Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
For Less Hair: not sure what you are driving at, but perhaps winds aloft were not as forecast?
I just try to connect the dots. IIRC there was an early visible public outcry in France by some senior military person back then about something like a suspected overflight (along the northern Pyrenees) on the way out or similar. This went quiet. Instead many detailed stories about how often they refueled and how long it took were published.
Soon after, the French received much needed heavy cargo C-5 services to Chad and were best friends with the US again.
If you get closely monitored taking off any shortcut on a mission like this would have made a lot of sense - in theory.