Photo Gallery

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Dryden Photo Gallery
05.03.13
 
This collection contains photos of many of the unique research aircraft flown at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. These images date from the 1940s to the present. No copyright protection is asserted for these photographs. See Using NASA Imagery and Linking to NASA Web Sites for more information. Multiple resolutions are available. For other images see Dryden's Movie Collection and Graphics Collection.
  Aircraft   Research Program   Flight Dates   Images
 A-5A (Historical) A-5A  SST and Sonic Boom Research  1963 3
 ACAT_FRRP F-16D in flight  Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology  2009 - present 7
 AD-1 (Historical)AD-1  Oblique Wing Research  1979 - 1982 4
 Aero-Commander (Historical)Aerocommander  Unswept Fuselage Study  1968 2
 Aerospike Rocket TestAerospike Rocker  First known data from a solid fueled aerospike rocket in flight  Present 3
 AltairAltair  Remotely operated, uninhabited aircraft program  Present 24
 Altus (Historical)Altus  ERAST Program - High Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle  1996 - 1997 13
 Apex (Historical)Apex  ERAST Program - High Altitude Sailplane  1995 - 1998 5
 Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) (Historical)AAR  F/A-18 #845 Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) project  2002 - 2003 10
 Autonomous Airborne Refueling Demo (AARD)AARD  F/A-18 #845 Autonomous Airborne Refueling  2006 - present 12
 Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF) (Historical)Autonomous Formation Flight Control  Autonomous Formation Flight Control  2000 - 2001 12
 Autonomous Soaring Project (Historical)Autonomous Soaring Project in flight  Thermal Lift Tests to Extend UAV Flight Range and Endurance  2005 3
 B-29  (Historical)B-29  Air Drop Mothership  1940s - 1960s 10
 B-47A Stratojet (Historical)B-47  Landing Drag Chute Study and Dynamic Response Research  1953 - 1957 4
 B-52 Air Drop Mothership  (Historical) B-52  B-52 Stratofortress  1959 - 2004 47
 B-57B Canberra (Historical)B-57  Atmospheric Research  1982 3
 Bell 47 (Historical) Bell 47  Support and LLRV Chase/Training  early 1960s - 1985 3
 Boeing 720 (Historical) Boeing 720  CID - Controlled Impact Demonstration  1984 7
 Boeing 727 (Historical)Boeing 727  Vortex study  1974 1
 Boeing 747 (Historical)Boeing 747  Vortex study  1974, 1979 4
 C-17 Globemaster III C-17  Propulsion Health Management (PHM)  2003 - present 14
 C-141A (Historical) C-141  Eclipse tow aircraft  1997 1
 Centurion (Historical)Centurion  High Altitude Solar Powered Aircraft  1997 33
 CV-990 (Historical) LSRA  LSRA - Landing Systems Research Aircraft  1993 - 1996 16
 D-558-1  (Historical) D-558-1  Transonic Flight Research  1947 - 1953 13
 D-558-2  (Historical) D-558-2  Transonic and Supersonic Flight Research  1949 - 1956 17
 Daedalus (Historical) Daedalus  Human Powered Aircraft  1987 - 1988 2
 DC-8 DC-8  Airborne Laboratory  1997 - present 172
 Demonstrator 2  (Historical) D-2  ERAST Research  1996 1
 DROID / Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone droid in flight  Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology (ACAT)  2010 - present 6
 E-2C Hawkeye (Historical) E-2C  Loads Lab weight tests for planned modifications  2005 3
 ER-2 ER-2 in flight  High altitude Research  1997 - present 73
 F-4A Phantom (Historical) F-4A  Navy fighter  1965 1
 F-4C Phantom II (Historical) F-4C  Air flow tests  1984 2
 F4D Skyray (Historical) F-4D  N/A  1950s 1
 F5D-1 Skylancer (Historical) F-5D  Develop Dyna-soar launch pad abort procedures  1961 - 1970 5
 F-8A Crusader (Historical) F-8 SCW  SCW - Supercritical Wing  1971 - 1973 4
 F-8C Crusader (Historical) F-8 DFBW  DFBW - Digital Fly-By-Wire  1972 - 1985 5
 F-14 Tomcat (Historical) F-14  Variable Sweep Transition flight experiment  1986 - 1987 8
 F-15 Eagle F-15D in flight  F-15D  2010 - present 9
F-15 ECANS  F-15B SBRDC/ECANS  2007 - present 7
