02/15/2023. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Under Project Head Dancer, three KC-135As were converted to EC-135K airborne command posts for the USAF Tactical Air Command (TAC). A fuel-pump tube replaced the refueling boom, HF probe antennae were mounted at each wingtip, and Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW-102 turbofans were retrofitted. All three were operated by the TAC, but no more than two of these aircraft have been in service at any one time.

The first EC-135K was originally built as the first production KC-135A Stratotanker (Boeing model 717-100A c/n 17234, USAF s/n 55-3118). Rolled out on July 18, 1956, it was first flown on August 31, 1956, named City of Renton. Delivered to the USAF on January 24, 1957 it was used for operational acceptance testing at Edwards AFB, California, until it was loaned to Boeing for test programs. In July 1960 the aircraft was stored at Oklahoma Air Material Area, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, four months later is was assigned to the Flight Test Division, at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

January 21, 1961 it was transferred to TAC and subsequently converted to an EC-135K. By 1962 it was attached to the 18th Air Command and Control Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, were it served as TAC Commander's aircraft. A rare event was the flight of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to China on a secret mission in 1971. On June 16, 1978, the aircraft was assigned to the 8th Tactical Deployment Squadron, 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker AFB, Olahoma. It was re-engined with TF33-PW-102 turbofans on March 8, 1982.

In May 1996 it was transferred to the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews AFB, Maryland, three month later it joined the National Museum of the USAF Loan Program. Converted back to KC-135A standard it was placed on display with Kansas ANG-184th BW, McConnell AFB, Wichita, Kansas on October 15, 1996.

The second EC-135K was originally a Boeing model 717-148 KC-135A Stratotanker built under the USAF s/n 59-1518. Read the remarks on page 5354.

The third EC-135K (pictured on this page) was originally also a Boeing model 717-148 KC-135A Stratotanker. Between 1967 and 1970, the aircraft was operated by NASA as a 'zero-G trainer. After conversion to an EC-135K it was assigned to TAC's 8th Tactical Deployment Control Squadron. On September 14, 1977, after a midnight takeoff from Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, the aircraft crashed into rapidly rising terrain due to insufficient power, only five mls (8 km) from the departure base. All twenty crew aboard perished in the crash and ensuing fire.