A U.S. Air Force MC-130 Combat Talon approaches a KC-135T Stratotanker to refuel in flight as the two aircraft fly over the central region of Africa on Sept. 15, 1997. The MC-130 is carrying search and rescue teams from RAF Mildenhall, England, to Libreville, Gabon. Libreville is the staging area for U.S. air and sea rescue operations currently underway to find survivors from a U.S. Air Force C-141 cargo aircraft which crashed Sept. 13, 1997, near the Ascension Islands off of Africa's western coast. The C-141 was assigned to the 305th Air Mobility Wing, McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., and has been reported missing for more than 36 hours. The Stratotanker is deployed from the 384th Air Refueling Squadron, McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.