by Woody Minar
OSHKOSH, WIS. – For what seems to be a small, yet large aircraft for high-altitude work, NASA showed off its WB-57F High Altitude Research plane at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, July 28 – August 3, 2014. According to pilot Scott Gahring, they perform “weather reconnaissance” above 60,000 feet.
The British built the first B-57 and the U.S. bought it in the late 1950s as a bomber. The “A” through “E” models flew in Viet Nam. After the war, the WB-57F that appeared at Oshkosh sat in a boneyard for 40 years before being resurrected back to flight by NASA.
The plane has several missions, one of which is earth science, such as studying ice crystal size in clouds and ice reflectivity along with Department of Defense missions. Gahring smiled and had a twinkle in his eye when he said “they filmed a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral from 50,000 feet.”
NASA has three planes in use. Since the plane was outdated and now had different missions, NASA modified the original plane’s design by retrofitting it with F-15 landing gear, wheels, and brakes. Then they made the wingspan longer, which meant they had to install engines with more thrust, which resulted in having to make the tail bigger.
When asked how the WB-57F compares with the SR-71, Gahring said that the SR-71 flies at 80,000 feet at Mach 3-plus. With a 122 ft 7 inch wingspan, the WB-57F cruises at 197 knots IAS with a range of 6.7 hours or 2500 nm. “A lot of planes pass us,” he said.
For more information, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNnjN5Y56s4
EDITOR’S NOTE: Woody Minar is a master certified flight instructor and designated pilot examiner at the Osceola, Wisconsin airport (KOEO).
