A Look at Some of NASA’s Aircraft Over the Years
Story by Ken Kula, Photos by John Freedman and Ken Kula
The United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) can trace its’ roots back to the 1915 creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The NACA was heavily involved in America’s aviation research during World War II and the early dawn of the so-called “jet age” In 1958, the NACA split into two units with separate military and civilian agencies, with NASA becoming the civilian entity.
NASA 008 – THE LONG SERVING NB-52B MOTHERSHIP
NASA was the main American Agency for the last century’s “space race” and lunar exploration, but it also maintained many conventional flight research programs. Many of the Agency’s support aircraft were and still are former military aircraft models due to their capacity for large experimental payloads and wide variety of maneuvering capabilities.
NASA SUPER GUPPY 941 ARRIVING AT THE LAURENCE G. HANSCOM FIELD IN BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
NASA aircraft wear unique serial numbers as well as civilian “N” numbers…for instance NASA 941 wears both N941NA as well as the # 941 aircraft ID.
NASA’S FORMER DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER AT EDWARDS AFB IS NOW THE ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER
NASA operates multiple air bases for its aircraft; a few include the Johnson Space Center in Houston TX, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ames Research Center at California’s Moffett Field, the Glenn Research Center near Cleveland OH, and the Armstrong Flight Research Center within the sprawling Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Here comes a group of photos of former and active NASA aircraft operated over the 68 years of the Agency’s operations, with a few notes of interest:
NASA 941: AERO SPACELINES 337SGT-F SUPER GUPPY
USAF’S B-52H #61-0025 WAS OPERATED BY NASA FOR A SHORT TIME
NASA 008: THE NB-52B
NASA 524: OV-10A BRONCO
NASA 601: THE LAST OPERATIONAL S-3A VIKING IN THE WORLD
NASA 806: LOCKHEED ER-2 VERSION OF THE TR-1A OR U-2S
NASA 809: ER-2 VERSION OF THE TR-1A OR U-2S
NASA 814: LOCKHEED L-1329 JETSTAR 6
NASA 818: YO-3A QUIET STAR: BASED UPON THE SCHWEIER SGS-2-32
NASA 836: F-15B AERONAUTICS REASERCH TEST BED WITH GULFSTREAM’S “QUIET SPIKE”
NASA 837: A FORMER TF-15A OR NF-15B, THE STOL MTD ACTIVE TESTBED
NASA 844: THE LAST OPERATIONAL SR-71A WAS FLOWN BY NASA
NASA 831: SR-71B
NASA 846: FORMERLY THE US NAVY’S 161355, IS A F/A-18B
NASAA 847: F/A-18A: AUTONOMOUS AIR REFUELING TESTBED
NASA 840: THE F/A-18A HIGH ALPHA RESEARCH VEHICLE (HARV)
NASA 849: FORMERLY A YF-16A, IT BECAME THE FIRST OF TWO F-16XL AIRCRAFT
NASA 848, THE 2ND F-16XL STORED AT THE DREYDEN RESEARCH CENTER AT EDWARDS AFB
NASA 850: AN EARLY F/A-18A
NASA 805: THE AD-1 OBLIQUE WING TESTBED
NASA 853: THE FULL-SCALE ADVANCED SYSTEMS TESTBED FOR THE “INTELLIGENT CONTROL FOR PERFORMANCE” PROGRAM
NASA 865: BEECH T-34C
NASA 049: THE X-29 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR
NASA 870: IKHANA IS A FORMER PREDATOR B UAV
NASA 872: A RQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK
NASA 905 COCKPIT – JOHN FREEDMAN PHOTO
NASA 905: ONE OF TWO B-747 SPACE SHUTTLE CARRIER AIRCRAFT (SCA), THIS IS A B-747-123;
NASA 911 IS THE OTHER SCA – THIS IS A B-747-100SR (SHORT RANGE)
NASA 825 TF-104G STARFIGHTER
NASA 924: NORTHROP T-38A
NASA 964: NORTHROP T-38A
The X-48 IS A NASA/BOEING/USAF SUBSCALE TRANSPORT CONCEPT TESTBED
SOMEWHAT SIMILAR TO THE X-48, THE X-48B IS ANOTHER SUBSCALE CONCEPT AIRCRAFT WITH THREE ENGINES AND DIFFERENT SENSORS
NASA 926: ONE OF THREE WB-57F HIGH ALTITUDE RESEARCH AIRCRAFT
NASA 940: AERO SPACELINES B-377SG-SUPER GUPPY, THE EARLY VERSION POWERED WITH P&WA T-34 ENGINES
NASA 809: A FORMER USAF RB-57B
NASA 719: HAWKER SIDDELEY AV-8C HARRIER
NASA 801: BEECH SUPER KINGAIR
NASA 6063: BELL X-1E
NASA 557: BOEING B-757
NASA DRYDEN (NOW ARMSTRONG) MAIN HANGAR – JOHN FREEEDMAN PHOTO
