generalelectrictf39

There isn't quite enough detail in this photo to nail it down for certain, but this is plausibly (perhaps even probably) a photo from the first flight of the first C-5A, June 30 1968. Only two C-5As ever flew with the instrument nose boom, airframes 0001 (AF66-8303) and 0002 (AF66-8304). There was only one nose boom, and it was used on 0001 from June 30 1968 until the airplane was accidentally destroyed in a flight line fire on October 16, 1970. After that date, the nose boom was transferred to 0002 to complete flight testing. Although this could be either one of those airplanes, also noteworthy is that there is a Lockheed T-33 in the image. There was a T-33 used as a chase plane on the June 30 1968 first flight of airplane 0001. It's not possible to read at the level of resolution in this scanned image, but the original may have enough detail to reveal the identifying numbers. The USAF serial number is of course on the tail, the Lockheed airframe number is dimly visible (but not legible) as a dark smudge just aft of the radome in the grey area of the fuselage. (Nose boom trivia: after C-5A flight testing, the boom was stored for a few decade. It was pulled out for use again on the first C-5M in 2006. The nose boom was -not- used during C-5B flight test.)

General Electric TF39 high-bypass turbofan (TF-39-GE-1C) in its cowling. The TF39 was unique in having a "T-Stage" fan and "snubbered" first stage fan blades. It was also unique in that it only powered the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy (although it did provide the basis for the commercial GE CF6 high-bypass turbofan). Given the 1985 timeframe, it is almost certain that this engine was destined for a then-new production C-5B Galaxy, after C-5 production was restarted during the Reagan Administration.

The dark upper wing indicates that this airplane has gone through the C-5A wing modification program, but the black radome indicates that it's still equipped with the original Norden Multi Mode radar system. The replacement color weather radar system would likely have been installed during scheduled depot maintenance at Kelly AFB, at which time the rest of the airplane would have been painted in the three-color Euro 1 paint scheme.