Eye was converted during the mid-to-late-1980s from a C-135B Telemetry/Range Instrumented Aircraft, serial number 62–4128, with the mission of tracking ICBM reentry vehicles. In 1993, it was converted into an additional RC-135S Cobra Ball. TC-135 Three aircraft are in service for crew training, and lack fully functional mission equipment. One TC-135S (62–4133) provides training capability for the Cobra Ball mission, and is distinguishable from combat-ready aircraft by the lack of cheeks on the forward fuselage. It was converted from an EC-135B in 1985 following the crash of the former RC-135T 55–3121, which had been used as a trainer up to that point. In addition, two TC-135Ws (62-4127 and 4129) serve as training aircraft primarily for the Rivet Joint mission, but can also provide some training capability for RC-135U Combat Sent crews. They carry considerably fewer antennas than the fully equipped aircraft, but are otherwise similar in appearance to other Rivet Joint aircraft. Operators United States Air Force – Air Combat Command 55th Wing – Offutt AFB, Nebraska 38th Reconnaissance Squadron 45th Reconnaissance Squadron 82d Reconnaissance Squadron (Kadena Air Base, Japan) 95th Reconnaissance Squadron (RAF Mildenhall, England) 338th Combat Training Squadron 343d Reconnaissance Squadron Royal Air Force No. 1 Group – RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, England No. 51 Squadron No. 54 Squadron (Operational Conversion Unit) No. 56 Squadron (Test and Evaluation) Accidents and incidents On 17 July 1967, a KC-135R Rivet Stand, 59-1465, crashed on takeoff from Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. The aircraft commander over-rotated the aircraft, causing it to stall and crash just under a mile from the end of the runway on the edge of Papillion Creek. One of the five crew members aboard was killed. On 13 January 1969, USAF RC-135S, 59-1491, called "Rivet Ball", was returning from an operational reconnaissance mission, when it landed at Shemya Air Force Base, Alaska in a snowstorm. The aircraft slid off the ice-covered runway and plunged into a 40-foot ravine. Later "Ball" aircraft were equipped with thrust-reversers on their TF-33 turbofan engines, but this aircraft had J-57 turbojet engines without reverse thrust capability. All eighteen crew members successfully evacuated the aircraft. The aircraft was written off as damaged beyond repair, but many components specific to the reconnaissance mission were salvaged for later use. On 5 June 1969, USAF RC-135E, 62-4137, called "Rivet Amber", departed Shemya Air Force Base, Alaska for a ferry flight to Eielson Air Force Base. Although the purpose