F-15 IFCS in flight  F-15B #837 Intelligent Flight Control System  2002 - present 9
Quiet Spike  F-15B #836 Quiet Spike (Historical)  2006 - present 18
F-15B  F-15B #836 Research Testbed Aircraft  1993 - present 34
F-15 ACTIVE  F-15 #837 ACTIVE - Thrust Vectoring (Historical)  1993 - 2009 23
F-15A  F-15A - Flight Research (Historical)  1976 - 1981 11
F-15 HIDEC  Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control (HIDEC)  (Historical)  1976 - 1993 5
 F-16 AFTI (Historical) F-16 AFTI  AFTI - Advanced Fighter Technology Integration  1983 7
 F-16XL (Historical) F-16 XL1  Ship #1 (Historical)  1991 - 1996 24
F-16 XL2  Ship #2 - Supersonic Laminar Flow (Historical)  1992 - 1996 24
 F-18 Hornet
AAW in flight  Active Aeroelastic Wing  2001 - present 25
F-18 Chase  Airborne Astronomy  1999 - present 4
F-18 HARV  HARV - High Alpha Research Aircraft (Historical)  1987 - 1997 29
F-18 Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control  Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC)  2008 - present 8
F-18 Mission Support  Mission Support Aircraft  1990 - present 33
  F-18 SRA  SRA - Systems Research Aircraft  1993 - 1998 37
 F-84 (Historical)YRF-84F  Pitch-up research  1954 - 1956 3
 F-86 Sabre (Historical) F-86  Chase Aircraft  1950s 1
 F-100 (Historical) F-100  Inertial Coupling (stability)  1954 - 1956 8
 F-101 Voodoo (Historical)F-101  Air Force fighter  1956 2
 F-104 Starfighter (Historical) F-104  Inertial coupling, reaction controls, noise research  1956 - 1973 29
 F-105 (Historical) F-105  Various flight research projects  1959 - 1968 1
 F-106 Delta Dart (Historical) F-106  Eclipse air tow, Wing Leading Edge Vortex Flaps testing  1997 - 1998 15
 F-107A (Historical) F-107  Evaluate sidestick flight control system  1957 - 1959 8
 F-111 Aardvaark (Historical) F-111A  F-111A (Historical)  1968 2
F-111 AFTI  F-111 AFTI - Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (Historical)  1974 - 1986 6
F-111 PCS  F-111E IPCS - Integrated Propulsion Control System (Historical)  1975 1
F-111 TACT  F-111 TACT - Transonic Aircraft Technology
 (Historical)		  1972 - 1984 3
 Firebee Drone (Historical) Dast  DAST - Drone for Aeroelastic Structures Testing  1977 - 1984 9
 Flight Opportunities
 Program		 SL-6 launch  Flight Opportunities Program research vehicles  2012 - present 13
 Global Hawk Global Hawk  Unmanned aircraft  2007-present 92
 Gossamer Albatross
 (Historical)		 Gossmaer Albatross  Human Powered Aircraft  1980 5
 Gulfstream III / C-20A C-20A  C-20A - Environmental Science Research / UAVSAR  2002 - present 20
C-20A G-III - Aerodynamics Research Test Bed  2009 - present 7
 Guppy Guppy  Pilot study and system transport  1962-present 10
 HL-10 (Historical) HL-10  Lifting Body  1966 - 1970 30
 Helios (Historical) Helios  Solar Powered Aircraft  1999 - 2003 42
 Hyper III  (Historical) Hyper 3  RPV - Lifting Body reentry configuration  1969 3
 Ikhana (MQ-9 Predator B) Ikhana  Long-endurance unmanned research aircraft  Present 28
 Inflatable Wing (Historical) Inflatable Wing  Inflatable Wing Technology Demonstrator  2001 10
 Iron Cross  (Historical) Iron Cross  Reaction Flight Control Systems  1956 3
Jetstar (Historical) C-140  General purpose airborne simulator  1963 - 1988 5
 KC-135A (Historical) KC-135  Evaluate capabilities of jet aircraft in air traffic control system and Winglet Study  1958 and 1979 5
 KingAir KingAir  Support aircraft  1997 - present 7
 L-1011 (Historical) L-1011   Adaptive Performance Optimization  1995 - 1997 6
 Lear-24 Lear Jet   Jet transport  2001 - present 1
 LLRV (Historical) LLRV  Lunar Landing Research Vehicle  1964 - 1967 7
 LRV (Historical) LRV  Low Reynolds Vehicle  1981 - 1982 1
 M2-F1 (Historical) M2-F1  Lifting Body  1963 - 1964 21
 M2-F2 (Historical) M2-F2  Lifting Body  1966 - 1967 17
 M2-F3 (Historical) M2-F3  Lifting Body  1970 - 1972 10
 MD-11 (Historical) MD-11  Propulsion Controlled Aircraft  1995 10
 Mini-Sniffer (Historical) Mini Sniffer  Air sample gathering  1974 - 1977 4
