50 Aviation News incorporating Jets June 2018Top: The DC-10’s long range and cargo-
carrying capacity made it perfect for military
use, a fact not lost on the US Air Force,
which needed such a machine to back up
its tanker and transport fleet. A total of 60
KC-10 Extenders were built for the service,
and the type is still in use today. The Royal
Netherlands Air Force also operates a pair
of converted DC-10-30CFs in the military
transport/air-to-air refuelling role. This
example (79-1712) allocated to the USAF’s 76th
Air Refueling Squadron, 514th Air Mobility
Wing, an Air Force Reserve Command unit
located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst,
New Jersey. USAF/Master Sgt Mark Olsen
Above: DAS Air Cargo used nine DC-10-30CFs
as freighters over the course of a decade, with
5XJOE (illustrated) being the first example of
the type to join the company in 1995. DAS was
initially based in Ghana, and more recently
Uganda. DAS retired 5X-JOE in 2007 and it was
ferried to Manston, Kent, for storage. It was
scrapped there in June 2010. Key Collection
Above left: Northwest Airlines was a
significant operator of the type, including DC-
10-30 N229NW. Key Collection
Left: The DC-10-40 was the last major version
of the basic type and utilised more powerful
Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines. Japan Airlines
was a big user of the -40, having 21 different
airframes in its inventory between 1976 and- Key Collection
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