‘The RC-135 was diverted to do the intercept. The RC snuck up on the Bear from low rear and then pulled up alongside. It was a surprise to the Soviets,’ Roberto Benitez, working on USAF RC-135 aircraft
Since 1962, the pool of -135 aircraft has undergone several modifications resulting in the current RC-135 fleet. Originally used by Strategic Air Command to meet national intelligence collection requirements, the RC-135 fleet has participated in all significant armed conflicts involving US assets during its time in service.
Support operations in Vietnam, the Mediterranean (Operation El Dorado Canyon), Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury), Panama (Operation Just Cause), and Southwest Asia (Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom) were all carried out with the help of RC-135 aircraft. Since the early 1990s, RC-135s have been a constant presence in Southwest Asia.
Roberto Benitez, who worked on USAF RC-135 aircraft, recalls on Quora that once an RC-135 was even diverted to intercept a Soviet Tupolev Tu-95 Bear strategic bomber.
‘One day, a Soviet Tu-95 Bear recon bomber overflew the Alaska mainland. It wasn’t the first time.
‘The radar station notified Alaskan Air Defense Command (AADC) of the intrusion. There was only one minor problem: AADC was asleep at the wheel and had no fighters on alert.
‘So AADC called SAC at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks to see if they had any aircraft available to respond. Well, it just so happened that they had a Boeing RC-135 training in the area (close enough to give backend specialists a chance to monitor the Soviets for training), but over the Alaskan mainland.
‘The RC was diverted to do the intercept. The RC snuck up on the Bear from low rear and then pulled up alongside. It was a surprise to the Soviets. They were even more surprised when the RC backend crew asked them in Russian if they were lost. Of course they were (uh huh). So, in Russian, they were told where they were from, their unit, where they were, how to get home, and cheerfully escorted out of US airspace.’
Benitez concludes;
‘Once got home, our unit painted a red star on the nose area and renamed the RC-135 (reconnaissance) to an FC-135 (fighter/interceptor).’
Photo by Crown Copyright and U.S. Air Force