BANGOR (AP) – The Maine Air National Guard plans to replace 10 refueling tanker planes with eight new KC135-R tankers, with the first planes scheduled to begin arriving in March 2007 and the rest due two years later.

The older E model planes, which were manufactured in the late 1950s and early 1960s, will be phased out as the quieter R models, which are only a few years newer, arrive, said Col. Don McCormack, chief of the joint staff for the Maine National Guard.

A task force from the National Guard Bureau visited the Bangor base last week as part of preparations for the conversion. The base originally was scheduled to receive 12 aircraft and an estimated 240 jobs as a result of the Air Force’s nationwide shuffling of Air National Guard units in 2005. Instead, the base now anticipates the additional jobs are unlikely, McCormack said.

However, the nationwide base closure proceedings hastened the delivery of the slightly newer replacement aircraft, McCormack said.