BANGOR – The commander of Bangor’s Air National Guard base confirmed Friday that a local KC-135 refueling tanker was in airspace over New York City at the time of Tuesday’s jetliner crashes into the World Trade Center.

“We had an airplane down that way Tuesday morning, yes,” said Col. Don Reynolds. The base commander would not confirm reports that a tanker crew from Maine witnessed the catastrophic event from the air.

“I can’t comment specifically about statuses,” Reynolds said in a telephone interview.

Reynolds said a KC-135 plane was on a routine training mission that morning that quickly turned into an “actual mission” after the explosive destruction of the two trade center towers in Manhattan.

On Tuesday and the days afterward, the Bangor Air National Guard unit has deployed several KC-135 tankers to perform midair refueling of F-16 fighter jets flying around New York and Washington, D.C., Reynolds said.