 Morphing Airplane Morphing Airplane  Inflight Configuration Changes  present 1
 Oblique Wing (Historical) Oblique Wing Research Aircraft  Oblique Wing Research  1976 4
 Orion Crew Module Orion Crew  Launch Abort System Flight Tests  2007 - 2010 45
 OV-1C (Historical) OV-1C  Stall speed warning system  1983 2
 P-3D Orion (Historical)P-3  Shuttle Tile Flight Tests Fixture  1987 2
 P-38 Lightning (Historical) P-38  World War II fighter  mid 1940s 1
 P-51D Mustang (Historical) P-51  Chase (X-1A), Pilot proficiency  1950s, 2000 4
 PA-30 (Historical) PA-30  NASA 808 RPRV - Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle  1979 - 1980 2
 Paresev (Historical) Paresev  Spacecraft landing control systems  1962 - 1964 9
 Pathfinder (Historical) Pathfinder  Solar Powered Aircraft  1994 - 1997 30
 Pathfinder-Plus (Historical) Pathfinder-Plus  Solar Powered Aircraft  1998 - 2003 30
 Pegasus (Historical) Pegasus  Air-launched space booster  1989 - 1994 8
 Perseus (Historical) Perseus  Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor
 Technology		  1993 - 1994, 1998 21
 Phantom Eye Phantom Eye  Prototype Unmanned Aircraft System  2012 2
 Phoenix Missile Phoenix Missile  Hypersonic testbed  2007 - present 3
 PIK-20E (Historical) PIK-20  Sailplane Research Aircraft - airflow over lifting surfaces  1981 - 1991 2
 Power-Beaming Power Beaming  Continuous flight using beamed laser energy  2002-present 10
 Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA) MD-11   Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA)  1993-present 3
 Proteus Proteus  Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor
 Technology		  1999- present 22
 Quiet Spike Quiet Spike   Sonic boom research  2006 - present 18
 R4D Skytrain (Historical) R4D  Support aircraft  1950s 3
 RSRA (Historical) RSRA  Rotor Systems Research Aircraft  1980 - 1981 2
 Schweizer 1-36 (Historical) Schweizer  Deep Stall Research  1983 - 1984 3
 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Ferry Flight  Space shuttle ferry flights  1981 - present 64
 SOFIA SOFIA  Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy  2006 - present 128
 Sonic Boom Suppression F-18  Designing future quiet supersonic aircraft  2011 - present 4
 Spacewedge (Historical) Spacewedge  Spacecraft Autoland Project  1991 - 1996 6
 SRV (Historical) SRV  RPV - Spin Research Vehicle  1973 - 1981 2
 Shaped Sonic Boom
 Demonstration (SSBD)
 (Historical)		 SSBD  Reducing sonic boom intensity  2003 - 2004 12
 Sub-scale Research Aircraft Auto Piloted Vehicle (APV-3) Networked Unmanned Aerial Vehicle  Aircraft Research  1940s - present 16
 SR-71 Blackbird SR-71  High speed flight and sonic boom studies  (Historical)  1990 - 1999 46
SR-71 LASRE  Linear Aerospike SR Experiment (LASRE) (Historical)  1996 - 1999 21
 T-33A (Historical) T-33  Support and Flight Research  1958 - 1973 4
 T-34C T-34  Chase, pilot proficiency  1996 - present 10
 T-37 (Historical) T-37  Chase Aircraft, Wake Vortex Studies  1974 2
 T-38 T-38  Chase, pilot proficiency  1970s - present 13
 Theseus (Historical) Theseus in flight  RPV  1996 16
 Tier 3 (Historical) Tier 3 in flight  RPV  1995 - 1999 2
Towed Glider Air-Launch Concept towed glider air-launch concept drawing  A proposed conceptual technique for launching space satellites  2013 to present 2
 TU-144LL (Historical) TU-144  Supersonic Research  1996 - 1999 14
 U-2 (Historical) U-2  Never flown - CIA Cover Story  1960 1
 Voyager (Historical) Voyager  Globe circling flight  1987 1
 X-1 (Historical)X-1  Supersonic flight  1946 - 1958 14
 X-1A (Historical)X-1A  Supersonic flight  1946 - 1958 8
 X-1B (Historical) X-1B  Supersonic flight  1946 - 1958 11
 X-1E (Historical)X-1E  Supersonic flight  1946 - 1958 11
 X-2 (Historical)X-2  Supersonic swept wing  1955 - 1956 8
 X-3 (Historical)X-3  Sustained flight at Mach 2+, low aspect ratio wings,titanium construction  1953 - 1956 11
 X-4 (Historical)X-4  Semi-tailless aircraft  1954 8
