AMERICAN aerial-refuelling jets have begun operations from RAF Fairford.
More than a dozen aircraft, along with more than 600 airmen, arrived at the base last week for their six-month stay while the runway at their normal base, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, is resurfaced in a £9m project.
The 14 KC-135 aircraft of the 100th Air Refuelling Wing are used to refuel aircraft in flight, covering an area of responsibility stretching from the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip of Africa and all of Russia.
Construction work at RAF Mildenhall began on Monday although the aircraft left the Suffolk base a week prior.
That base's runway was built in the 1930s and was last resurfaced 22 years ago but the concrete underneath has never been replaced.
Captain Shane Balken, spokesman for the 100th Air Refuelling Wing, said operations were continuing as they would at Mildenhall despite building work at Fairford.
The squadron is the only permanent American tanker squadron in Europe.
Despite the operations of the squadron and continuing building work, RAF Fairford will still play host to the Royal International Air Tattoo in July.
The tankers are due to return to Suffolk in late August.
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