Airmen endured 19.5-hour flights in black budget Boeing airframes
By Miriam Adler ·
Crews suffered extreme physical exhaustion on 19.5-hour flights before one black budget aircraft hit a forty-foot cliff and became part of the Million Dollar Dump.
Three Boeing C-135A transports were once called "bastard children." According to a page hosted by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Intelligence Resource Program, these aircraft—tail numbers 60-0356, 60-0357, and 60-0362—were delivered as standard tankers but lacked refueling gear. Because they did not meet the transport specifications of the Military Air Transport Service, and because the Strategic Air Command was unwilling to pay to convert them back into tankers, they were repurposed for something else.
They became the first SAC SIGINT collection platforms under a program called Rivet Brass. The FAS record notes that this name was chosen "in conformance with the Air Force rules for names of black budget projects." The public record identifies the resulting Boeing RC-135 as a family of large reconnaissance aircraft designed for theater and national level intelligence, but the internal logic of Rivet Brass was simpler: use the discarded airframes to build a listening post in the sky.
Bastard Children
The conversion process occurred between 1962 and 1963. A testbed aircraft, NKC-135A (tail number 55-3132), first carried the "thimble nose radome and fence style antennas" to verify the aerodynamic design before the fleet was finalized. These planes were powered by Pratt and Whitney J57-P-59W engines, which capped their range at under 9,950 miles.
While the government viewed these aircraft as utility assets, the reality for those operating them was one of extreme physical endurance. The FAS mirror contains accounts from crews who flew "Combat Apple" missions out of Kadena Air Base in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. These were not standard flights. Because the J57 engines were less efficient than the fan engines used in later RC-135M models, the Rivet Brass crews required significantly more tanker support just to stay in the air.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
19.5 Hours
One crew member, John Achor, records the sheer exhaustion inherent in these missions. He describes being airborne for "up to 19.5 hours without crew augmentation." To maintain that schedule, his crew flew every third day for a solid month.
This is the hidden cost of the black budget: the assumption that the human body can be pushed as far as the airframe. The record shows a pattern of operating at the absolute limit of safety and sanity. C. Wayne Dauber notes that missions exceeding 15 hours with un-augmented crews were "not uncommon" for the D-models based at Eielson Air Force Base.
When these aircraft were deployed outside their primary hubs, they became liabilities. Dauber describes a deployment to Rhein Main Air Base in Germany, where the performance limitations of the aircraft made them "unpopular visitors." In one instance, a crew was forced to abort a mission after an engine shutdown, necessitating a 30,000-pound fuel dump over a busy international airport. The resulting noise and disruption ensured that the "city fathers" made it clear the aircraft would not be welcome again.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
A 40-Foot Cliff
There is a persistent contradiction in the files regarding tail number 59-1491. Some accounts suggest it was an RC-135D Rivet Brass platform; others, including the writing of Jennings Heilig, argue it was never part of that specific program. Instead, 59-1491 began as a reconnaissance-configured KC-135 used to track ballistic missile reentries.
Depending on the era, it was known as "Nancy Rae," then "Wanda Belle," and finally "Rivet Ball." Its purpose was clinical and cold: recording Soviet ICBM launches into the Kamchatka peninsula from the isolated outpost of Shemya.
On January 13, 1969, Rivet Ball returned from an operational mission to Shemya. While some reports describe a "crash landing," John Achor clarifies that the landing itself was "half way decent." The catastrophe occurred at the end of the runway, where the aircraft hit a forty-foot cliff.
Related files on electronic warfare and ISR design exist in the NSArchive and the US National Archives, but the fate of 59-1491 is captured in a few stark words in the FAS record. After the crash, the aircraft never flew again. Its remains were moved to a place known as the "Million Dollar Dump."
Whether the airframe was officially a Rivet Brass or a Wanda Belle remains a point of contention among those who flew them. The paperwork proving its specific designation as a JKC-135A has never surfaced.