"Lest you think this is impractical,"
i do
"a subsidiary of Omni Air is converting its second DC-10 to a fire fighting tanker."
thats 2 not 179
if you could find a fleet of 179 identical (or nearly identical) aircraft than it might be a viable option
"As evidenced by the age of the current USAF tanker fleet, they get very few hours per year, probably on the order of 400, while the 767 and A330 are flying about 4,000 hours per year in commercial passenger service, and quite reliably."
one of the main reasons for buying a Multi role tanker transport is that it will take alot of work from other hard pressed fleets like the C17