Ours was the last commerical flight to arrive at the airport (early today), until Tuesday’s arrivals began a few hours later. To my surprise, we taxied by the Air National Guard’s KC-135 Stratotankers (air refuelers) and a large number were outside of hangars. One was being de-iced as we arrived at around 1:30 am, which happens only right before a flight takes off, and another was being worked on.

While they nominally have a fleet of 10 tankers at the base, I think I saw more than that last night. Some had probably arrived from other bases. I realized that this air reflueling base is probably a takeoff point for tankers resupplying US and Israeli bombing missions. I remembered that this base is the closest to Europe of any in the US, so the tankers may be taking off from Bangor, landing in Europe, refueling in the UK or (more likely) southeasterly bases such as in Cyprus or Crete, and then taking off for their air refueling missions. I read that each can supply 4 small planes, such as fighters. The fighters in general need to be refueled twice (or more) to get within range of their bombing targets in Iran. So a lot of US tankers are needed to refuel the US and Israeli fighters.

The Bangor, Maine runway is the second longest on the east coast, after only JFK on Long Island, so it is equipped to handle even the largest planes in emergencies.

Meanwhile, there was an explosion at one of the ten largest oil refineries in the US. Was this due to an act of sabotage that anyone with two brain cells has been nervously anticipating? Miraculously, no one was hurt. Is the Iran war coming home?

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cn43vnpkyv7o

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2026/03/24/fire-out-and-shelter-in-place-order-is-lifted-after-oil-refinery-explosion-near-texas-coast/

Residents at least several miles away said they felt their homes shake. Some schools in the area were closed Tuesday as a precaution.

The explosion comes amid a spike in gas prices driven by uncertainty over the global oil supply because of the Iran war.

The refinery has about 770 employees and can process about 435,000 barrels of oil per day, according to Valero’s website. The plant refines heavy sour crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Images and video posted online show a large plume of smoke and flames billowing out from the refinery.

Valero did not respond to emails and a call from The Associated Press seeking comment. Local television stations reported a company spokesperson said everyone was accounted for.

Texas state Rep. Christian Manuel said in a post on social media that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality arrived at the refinery with air monitoring equipment and was working with local and state partners.