PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The Pease National Guard Base is ready for a new era.

Seacoastonline.com reports current and retired New Hampshire Air National Guard men and women said farewell Sunday to the last KC-135 tanker plane on duty at the New Hampshire base.

The Stratotanker, an Eisenhower administration-era aircraft that’s the oldest plane on duty in all of the U.S. Air Force, was bound for redeployment at Goldwater Air National Guard Base in Phoenix.

US Air Force receives new KC-46 aircraft, an event decades in the making
US Air Force receives new KC-46 aircraft, an event decades in the making

The Air Force is set to get its first long-delayed Boeing KC-46 Pegasus air-refueling tankers at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas.

By: Valerie Insinna, Jeff Martin

The new KC-46A Pegasus air refueling tanker is arriving later this year.

Among the last plane's missions was its part in Operation Rolling Thunder, the sustained bombing of North Vietnam over a three-year period.

TRANSCOM working to defer KC-135 retirement as delays with KC-46 continue
TRANSCOM working to defer KC-135 retirement as delays with KC-46 continue

Some squadrons might have a capability gap as KC-135s retire and KC-46s come online — and lawmakers are concerned.

By: Valerie Insinna

“Bittersweet” was the word of the day as several hundred active duty Guard and Air Force members, retirees, family members, and others attended the ceremony.

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