TROUT'S HOOKED VIP AIRCRAFT RETIRED TO EDWARDS AFTER 31 YEARS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - A four-engine Air Force jet known as Trout 99 retired during a ceremony Friday after 31 years of service flying Air Force Chiefs of Staff and testing electronics and communication gear.

The highly modified C-135B was turned over to Edwards' Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, which plans eventually to display the aircraft near the base's north gate.

``Trout 99 has been an icon,'' said Doug Nelson, director of the museum. ``In it's retirement, it will be accessible to everyone.''

Trout 99 was the second aircraft in a program that dates back to the late 1950s at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland that has come to be known as ``Speckled Trout.''

The program's odd moniker came from a nickname of one of its early civilian workers, a freckle-faced woman named Faye Trout, said Maj. Scott Kulka, director of operations for Edwards' 412th Flight Test Squadron, which operated the aircraft.

``It's great that it's going to be on display,'' Kulka said. ``A lot of people will finally get to see this aircraft and learn about it and the squadron.''

Trout 99's service included flying the last 10 Air Force Chiefs of Staff, testing electronic and communication gear including upgrades to Air Force One, and once bringing a Tennessee National Guardsman home from Turkey to see his seriously ill daughter.

Trout 99 came off the assembly line in 1962 and spent its first years as a meteorological research aircraft. It was acquired by the Speckled Trout program in 1974, which at the time was still based at Andrews in Maryland.

The airplane came to Edwards in 1992. The airplane was modified with state-of-the-art guidance, control, navigation and communications equipment, including Global Positioning System satellite receivers and secure satellite communication systems.

The equipment it tested included a low-level approach and landing ``synthetic vision'' system to allow a pilot to land in zero-visibility conditions. The system, being used by C-130 transport aircraft today, provides a digital re-creation of the air and sky around the aircraft.

The aircraft also has been used to test secure e-mail, teleconference and chat room discussion for battle managers in flight.

In November 2004, the airplane was transporting then-Secretary of the Air Force James Roche and then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper back from an Asian trip. At a stopover in Turkey, at the direction of the two VIPs, a Guardsman whose daughter had gone into severe convulsions back in the U.S. was picked up and taken directly to the airport in Knoxville, Tenn.

The first Speckled Trout aircraft, a former Edwards KC-135A airplane, transported a host of distinguished guests, including then-congressman and future President Lyndon B. Johnson, Sen. Barry Goldwater, actor Jimmy Stewart and entertainer Bob Hope's USO troupe.

That first plane's first Speckled Trout mission, a flight to Argentina, got off to an inauspicious start when an airman walked in front of one of the jet engines when it was running and got his gear stuck in the engine. The airman escaped with just the back of his neck singed, said Bobby McCasland, who was a crew chief on the program at the time.

Another aircraft is serving as an interim Speckled Trout until a permanent replacement arrives in March 2007. The permanent replacement is a KC-135R that is undergoing modifications in Greenville, Texas.

The replacement aircraft has newer engines that will allow it to travel up to 16 hours without being refueled and are quieter than those of Trout 99s. The quieter engines will allow the R-model to carry passengers into foreign airports currently off-limits because of noise restrictions.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

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(1 -- 2 -- color; 1 -- ran in AV edition only; 2 -- color AV edition only) A color guard presents the colors, above, at the ``Speckled Trout'' aircraft retirement ceremony at Edwards Air Force Base on Friday. Below, Chief Master Sgt. Bobby McCasland (retired), who served on the plane, speaks to attendees.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer