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A military aircraft had to make an emergency landing at a west Suffolk airbase yesterday after problems during refuelling.
The refuelling aircraft, believed to have been supporting jets from various Nordic countries over Iceland, had to return to RAF Mildenhall from the mission and declare an in-flight emergency at around 3pm.
The craft that had to land is one of few in the US Air Force (USAF) fitted with a ‘probe and drogue’ system, which uses a flexible hose that trails from the tanker aircraft. This is the system favoured by the RAF, with most USAF tankers using a rigid flying boom system.
A spokesman from the base confirmed the in-flight emergency but described it as an “everyday” incident.
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