Posted: 3/15/2015 11:30:57 PM EDT
Anybody know anything about this aircraft? Quite the airborne antenna farm.... |
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Damn you guys are too fast for me.
Based on the C-12 platform. Guardrail is really pretty when it comes to antennas. Also, since I'm a plane geek too, these are built from modified King Air twin engine planes. I've actually flown one as a student. 
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The facility with the contract for all the high-level maintenance on those was just down from my reserve center. They often recruited tedetvists with a clearance to send to A&P school (also right next door) because it was easier and sometimes faster to train up someone with a clearance than to get siemens trained a clearance.
One of them told me that evidently at the end of the production the contract called for Beech to hand over all blueprints of the structural mods to the government. Who promptly lost them. So they end up re-engineering a lot of stuff on antenna mounts and the mods made to the airframe to fit them. |
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You should be able to catch them often in your area- the depot maintenance is done at Donaldson Center. |
| When the RC-135's would do weekend ops at Kadena, tower would call us (fire dept) to go out and drop the barriers (aircraft arrestor cables) since the antenna could snag the cables. Power Pro didn't usually work weekends so we had to do it. We'd tie the cable to the pintle hook of the ramp truck with rope then gun it down the runway until the cable stretched tight and broke the rope. |
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Here is a question for you folks.
Several years ago (probably about 5 or 6 now), when landing at Nashville International airport (BNA) I saw an aircraft parked on the Air Guard/Gen Av side that appeared to be some sort of commo or SIGINT aircraft, but was a type I have never been able to I.D. Air Force Grey paint Twin engine jet.. Might have been a 727 or 737... about that size Only a few oval window ports on the fuselage Lots of antenna winglets, Like shown on the Guardrail Larger winglets on the end of the horizontal stabilizer (almost like an E-2 Hawkeye) No large radomes like one would see on an EC-135, or NC-135 Never seen anything like before or since. Can't be secret since it was parked in broad daylight at an international airport Any ideas? |
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At least 2 of the ARIA airframes are still flying, in the TC/RC-135 role. 62-4128 and 62-4128 Quoted:
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If you want to learn about one of the older sigint aircraft, look up ARIA. My parents both flew on those, Father in the front, Mother in the back. At least 2 of the ARIA airframes are still flying, in the TC/RC-135 role. 62-4128 and 62-4128 329 or 330? |
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Quoted:
Here is a question for you folks. Several years ago (probably about 5 or 6 now), when landing at Nashville International airport (BNA) I saw an aircraft parked on the Air Guard/Gen Av side that appeared to be some sort of commo or SIGINT aircraft, but was a type I have never been able to I.D. Air Force Grey paint Twin engine jet.. Might have been a 727 or 737... about that size Only a few oval window ports on the fuselage Lots of antenna winglets, Like shown on the Guardrail Larger winglets on the end of the horizontal stabilizer (almost like an E-2 Hawkeye) No large radomes like one would see on an EC-135, or NC-135 Never seen anything like before or since. Can't be secret since it was parked in broad daylight at an international airport Any ideas? Don't know....maybe a P-8A. Last time I flew a 727, it had 3 engines.
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Here's a shot of the recorders, "A young A1C with two very respected and admired USAF Generals, Odgers and Rushworth, on board ARIA #329, probably 1978."
And here's another one, with her severly sunburned, the area that now has the black rack-mount screen, "OMG were we bored on that 14 hour flight, thus the Mickey ears. We staged out of Kennedy Space Center to support a test of a submarine-launched missile." 
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Whoops.. I brain farted on 727
The PA-8 looks close... If you added large winglets to the horizontal stabilizer, I'd say it was a match. Quoted:
Don't know....maybe a P-8A. Last time I flew a 727, it had 3 engines.
Quoted:
Quoted:
Here is a question for you folks. Several years ago (probably about 5 or 6 now), when landing at Nashville International airport (BNA) I saw an aircraft parked on the Air Guard/Gen Av side that appeared to be some sort of commo or SIGINT aircraft, but was a type I have never been able to I.D. Air Force Grey paint Twin engine jet.. Might have been a 727 or 737... about that size Only a few oval window ports on the fuselage Lots of antenna winglets, Like shown on the Guardrail Larger winglets on the end of the horizontal stabilizer (almost like an E-2 Hawkeye) No large radomes like one would see on an EC-135, or NC-135 Never seen anything like before or since. Can't be secret since it was parked in broad daylight at an international airport Any ideas? Don't know....maybe a P-8A. Last time I flew a 727, it had 3 engines.
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329 or 330? Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
If you want to learn about one of the older sigint aircraft, look up ARIA. My parents both flew on those, Father in the front, Mother in the back. At least 2 of the ARIA airframes are still flying, in the TC/RC-135 role. 62-4128 and 62-4128 329 or 330? Opps, 2nd should be 62-4133. Trying to look up the ARIA #s, I'm not familiar with those. ETA found em http://www.flyaria.com/aria-tria-aircraft-and-program-associated-aircraft.htm |