Few would have imagined when “Dix” Loesch and “Tex” Johnston took the KC-135A up for its maiden flight on 31 August 1956 that some 60 years later, it would still be in front-line active service around the world. What began as a jet-powered replacement for the KC-97 to refuel Strategic Air Command’s growing B-47 and B-52 bomber fleet soon evolved into America’s first military heavy jet transport, an airborne command post platform capable of surviving and then commanding America’s nuclear war plan, a testbed that enabled scientists to study the Earth, send men to the Moon and understand the power of the atom.
Other variants of the KC-135 included a reconnaissance airframe that monitors arms agreements, gathers intelligence to understand the intentions and capabilities of potential enemies and provides real-time intelligence in combat - beginning with the war in Southeast Asia and continuing to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Today, tanker versions of the KC-135 remain in service with Chile, France, Singapore, Turkey, and the United States, while reconnaissance variants operate with Great Britain and the United States.
This is a fully revised and expanded edition of the original bestselling ‘Aerofax’ book and includes operational histories of the 80+ unique types, as well as individual details for all 820 airplanes by serial number including first flight, delivery, changes in configuration, attrition, and retirement. Appendices cover all units, a summary of each accident, display and stored aircraft, and record-setting achievements The author is a former USAF pilot qualified on 17 types of KC-135s, EC-135s, and RC-135s, who brings both personal experience and a broad historical understanding to this definitive work on one the most significant military aircraft of the Cold War and beyond.
Product SAC in the UK has been added to the compare list
