View allAll Photos Tagged Testbed
Testing navigation sofware and acting as engine testbed. Taxiing past the spotting pavilion for a 10:15 departure to Milan-Linate. Returned back to Stockholm-Arlanda at 15:07.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO' ['#A380' 'iflyA380.com' decals]
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2016 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
The 44 year old Rolls Royce 747-200 Series testbed returning home to Tucson after a 1+ year assignment in Waco, TX.
Note the Trent 1000 Dreamliner engine in the number 2 position and the new Pearl 10X engine for the Dassault Falcon 10X added to its right wing.
12/2020 - I had not seen the SD45 testbed unit for a while so I decided to look for it. It's across from Thompson's Pharmacy.
Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 11-Mar-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 14-Mar-26.
Test Bed for the Bristol Siddeley Viper engine.
Four Lockheed R7V-1 Super Constellation transports ordered by the U.S. Navy (Bureau Numbers 131630/131631 and 131660/131661) were modified during assembly as experimental turboprop-powered R7V 2s with four 5,550 shaft horsepower Pratt & Whitney YT34-P-12A engines turning three-bladed propellers with squared off tips. Design of the R7V-2 began in 1951 and the aircraft was first flown in September 1954. Lockheed leased one of the R7V-2s back from the Navy to serve as a testbed for the Allison 501 turboprop engines used to power the L 188 Electra airliner. Nicknamed Elation (derived from combing Electra and Constellation), that aircraft was later delivered to the US Air Force as a YC-121F.
G-JALC Boeing 757-200 of MyTravel at Manchester 16/5/04.
Now flying as an engine test bed for Honeywell as N757HW.
CN SD40-2W 5261- a former LNG testbed unit- approaches North Milwaukee Yard with L507 from DBR Junction in Germantown. Upon entering the yard, it will drop these cars and move to the Saukville Sub, running north to serve industries there.
The spur to the right enters what looks to be a steel plant of some sort- I am unsure if it still receives rail service (though judging by the rusty rails, weed growth and cockeyed gate, I'm guessing not) but the same building complex is at least currently home to a rail-related industry in the form of Trackside Services, Inc, manufacturer of rail-yard retarders and related equipment.
N804X operated by Northrup Grumman Systems Corp Bombardier CRJ700-701 Flying testbed, seen landing at Baltimore MD 16th Dec 2021
"#harrymorrowphoto1
flickr.com/harrymorrowphotography
harrymorrowphotography.com
globalairpower.net"
Previously registered VR-BKK & N808V.
Damaged beyond repair 14-Feb-14 at BOH.
Used as a testbed with Tudor Scan Tech at St-Imier, Switzerland.
88010 heads 4Z91, DRS’ 1035 Gresty Green – Kingmoor over St Bees level crossing on 22 October 2020. The train was being used by DRS to test IDA lowliner wagons following maintenance. The Cumbrian Coast line is an ideal testbed due to its severe curves and jointed track.
Viewers could be forgiven for assuming that this may have been a full length Tesco Express, unfortunately it was only the two wagons.
Airbus A.340-213X (c/n 204)
Government of Saudi Arabia
Zürich-Kloten (ZRH/LSZH) (homespotting)
10 July 2025
It is quite some time since I have last seen an Airbus A.340-200, but last night this example paid a most welcome visit on a flight from Jeddah and London-Stansted to Zürich.
Registered as HZ-HMS2 to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and operated by the Saudi flag carrier Saudia, it was captured on finals to runway 14 as SVA002, and sporting full Saudia livery.
Only 28 of the short A.340 ultra-long range version were built, and as of today only a handful remain active. HZ-HMS2 was built in 1997 for the Government of Brunei, and was the unique A.340-8000 testbed, capable of flying for over 8,000 miles/14,800 km non-stop, for example from Brunei to Europe or the USA. Also dubbed the "A.340-8000" while with the manufacturer, the aircraft never entered service with Brunei and remained at Hamburg for a good ten years, becoming a famous - and expensive - hangar queen. In 2007 it was eventually acquired by Saudi Arabia, initially as HZ-HMS, and becoming HZ-HMS2 in 2010.
