KC-135 special versions

[Jet-X]

Anyone have any idea what this is? The windows are giant round portholes and looks like cameras and telescope in front as well as dome. The base has a sticker that says "AESC"

 

[Apophenia]

... The base has a sticker that says "AESC"

No clue on the aircraft or role but the acronym suggests the Aerojet Electro-Systems Company of Azusa, CA.

 

[TomS]

Anyone have any idea what this is? The windows are giant round portholes and looks like cameras and telescope in front as well as dome. The base has a sticker that says "AESC"

It's one of the NKC-135 optical testbed aircraft.

Here's a pic of the real aircraft

Edit: these got reconfigured a lot, so the canoe fairing up top probably got removed at some point.

https://flic.kr/p/SsZ61M

View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pslg05896/33123205545

 

[Jet-X]

It's one of the NKC-135 optical testbed aircraft.

Here's a pic of the real aircraft

Edit: these got reconfigured a lot, so the canoe fairing up top probably got removed at some point.

https://flic.kr/p/SsZ61M

View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pslg05896/33123205545

Thank you! Wow, never knew that an actual aircraft got modified!

 

[starviking]

It's one of the NKC-135 optical testbed aircraft.

Here's a pic of the real aircraft

Edit: these got reconfigured a lot, so the canoe fairing up top probably got removed at some point.

https://flic.kr/p/SsZ61M

View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pslg05896/33123205545

And previously JKC-135: https://www.airhistory.net/photo/628835/55-3127/53127

Given the orientation of the sensors in the model fuselage, it’s likely to have been the JKC that Greg Gobel refers to on this page:

One JKC-135A was configured to perform upper-atmosphere studies, originally in the context of nuclear tests, later for general scientific purposes

 

[flateric]

30 October 1961 | This Day in Aviation