 X-5 (Historical)X-5  Variable sweep wings  1952 - 1955 9
 X-15 (Historical)X-15  Hypersonic flight at high altitude  1959 - 1968 39
 X-24 (Historical)X-24  Lifting body flight research  1969 - 1975 27
 X-29 (Historical) X-29  Forward Swept Wing  1984 - 1992 18
 X-31 (Historical) X-31  Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Demonstrator  1992 - 1995 27
 X-33 (Historical)X-33  Advanced Technology Demonstrator  1996 - 1999 19
 X-34 (Historical)X-34  Technology Testbed Demonstrator  1998 - 2000 28
 X-36 (Historical)X-36  Tailless Aircraft Research  1996 - 1997 28
 X-37 (Historical) X-37 illustration  Advanced Technology Demonstrator  1999 - present 2
 X-38 (Historical)X-38  Experimental Crew Return Vehicle  1995 - 2001 80
 X-40A (Historical)X-40  Space Maneuvering Vehicle  1996 - 2001 22
 X-43A / Hyper-XX-43A  Unpiloted Hypersonic Research Vehicle  1996 - present 86
 X-45AX-45  X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems
 (J-UCAS)		  2001 - present 27
X-48 X-48B taking off  X-48B Blended Wing Body   2006 - 2012 27
  X-48C taking off  X-48C Hybrid / Blended Wing Body   Present 10
 X-Wing (Historical)X-Wing  Rotor System Research Aircraft  1986 - 1988 3
 XB-70A  (Historical) XV-70  Stability and handling of large delta-wing aircraft at high speed  1967 - 1969 11
 XF-91 (Historical) XF-91  Prototype fighter  early 1950s 1
 XF-92A (Historical)XF-92  Evaluate delta wing concept  1953 8
 XV-15  (Historical)XV-15  Improve design and efficiency of rotorcraft using
 tilt rotors		  1980 - 1981 4
 YF-12 Blackbird (Historical)YF-12  High speed, high altitude research, aerodynamic and thermal loads  1970 - 1978 9
 YF-17 Cobra (Historical) YF-17  Prototype aircraft (future F-18)  mid 1970s 3
 YF-102 (Historical) YF-102  Delta wing research  1954 - 1958 4
 YO-3A (Historical) YO-3A  In-Flight Acoustics Research  1997 - 2004 5
Aircraft Fleet Images
 Fleet images Aircraft fleet  All Dryden aircraft fleet photos  1950 - present 50
 Fleet 1950s (Historical)1950s aircraft  Dryden aircraft fleet photos  1950 - 1959 12
 Fleet 1960s (Historical)1960s aircraft  Dryden aircraft fleet photos  1960 - 1969 14
 Fleet 1970s (Historical)1970s aircraft  Dryden aircraft fleet photos  1970 - 1979 1
 Fleet 1980s (Historical)1980s aircraft  Dryden aircraft fleet photos  1980 - 1989 4
 Fleet 1990s (Historical)1990s aircraft  Dryden aircraft fleet photos  1990 - 1999 15
 Fleet 2000sfleet 2000s  Dryden aircraft fleet photos  2000 - present 6

STS - Space Shuttle
 ALT (Historical)ALT  STS Approach and Landing Tests  late 1970s 8
 Ferry FlightsFerry Flight  STS - SCA Ferry Flights 1981 - present 14
 Shuttle MiscellaneousSTS miscellaneous  Miscellaneous photos of Shuttle related activities  2005 - 2013 17
 MDDMDD  STS Mate-Demate Device  1978 - present 7
 Shuttle (Historical)Shuttle landing  All Dryden landings  1981-present 259

Dryden Center Research Facilities Images
 Dryden Research FacilitiesFacilities  Dryden laboratories and buildings  1946 - present 31
 Facilities Support CenterA mason sets a concrete block.  Planning and construction  Feb. 2012 - present 8
 Flight SimulatorsSimulator  Dryden flight simulators  1958 - present 17
 Flight Loads LaboratoryFlight Loads Lab  Stress testing of aircraft under conditions expected in flight  1970 - present 16
 Flow Visualization Facility (Historical)Flow Visualization  Water Tunnel Flow Studies  1985 3

Other Dryden Images
 Aerodynamic Truck
 (Historical)		truck  Air Flow Research  1975 - 1981 6
 Directorscenter director david mcbride  Dryden Center Directors portraits  1946 - present 11
 MiscellaneousMiscellaneous  Miscellaneous Dryden photos  N/A 15
 PeoplePeople  Dryden people  1946 - present 82
 PilotsPilot  Dryden Research Pilots and their aircraft  1946 - present 83
 Schlieren Photography
 (Historical)		Schlieren photo  Shock Wave Visualization Research  1993 1
 Visitorsvisitors  Guest speakers, visiting dignitaries, etc  2002 - present 66

 
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