NASA YF-104A Starfighter
The NASA YF-104A (55-2961) Starfighter with a ventrally-mounted test fixture.
Through the years, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center has used a variety of chase and support aircraft. First acquired in August 1956, F-104s were the most versatile work-horses in the Flight Research Center's stable of research and support aircraft, with 11 of them flying mostly research missions over the next 38 years. Tail number 826 flew the last of these missions on January 31, 1994. By then the 11 F-104s had accumulated over 18,000 flights at Armstrong in a great variety of missions ranging from basic research to airborne simulation and service as an aerodynamic testbed.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: ECN-785
Date: 1965
NASA YF-104A Starfighter
The NASA YF-104A (55-2961) Starfighter with a ventrally-mounted test fixture.
Through the years, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center has used a variety of chase and support aircraft. First acquired in August 1956, F-104s were the most versatile work-horses in the Flight Research Center's stable of research and support aircraft, with 11 of them flying mostly research missions over the next 38 years. Tail number 826 flew the last of these missions on January 31, 1994. By then the 11 F-104s had accumulated over 18,000 flights at Armstrong in a great variety of missions ranging from basic research to airborne simulation and service as an aerodynamic testbed.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: ECN-785
Date: 1965