tf39

Outstanding

A bit of photo manip shows it's C-5A 66-8306 MAC

Tail set (vertical stabilizer and elevator) for Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, USAF Serial No. 68-0216. This aircraft was later converted in 1988 to C-5C SCM ("Space Cargo Modified") standard for the transportation of special payloads. Typically satellites and other spacecraft. It was recently upgraded in March 2018 to C-5M SCM Super Galaxy standard through re-engining with General Electric F138-GE-100 (CF6-80C2L1F) turbofans.

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.)