KC-135A 55-3126 'Speckled Trout' I

[DanBeeden]

Hi all,

A longshot and possibly in the wrong part of the forums but wasn't sure where to put it.

I was sent a very nice old slide yesterday - a welcome addition to the collection. KC-135A 55-3126. It doesn't look like a KC-135A as you'd normally think of it as there is no boom. Its in the C-135 VIP scheme of white top, blue serial, blue cheat line and highly polished underside. It's the original 'Speckled Trout' aircraft and was used primarily as a test bed for autopilot and autoland systems, as well as being used to transport the Chief of Staff and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It flew for the last time on 31st July 1975.

I'm trying to work out roughly when the slide was taken. We know it must be pre July '75 of course. The shot is taken in the UK, a sign in the foreground says 'London Airport South'. But what really caught my eye was what was in the background - a pair of Comets. I can't tell the airline due to the angle although I suspect Dan-Air due to what I can see of the colour (angle is almost nose-on). One of them is either flaring before landing or just rotating, the other appears to be taxiing.

It's an interesting slide and I wondered if anyone could hazard a guess at when it may have been taken??

Look forward to seeing any suggestions!

Dan

[nigelblake]

Is the slide an original image in a mount? If it is there may be a processing date printed or embossed on the mount, with some processing labs this may have been mixed in with other letters and numbers. If not, there should be a date the film was manufactured printed along the edge of the film beside the film transport holes, you will have to take the slide out of the mount to see this though!

[DanBeeden]

Hi Nigel,

I should have clarified that - the slide has been remounted so no clues on the mount. I took it out of the mount to see if there were any clues on the film itself but couldn't see anything like a date on there. Just a number which I think correlates to which exposure on the reel it was. I will check again later in case I missed it though.

Thanks,

Dan

[graham luxton]

Hi Dan,
I'm not sure but I think 53126 may have visited Heathrow more than once but was certainly reported there on 4 April'67.
Hope that helps,
cheers,
Graham

[DanBeeden]

Graham,

Many thanks for the confirmation of at least one date it was in the UK - I'm going to see if Comet out of service date yields any additional clues.

Best wishes,

Dan

[Precinct7]

Dan


This 135 was also noted at Heathrow 19 September 1966
If there are Comets in the background then they are almost
Certainly BEA Comets, don't know there out of service date
but they would have been around in the mid 60's

[rh226]

Dan,

This may not be much help other than to set a "not before" date for your photo.

I saw this beauty on 1st June 1962 at Heathrow. My memory may be playing tricks after so many years, but I have a feeling that it may have had a Dayglo tail on that occasion. It was parked on the South side apron outside the then Pan American hangar near the A30 - which is where it sounds like your photo was taken.

As far as the Comets are concerned, the following were operating them around that time:

- BEA
- BOAC
- Aerolineas Argentinas
- Middle East Airlines
- United Arab Airlines
- Olympic Airways
- Kuwait Airways

Dan-Air did not start to get theirs until 1966 and were making do with Avro Yorks and Airspeed Ambassadors until then.

Regards,

rh226

[Sheikhy]

I was sent a very nice old slide yesterday - KC-135A 55-3126. Its in the C-135 VIP scheme of white top, blue serial, blue cheat line and highly polished underside. It's the original 'Speckled Trout' aircraft ... It flew for the last time on 31st July 1975.

I'm trying to work out roughly when the slide was taken. We know it must be pre July '75 of course. The shot is taken in the UK, a sign in the foreground says 'London Airport South'. But what really caught my eye was what was in the background - a pair of Comets. I can't tell the airline due to the angle although I suspect Dan-Air due to what I can see of the colour (angle is almost nose-on). One of them is either flaring before landing or just rotating, the other appears to be taxiing.

Dan

Having checked that you are still active, here is an update to your query from 2012.
To add to the mid-1960s dates already provided, I saw 53126 at Heathrow much later than the other correspondents, on 9/6/74, just 12 months before it was retired. However, your slide would not have been that date because the Comets were all gone from Heathrow by then, although not by that much.

The BOAC (19 off) were disposed of in 1966-69, whilst the BEA machines held out until the last service on 31/10/71. Regardless of the slide date, my money is on BEA because you allude to the colour being 'Dan-Air' red, which for BEA included covering the entire upper and lower wing surfaces in high-vis bright red (if they were at all visible), and of course the square block of red on the tail. As others have pointed out, Dan-Air was almost unknown at Heathrow.

If the image is available on the 'net, I might be able to add more.
Del

[plmc135]

Of course both MEA and Egyptair Comets had red cheat lines, the latter being very similar to Dan Air.

[capercaillie]

Dan,

This may not be much help other than to set a "not before" date for your photo.

I saw this beauty on 1st June 1962 at Heathrow. My memory may be playing tricks after so many years, but I have a feeling that it may have had a Dayglo tail on that occasion. It was parked on the South side apron outside the then Pan American hangar near the A30 - which is where it sounds like your photo was taken.


Regards,

rh226

Its worn at least four schemes in its time, natural silver finish with dayglo nose and band on rear fuselage/tail front - large U.S. AIR FORCE on fuselage side. Pictures from 1962 show a VIP scheme where it has gained a white top, polished undersides and stylised dayglo nose, fin flash, tailplanes and outer wings - UNITED STATES AIR FORCE legend above dark blue cheat line. By 1964 the dayglo parts had changed to VIP blue, although outer wings and tailplanes now white. Its latter scheme as per Dan's slide it had gained the enlarged fin but had lost all the flashy blue nose and fin trim, so was now basically just white and polished metal with blue cheat line.

Fascinating machines and histories the 135s. Best of luck with your dating of the pic.