This book focuses on the KC-135 tanker built by Boeing. It will look at every model of the KC-135 built and its introduction into service. There are several other specialised types that performed a non-aerial refuelling task, such as Airborne Command Post, but which retained the KC-135A designation for some years. The ground trainers will also be covered in this book. With over 170 images, this book is the first of two volumes dealing with Seattle's veteran Stratotankers.

The US Air Force has performed peripheral reconnaissance adjacent to the traditional foe of Russia, China, North Korea and others for seven decades. Evolving from rudimentary aircraft to an unprecedented level of sophistication, the current, elderly airframes boast unmatched performance. The book details the aircraft, equipment, sensors, air bases involved, and limited operational details-as much remains highly classified. Additionally, stories by the personnel involved, who have flown these mission, and often faced their quarry at very close range. The majority of aircraft involved are the Boeing C-135 series, including more than 100 different airframes, of 48 different versions. Missions include strategic intelligence, airborne command and control, treaty compliance, Open Skies, weather reconnaissance, aerial refuelling, and transportation. Details the different aircraft missions, bewildering programme names, operating locations, and flying units involved. Background support organisations are presented. A potted history of every aircraft involved is included, together with units operated, and designations applied. Sixty years of operations, which continue to this day, are mostly shrouded in secrecy. A cat and mouse adventure, throughout the Cold War, into the new peace dividend, and now in the face of renewed Russian aggression. The veil of secrecy is lifted, ever so slightly!

Loved by most associated personnel and enthusiasts alike, the C-141 Starlifter, quite simply, looked right and was right. During the second half of the 1960s, it quickly became a commonplace visitor worldwide, and it was in service for more than forty years before the final examples were retired in favour of more capable airlifters. Such was its popularity that many crews left their heart aboard the silent airframe when they walked away for the last time. Containing over 170 images, many previously unseen, and detailed information supplied by the people who flew, maintained, and supported the C-141, this book looks at the aircraft itself, as well as the organisations that flew it. A host of names and extra markings are shown, including the graffiti briefly applied during the Rodeo competitions. Details of every unit that flew the Starlifter are also included, making it an invaluable addition to the book collections of both enthusiasts and modellers.

The C-135 series, along with its civilian counterpart, the Boeing 707, emerged on to the drawing boards of technical design teams at the end of the 1940s. Twenty years later, the first C-135 was delivered to the Military Air Transport Service in 1961, five years after the first KC-135 Stratotanker made its first flight for the United States Air Force. Since then, C-135 series aircraft have performed a wide variety of military and civilian tasks. To enable them to be carried out effectively, the majority of aircraft, including the electronic, observation, reconnaissance, and weather-monitoring variants, had extensive modifications carried out both internally and externally. Some were extreme, yet no prefix was assigned, whereas others had the designation amended accordingly. Illustrated with over 150 images, and following on from Seattle Stratotanker Veterans: Boeing KC-135 Variants, this book explores the highly specialist roles that these aircraft and their crews have undertaken in more than 60 years of service.