NASA WB-57
Posted by waddlek@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 47 comments
The Martin/General Dynamics RB-57F Canberra is a specialized strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed in the 1960s for the United States Air Force by General Dynamics from the Martin B-57 Canberra tactical bomber, which itself was a license-built version of the English Electric Canberra. It was operationally assigned to the Air Weather Service for weather reconnaissance involving high-altitude atmospheric sampling and radiation detection in support of nuclear test monitoring, but four of the 21 modified aircraft performed solely as strategic reconnaissance platforms in Japan and Germany. RB-57F Canberra
As of 2024, three WB-57Fs are the only B-57 aircraft model still flying, in service with NASA.
samuellbronko@reddit
Looks like the WB-57 is a modified version by NASA:
NASA WB-57F is a modified Martin/General Dynamics RB-57F Canberra strategic reconnaissance aircraft, originally designed for the United States Air Force. NASA acquired the aircraft in the late 1960s and has operated them since then for various scientific research missions.
stingfingers@reddit
I know HARS has a Canberra in their collection, not sure if there is any plan to return it to flightworthy status but gosh we can dream!
Crawling around in it as a 6ft human, I cant imagine how they crammed 3 bois into that cockpit for a long endurance mission!
Foreign_Athlete_7693@reddit
The British ones didn't even have a fighter-like canopy, only the pilot had a (sealed) canopy at all.....the other guys were all squished behind in a compartment (Apart from the bomb-aimer, who had a glazed nose section they could lie in)
LightningGeek@reddit
Depends on the version. The RAF flew the bubble canopy, the offset fighter canopy, as well as glazed and solid nosed versions.
The bomb aimer's position was apparently comfy enough according to my old neighbour. He only spent a short time in there though on a booze and fag run from Malta to Greece and back.
Foreign_Athlete_7693@reddit
Pretty sure (going off memory here) the British ones with fighter canopies were latter PR ones and some interdictor ones, no?
DaveB44@reddit
The first version to use it was the B(I) 8.
psunavy03@reddit
Exhibit A of "two nations separated by a common language."
Aviator779@reddit
A84-502 which is owned by HARS won’t be returned to flight, it’s solely a static display.
However, the Royal Australian Air Force Heritage Squadron operates an airworthy Canberra, WJ680, which is a Canberra TT.18.
stingfingers@reddit
Amazing! Thank you for the info! I’d love to see that in the air! I’ve been out of Melbourne every time the air show is on, and despite visiting Temora, HARS, Point Cook and the Fleet Air Arm Museum, I’ve never seen a display!
Necessary_Band_1831@reddit
At first it looked like a gloster meteor lol.
gnowbot@reddit
SR-71+A-10 had a baby
PartyLikeAByzantine@reddit
The Canberra bomber predates A-10 by 30 years.
Busy_Outlandishness5@reddit
It's possible if the A-10 was involved in a "Back to the Future" scenario where it time-travelled back to mid 1940's England to rescue a U-2 that had been trapped in the past -- and in the process, they fall in love...
gnowbot@reddit
They fell head over heels, living happily ever after lazy chandelles ever after.
gnowbot@reddit
I really appreciate you sharing the lineage and history that lead up to this aircraft.
I often imagine what it might have been like to be a test pilot in the first decades of the jet-age…Each upgrade having half as many flame-outs, fewer problems with compressor temps, and practically double the thrust from the last turbojet you were flying last month.
Pattern_Is_Movement@reddit
more like U2 and A-10
Spin737@reddit
So, that makes it a…. K-6?
Busy_Outlandishness5@reddit
the biggest difference between British and American Canberras? The dashboard hula girl.
waddlek@reddit (OP)
Glad someone caught that!
TheLandOfConfusion@reddit
Phillips head bolts on the canopy? How standard is that?
waddlek@reddit (OP)
Pretty common
Foreign_Athlete_7693@reddit
There's 3?! I thought there was only 1 still flying?
Also, this is another one of those cases of the US buying one of our stellar planes and modifying it slightly but not enough that it's actually a different plane 😅
BZJGTO@reddit
NASA was flying two, and then a few years ago (maybe a little more, but less than a decade ago) they brought a third back in to service. I think they're stationed out of El Paso now, but used to see them pretty regularly growing up next door to EFD.
mrodgers2@reddit
Nah, still at EFD.
Foreign_Athlete_7693@reddit
The OG Recon Canberras were still flying on into the early 2000s if I remember correctly
Bogartsboss@reddit
Imagine you are the pilot and you walk into Flight Central, coffee cup in hand, and someone says: "Today we're going to try something a little different."
And you run your last five years through you head. Then look out side expecting a Cessna 172.
Taptrick@reddit
You’re weird… This plane is a legend.
SquirreInMyPants01@reddit
Did you get photo of cockpit?
waddlek@reddit (OP)
Not this trip
SquirreInMyPants01@reddit
Bruh
jazzcomputer@reddit
Hoping it recovers from COVID soon
FullAir4341@reddit
Me: I want A10 Warthong
Mom: We have A10 at home
A10 at Home:
Maxrdt@reddit
A-10 at home is too high to reach
scoscochin@reddit
This in Colorado?
waddlek@reddit (OP)
Northern California
scoscochin@reddit
Got up close to perhaps this one being repaired/restored a bunch of years ago. Amazing looking airplane. Thanks for posting!
OddAd6143@reddit
It looks so cozy to fly
alexw0122@reddit
Interesting day to post this since is was in use today supporting Starship Flight 4!
SilkyZ@reddit
Drake Buccaneer IRL
aquoola@reddit
I got some pics of it flying, its wings are gigantic
l1thiumion@reddit
This looks straight out of Kerbal.
RhynoD@reddit
I was gonna say straight out of Star Wars.
fulltiltboogie1971@reddit
Old, not obsolete!
Acoustic_Rob@reddit
I love how they put newer high-bypass engines on those old airframes. So awkward. So cool.
Imnomaly@reddit
Glad to see Canberra/B-57 frames are still in air
duovtak@reddit
Love how these got repurposed for research.
HotRecommendation283@reddit
Such a cool plane!