Research Roundup

ER-2 painting wins

By Beth Hagenauer
Dryden Public Affairs

Aviation Week magazine recently honored as "Best of the Best" a NASA-commissioned painting of an Airborne Science ER-2. Selected from entries submitted for the publication's annual Aerospace Art Awards issue, "ER-2 Altitude Record," by Nixon Galloway, commemorates the Nov. 19, 1998, flight when the aircraft set a new world altitude record for medium weight aircraft, reaching 68,700 feet. The milestone was for aircraft medium weight class of 26,455 to 35,274 pounds at takeoff.

The ER-2 routinely operates between 65,000 and 70,000 feet, but the November 1998 flight marked the first time the aircraft's performance had been documented and made public. Galloway's painting depicts the research bird flying over Dryden near the edge of Rogers Dry Lake.