McConnell tanker refuels C-17 carrying wounded Libyan fighters to US

Photo By Scott Sturkol | A KC-135 Stratotanker deployed with the 313th Air Expeditionary Wing in the European theater of operations prepares to refuel a C-17 Globemaster III over the Atlantic Ocean, Oct. 29, 2011. The C-17 was en route from Tripoli, Libya, to Boston, Mass., to deliver 22 Libyan rebel fighters for medical care at the Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. The C-17, assigned to the 172nd Airlift Wing of the Mississippi National Guard, was refueled by a KC-135 from McConnell AFB, Kan., that is normally operated by the 22nd Air Refueling Wing and the 931st Air Refueling Group. The 313th AEW supported NATO's Operation Unified Protector -- the mission that carried out the United Nations' mandate to protect the citizens of Libya. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Maj. Andra Higgs)  

(UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

11.03.2011

Courtesy Story

Air Mobility Command

By Maj. Andra Higgs
313th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN - A KC-135 Stratotanker deployed with the 313th Air Expeditionary Wing in the European theater of operations from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., refueled a C-17 Globemaster III over the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 29, 2011.

The C-17 was en route from Tripoli, Libya, to Boston, to deliver 22 Libyan rebel fighters for medical care at the Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass.

The C-17, assigned to the 172nd Airlift Wing, Mississippi National Guard, was refueled by a KC-135 from McConnell that is normally operated by the 22nd Air Refueling Wing and the 931st Air Refueling Group. The 313th AEW supported NATO's Operation Unified Protector, the mission that carried out the United Nations' mandate to protect the citizens of Libya.

In what has been termed "the most diverse air refueling operation in history," NATO and coalition partners utilized 13 different types of tankers to refuel more than 33 types of aircraft from 13 nations, keeping a 24-hour humanitarian shield airborne to protect Libyan civilians, said Capt. Dan Ruttenber, an OUP tanker planner, in a May 2011 Air Mobility Command news report.

NATO assumed overall leadership for kinetic operations in Libya March 31, when Operation Odyssey Dawn transitioned to Operation Unified Protector. In March, the commander of Air Mobility Command's 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force, Brig. Gen. Scott Goodwin, deployed as the Director of Mobility Forces for Operation Odyssey Dawn, alongside elements of his unit from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

Goodwin said it "was an amazing performance," a Total Force effort in which Airmen "pulled together rapidly and seamlessly to execute a complex combat operation that went literally from a cold start to full-up operations, virtually overnight."

(Capt. Kathleen Ferrero, Air Mobility Command Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)

• Date Taken: 11.03.2011
• Date Posted: 11.03.2011 16:12
• Story ID: 79525
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)