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When I was stationed at Nellis AFB in Nevada

We deployed a squadron of F-16s from there to Ramstein AB in Germany. We took sixteen F-16s, divided into groups of 4. We maintainers and the support equipment were loaded onto four KC-10 tankers. The aircraft flew non stop to Germany with our fighters refueling as needed from the tankers. Because of the length of the flight the tankers themselves were refueled several times by other tankers that were staged along the route.

If it wasn't friendly or enemy fire that took that tanker down, what did? Other reporting mentioned that another aircraft was involved in the same incident but that aircraft landed ok. Purely speculation on my part, but my initial thought was "mid-air collision?" I wonder if a fighter attached to the refueling boom contacted the tail and damaged flight control surfaces. Or possibly it was refueling another tanker and they bumped.