The 135s at Mildenhall took over Op Tansor for a while.
They did indeed. I was launched off on a Q-scramble once, without having had the benefit of any BDA conversion or brief - apart from a couple of scrawls on the whiteboard by the 'QWI leader' who was Q2 that day.
Off we went and RV'd with the 135. I found it very difficult to align with the drogue; every time I missed the boom operator moved the wretched thing. Finally I asked her just to keep things still so that I could get a reasonable picture... I made contact, with some very kind words of encouragement from my Nav. But then you have to push in so that the hose is moved sufficiently to open the valves at the drogue and tanker ends - totally unlike receiving from any other tanker. After a couple more sessions of 'teach yourself BDA AAR' we were off to find the Bears only to hear that they'd left the area... So RTB for tea.
The 'QWIL' asked what my problem had been, as it was 'just another tanker'.... I told him in words of few syllables.
Sometime later whilst holding in Ops prior to my VC10K course conversion, I happened to see a signal which had been sent to USAFE, thanking them for a recent BDA course which the author said was essential before any operational AAR was conducted with their tankers. Fine - in 2-tank fit, whereas I'd had a heavy 3-tank jet with 8 missiles!
We also prodded Vulcan tankers, which were excellent refuelling platforms! Then on one occasion we were about to launch the squadron against a USAF tanker, only to be told that it was actually a KC-10. No problem, we all had a go and found it ever so easy peasy. But someone at a higher level heard what we were doing and demanded to know why - as the KC-10 at the time wasn't cleared for our Phantoms! OC Ops rang our boss and said "I hope that only a few of you have been prodding?" Whereupon our boss replied "Oh no, we've all had a go - in fact the first pair has just launched again!". There was a sharp intake of breath before OC Ops said "Recall them - and don't do any more as you haven't got a release to service for KC-10 prodding". This the boss did, he was highly amused later to hear that OC Ops had got it in the neck for not having sufficient knowledge of the flying programme - and he had been asked to fly down to Boscombe to talk to the TPs. Not long after, we had full clearance against the KC-10!
In order of preference for tanking (before the VC10k came into service), I would say:
1. KC-10
2. Vulcan
3. Victor HDU
4. Victor pods
5. KC-135 BDA!
(Sorry if I've bored you with my tales from 40 years ago, Gordon Brown!)