757 "Catfish"

[denverpilot]

Guess I had never heard of this thing.

757 outfitted with F-22 nose and avionics for testing.

Ugly as sin, too. LOL!

 

[Craig]

Also done for the F-35, but better looking
https://www.flickr.com/photos/moonm/12316016024/

 

[wsuffa]

Also done for the F-35, but better looking
https://www.flickr.com/photos/moonm/12316016024/

That's a 737 there.

Some companies have had 727s that were equipped as test beds, too.

 

[AggieMike88]

Reminds me of a certain nun

 

[tspear]

Why the wing over the cockpit?

Tim

 

[Pilawt]

It's in clear view as you land on 31L at KBFI, just south of the Museum of Flight.

 

[Clark1961]

Guess I had never heard of this thing.

757 outfitted with F-22 nose and avionics for testing.

Ugly as sin, too. LOL!

What? you don't like an aircraft that wears a hat?

 

[AggieMike88]

What? you don't like an aircraft that wears a hat?

How about a yamaka and prayer shawl?

 

[Lachlan]

Why the wing over the cockpit?

Tim

Because real airplanes have high wings.

 

[nauga]

Why the wing over the cockpit?

For testing wing-mounted sensors and antennae.

Nauga,
and his velocity gate pull-off

 

[aftCG]

Super old modification

I did the cnc programming to cut the master master models for those nose pieces in the late 90s

I believe that is 757 serial number 2 which lives on to be a test bed, and usually visible from I-5

 

[Shepherd]

Yup. We got us a seriously weird, ugly airplane, right there.
Must have some Russian and French DNA in it somewhere.

 

[Bill]

"You can't miss me, I'm the fugly airplane on the 18.6 mile straight in final"

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Is it my imagination, or does the approach look "flatter" than normal? If so, is it because that cockpit "wing" provides some element of lift?

 

[Timbeck2]

That thing looks like a sparrow graduating college.

 

[Tantalum]

While unattractive at lease the 757 setup has kind of a demonic grace to it.. the same CANNOT be said for the 707 testbed that was used for turboprop development. That just looks sad

 

[GlennAB1]

Why the wing over the cockpit?
Tim

They wanted it to be in "clean" air.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

While unattractive at lease the 757 setup has kind of a demonic grace to it.. the same CANNOT be said for the 707 testbed that was used for turboprop development. That just looks sad

View attachment 55464
View attachment 55465

That is a POWERFUL 720B! Not only does it have an extra turbopro, if you look closely it also has a corporate(ish) jet mounted on its right front.

Looks like this plane fell into a nuclear reactor and started growing engines.

 

[Pilawt]

the same CANNOT be said for the 707 testbed that was used for turboprop development.

Slight correction -- that's a 720B, the last flying 720 at the time of its retirement a few years ago.

http://aviationweek.com/blog/farewell-boeings-720

 

[Craig]

Is it my imagination, or does the approach look "flatter" than normal? If so, is it because that cockpit "wing" provides some element of lift?

It's probably being flown by the guy in the test pit and is on a normal F/A-22 approach. We had guys doing the same thing in the CatBird.

 

[X3 Skier]

That aircraft(?) from the Lockheed team and a similar BAC-111 testbed from the Northrop team were part of the F-23/F-23 competition. We had required a ground test bed for the Avionics and both teams volunteered to add flying test beds for free. So I added the words, "and flying test bed" to the contract. No required tests or configuration was required. I let competition take care of that.

Both collected a lot of useful data on sensor performance and the airplane continued to fly after Lockheed won while the BAC-111 was retired.

Cheers

 

[nauga]

Both collected a lot of useful data on sensor performance and the airplane continued to fly after Lockheed won while the BAC-111 was retired

I was an occasional target for the BAC-111.

Nauga,
who can be hard to miss

 

[Skyrys62]

Reminded me of a pencil who just graduated high school.

 

[TRocket]

While unattractive at lease the 757 setup has kind of a demonic grace to it.. the same CANNOT be said for the 707 testbed that was used for turboprop development. That just looks sad

View attachment 55464
View attachment 55465

All of the above are ugly as sin, and the 707 is such a beautiful airplane, that turbo prop monstrosity on the front is just saddening.

 

[Marky_24]

Almost as ugly as a A380!