flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA926
A rare and interesting bird:
NASA928 flew the same route two days earlier.
Some info on the Martin WB-57 (American built Canberra’s).
FL570… 8)
Theya void the other traffic that high i heard NASA 928 the other day with Memphis Center requesting 54-56 block.
In my “yout” I used to see 57s all the time heading in and out of Martin’s Middle River, MD facility. As a young pilot I thought them to be beautiful and always marveled at their size and apparent elegance.
Not too many years later I got to know many Canberra drivers quite well during my sojourn in sunny Southeast Asia and learned to my surprise that the ships were pretty universally loathed.
Conversely, the Aussies loved the ship and had a long and distinguished history flying it.
The WB-57F aircraft that NASA flies is a completely different aircraft than the B-57 and was originally known as the RB-57F. It was the result of conversions developed by General Dynamics in response to a USAF request for a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft based on the B-57.
"*The wing of the RB-57F was an entirely new, three-spar structure with a span of 122 feet. Extensive use was made of honeycomb sandwich panels, which had originally been developed by Convair for the B-58 Hustler supersonic bomber. All of the fuel was carried inside the wings outboard of the engines. The large wing had a marked anhedral, and had a set of ailerons inset at mid-span that were supplemented by spoilers. All control surfaces had tightly sealed gaps in order to reduce drag, and there were no wing flaps. The aircraft was fitted with larger vertical tail surfaces. These surfaces were twice as large as those of the standard B-57.
The RB-57F was powered by a pair of 18,000 lb.s.t. Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-11A turbofans, which gave the RB-57F more than twice the power of its predecessors. In addition, provision was made for a 3300 lb.s.t. Pratt & Whitney J60-P-9 turbojet housed in a detachable pod underneath each wing. These auxiliary engines did not have starters, and were air-started after takeoff after windmilling up to 12 percent rpm. They remained at idling RPM up to 32,000 feet altitude, where throttling control started becoming effective. Full throttle could be used at altitudes above 40,000 feet. The J60s added approximately 2500 feet to the maximum ceiling. However, the J60s could be removed for maximum range missions.*"