance even when they could be completely repaired with modern techniques.
Many thanks to Mark Lynham for allowing the use of his images in this article. You can follow him on Instagram and see more of his aviation photography here.