2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

WB-57F (NASA 925)
In September of 1968, by agreement with
the USAF, the Earth Observations Aircraft
Program phased in a WB-57F operated by
the 58th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
(WRS) at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. It became operational in July
of 1969, after modifications to incorporate
a removable NASA earth observations
sensor pallet, which was integrated into the
large open volume previously utilized as the
bomb bay. The rotating bomb bay door
was removed and allowed relatively easy
modification and integration of a NASA
sensor pallet.
In 1968 we had contracted with the Air
Force to operate a WB-57F for the high
altitude portion of the earth observations
program at JSC, which resulted in many
NASA missions being conducted with Air
Force (58th WRS) personnel in the front
seat, and Air Force or NASA personnel in the
rear seat as sensor operators/navigators. In
1972, Air Force budget constraints resulted
in the aircraft being transferred to NASA,
with hangering and flight operations out of
Ellington Field. When the Air Force exited
the program in 1974, they transferred the
aircraft to NASA and JSC and the aircraft
was renumbered NASA 925. At this point,
NASA JSC personnel occupied front and rear
seats. The aircraft was modified at General
Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas, to accept the
large sensor pallet. This aircraft was operated
out of Ellington Field until retirement in 1982.
It currently resides in the Pima Air Museum in
Tucson, Arizona.
Figure 53
WB-57F Showing Universal Pallet System (UPS)
At the phase out of the Air Force program
in 1974, NASA also acquired another WB-
57F, NASA 926. This aircraft was modified
to accept the Universal Pallet System (UPS),
described in following paragraphs, and
conducted many missions in support of
high altitude and spacecraft missions (Skylab,
ERTS/Landsat) until the phase out of the
Earth Resources Aircraft Program at JSC in
the summer of 1982. It continues in service
today.
In 1973, the Department of Energy
approached NASA to support their Project
Airstream (atmospheric sampling of nuclear
test debris) flight program for which support
was being discontinued by the Air Force. This
program involved in-situ sampling along a
flight track from Alaska to the tip of South
America. An interagency agreement was
drafted and approved which moved that
WB-57F to JSC and Ellington Field, making a
total of two aircraft in the NASA inventory.
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