Hey Neptunus Rex....
your "About 400 nm north, but thousands west!" ..from Cocos,
should make him around about the Diego Garcia area, shouldn't it?
Since when has there been a refueler at Cocos?
I to spent quite a few overnights at Cocos in the late 70s and 80s, during my time in the RAAF P3 squadrons.
We actually had to do an engine change there once, which eventually had two P3s and two C-130s there at the same time...very busy!
Cheers...FD...
