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KC-135 colour


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My next project is going to be a KC-135 and I want to do it in the colours from the late 60's, early 70's but I can't find what they were. Can anyone help with this or point me in the right direction to find out?

Thanks in advance for any help, Lee :blink:

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Well, they could have had a NMF, or a corrosion protective called Corogard. The latter is a darkend model master aluminum right out of the bottle. Very rough finish, collected oil stains like a magnet.

HTH

Tom

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Here is a couple of shots that I found from that time period.

DF-ST-84-04898.JPG

KC-135 refueling F-4E's during Operation Paul Buyan 1976 over Korea.

DF-SN-82-00894.JPG

KC-135 refueling F-105D's in 1967 as they fly into N. Vietnam to interdicte supplies flowing south.

Both of these show the Natural Metal finish that was applied for the longest time with the KC-135 fleet in the 60's and up till the late 80's when they transitioned either to the gloss white uppers with a euro gray bottom or an overall euro gray scheme.

Edited by A6BSTARM
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Around the period you specify a matt natural metal seemed to be the common finish. I lived 11 miles from Mildenhall so saw plenty of them both at the annual open day and overhead every day.

"... corrosion protective called Corogard. ... collected oil stains like a magnet."

When I say natural metal, it could have been the Corogard. They could certainly look mucky.

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Starting in 1971 when I became a co-pilot in the KC-135A I never saw A NMF 135, as already posted they were coated with Corogard, which gave them a grayish silver look, the engine nacelles were painted light gray with NMF front intakes and rear exhaust areas, as can be expected the rear had a burnt metal look, while the front was pretty shinny depending on how much effort the crew chief put into it. Flew two TDY in SEA (73 & 73) and a couple to Mildenhall, both operation had birds from all over SAC, not a NMF in the lot.

Here is a scan from a slide I have from SEA, you can see the finish pretty well.

Regards

Jim Barr

135.jpg

Edited by Jim Barr
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When did they ge the light grey?

As you say the Offutt birds had a grey and white scheme much like the MAC C-141s, but their main role was not as Tankers, and some of the EC & RC-135s had gray and white schemes, In the mid to late 70s the Tankers started getting a polyurethane gloss Aircraft Gray scheme FS 16473.

Regards

Jim Barr

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So they got their grey long before the B-52's went SIOP...

They would still have been silver/white?

I started refueling BUFFs starting in 71 and have never refueled a silver and white one always camoed, either black belly Ds or camo and gray belly G & Hs.

Regards

Jim Barr

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Xtracolor makes a corogard paint BTW, as it's still very commonly used on airliner wings and stabs. Though I don't know exactly which it matches---AFAIK only 707's and KC-135's used true brand-name Coroguardâ„¢, with most everything else using other brands, all lumped together as "corogard". Different brands/planes can run from an almost semi-metallic 36440, to what'd match a 50/50 mix of steel and 36118.

It's like Kleenex or Band-Aid--using a brand to identify a product.

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Jim Barr is correct about the stock tanker paint for this time frame. When we switched to gloss ADC gray the airplane picked up 6 knots in cruise due to the reduction in drag from the rough finish on the coroguard.

Most special purpose EC/RC/VC-135's had ADC Gray bottoms and white tops; the cheat line between them fell at different places depending on what the command wanted. So check your photos of the particular aircraft first. Some very special airplanes, like speckled trout, which retired recently, had very highly polished NMF on the bottom with a white top. Funny, but I don't remember a special airplane with a coroguard bottom and a white top, just an ADC gray bottom

If you do a dark cammo'd -135 it came out of the paint shop in 36081 Flat Euro Dark gray over gloss ADC gray. Most folks think that is should be 36118 gray, but that is what the 081 fades to after a couple of years.

And before you say I'm wrong, I'm the guy that signed off the paint drawing, and I was in the hangar when we painted the first one at Tinker AFB.

Tom, former C/KC-135, VC-137 lead structural engineer.

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I think the AMT KC-135A instructions tell you to paint the dark grey scheme with 16118 as opposed to 16081, but i remember reading an article or maybe painting instructions that said the kit instructions are technically wrong but that 16081 does fade fast...

I remember mixing 36118 with black to darken it a little when I made the Castle AFB model.

I always prefered the 16473 grey aircraft {ADC = Air Defence Command?}, and Ive been looking for a KC-135R in that colour.

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16473 grey aircraft {ADC = Air Defence Command?}, correct! and Ive been looking for a KC-135R in that colour.

Only the prototype R models would have had that color. We swiched to the 081 shortly there after. And now they're all in AMC (Air Mobility Command) Gray.

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Are any of THESE KC-135R's ADC grey?

YEP! The third through sixth rows have shots of the first conversions to the R model all in a nice new shiny ADC 16473 gray, er.. grey.

By the way if you ever get a tour inside a tanker, the last job I did for the USAF was to design the Oxygen bottle rack that is mounted over the boomers pod.

T

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I been inside a tanker once, it was a KC-135A at Mildenhall

It was a long time ago, when I was a kid.

Went up through a door, it seemed so high up I didnt really equate it to the crew entry door when I saw it at a show years later.

I know the bottles your talking about, whats the oxygen for?

Is it when the cabin is pressurised...

This is a nice picture, it shows the sleek lines so well, and the back drop is so patriotic

kc-135r_9.jpg

Edited by ElectroSoldier
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