Omega Tankers in Cairns

[air doris]

For all you buffs out there, arrived in CNS last week to see a DC10 and B707 parked off bay in "Omega Tanker" livery. Have just done some curious research and learned they are inflight refuellers for the US Defence Force, amazing pics on their website. I can only assume the are linked to Guam but I could be wrong. I looked over the DC10 and noticed pax windows still in place. I'm no exepert but usually cargo or in this case specially adapted types of aircraft have no need for that. Any idea as to why they were here? It was a very impressive sight to see a DC10 and B707 at Cairns. I can understand maybe one landing here but both aircraft? They only have a small fleet. Very interested in this.

[707-338]

Hi. The two Omega Air aircraft are be used by the RAAF so that 77SQN can go to Red Flag. They are transporting equipment and also doing Air to Air Refuelling for the Hornets to cross the Pacific.

[Metro man]

Tankers can be dual role, and when not used for refueling may carry passengers or cargo. Fuel is heavy and even at max weight considerable space would be available inside.

[601]

I wonder if it is cheaper for the RAAF to fill up on Wednesday

[AirBumps]

Probably, but do you think they use their 4c off coupons??

[an3_bolt]

....do they get the frequent flyer points if they put it on their VISA card?