I don't know, again, I say what I heard, I lay the question out, and someone said this may have been the case.
But I do talk about it with people who know that stuff. I asked my brother, who is a Marine Pilot, and another USAF guy I know from the time I worked Joint Service Intelligence in the Pentagon. Both said it's very unlikely to have a plane clip another like this, the way the tail damage means they would have to be head-on, and you don't generally need 1 refueller going the other way around, as they would be flying a racetrack pattern in holding. You don't send a replacement tanker to the exact location (like where the other one was exactly), they usually are on stations, and there are multiple stations and altitudes at any airspace
And also, from an intelligence point of view, you don't shut down the airspace because of two aircraft that collided head-on; there wasn't anyone flying in the whole of Iraq right now. The timing just didn't seem right. And they can't be all turning their transponder off, because, well, sure, fighter sortie, I get it, but heavies? Well, you just had a head-on collision within the airspace, turning off the transponder is the opposite of trying to remedy the situation.
But of course, those are all just conjecture. Can the two aircrew pair be that careless, and also the ground controller be that careless? Sure, but you need 5 people all failed their basic job at the same time to have this head-on collision occur (the 2 set of pilots flying and the ground controller), I will just say this, I don't know, but I will say this rumor exist not without a reason.
in LA ? The orange man is calling you genetically rotten and inferior.