The photo of HZ-HMS2 is a "homespotting" shot and is not up to my normal quality standards. The aircraft was taken at four miles final for runway 14, at about 2,900 ft and with a side distance of over 3 kms at a focal length of 1600mm. The camera was a Nikon P950, which is a fun cam for snap shots, has a 24-2000mm zoom lens and a 2x digital zoom boosting focal length to 4000mm, but all at a quality which is clearly below that of the average mobile phone camera, not to speak of a DSLR.
The Foden-NC testbed, seen at the Foden Works at Sandbach. This vehicle was never completed as a useable bus and ended up being returned to NCME in Wigan, when production of the Foden-NC abruptly ended. The vehicle was eventually sold to bus operator, R Bullocks of Cheadle on the closure of NCME, and was subsequently broken up. However, the mechanical units were retained by Bullocks and placed into store. Eventually, these units were sold to West Midlands based bus preservationist Keith Billingsley, when he purchased the former WMPTE Foden-NC (ROC300R) for preservation. ROC300R and the spare units have since been sold onto the proprietor of Aintree Coaches, who also owns the former WYPTE Foden-NC TUB250R.
Hopefully it won't turn Titanic on me..
Rock of Cashel, Beach: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape%20York/133/242/22
((Amphibious testbed car. Can't figure out a name for it yet))
The most anticipated arrival of the day to Palmdale, drawing 9-10 other spotters besides me. Inbound from St. Louis (STL) using call sign "Boeing 57A."
This Boeing 747-121 took its first flight on March 3, 1970...(c/n 19651/ 25)
21/03/1970 Pan Am N744PA, originally named 'Clipper Star of the Union', renamed 'Clipper Ocean Spray' in 1982
09/03/1992 General Electric N747GE engine test-bed withdrawn from use and stored at Victorville from January 2017 until November 2018, preserved at Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona in November 2018...
RD16412. In 1946, the Great Western Railway ordered a prototype A1A-A1A Gas Turbine locomotive from Brown Boveri in Switzerland but, by the time in was delivered in 1950 the GWR was the Western Region of British Railways.
Being an experimental locomotive, it was often out of service for repairs and it was also costly to run. Nevertheless, it did haul express trains from London Paddington on test where it gained the nickname 'Kerosene Castle'.
BR gave up on it in 1960 and it went back to Switzerland to be used as a testbed for wheel-rail interaction, but with the gas turbine power unit removed. After a period on display in Vienna, it came back to the UK for preservation in the 1990s.
It is now on static display at the Didcot Railway Centre.
Easter Sunday, 1st April, 2018. Copyright © Ron Fisher.
During the planning of the proposed "Express" buses and services, Park Royal bodied Daimler Fleetline (WWH 31L) was given a 3/4 repaint into the then trial colour scheme. The front and offside were painted in the 'coral' colour scheme that came to fruition but the nearside and rear were done in white as a comparison. The bus is seen here at Charles St before being dispatched for scrap.
Copyright and with thanks - A.Wyre SPS.
To misquote Sesame Street, none of these F-16s is like the others in this General Dynamics company publicity photo taken at the Fort Worth, Texas, ramp on 3 May 1984. At the top is the first F-16C (U.S. Air Force serial number 83-1118), which had not been flown on it first flight when this image was taken. Second from the top is an F-16A (Air Force serial number 82-1022), the 615th A-model built. Leading the flight is the F 16XL strike aircraft demonstrator (Air Force serial number 75-0749) with its ‘cranked arrow’ wing that provided up to 29 weapons stations. Second from the bottom is the F 16/79 (Air Force serial number 75-0752) demonstrator, which was powered by a GE J79 engine as a possible entry in the overseas market. At the bottom is the AFTI/F-16 (Advanced Fighter Technology Integration) testbed (serial number 75-0750), which was used for a number of developmental test programs, including the Power By Wire effort for the Joint Strike Fighter program demonstration phase. The F 16C was retired to AMARG in 2010; the F-16A was later flown by Portugal and Belgium; the F 16XL was later flown by NASA and was retired in 2009 and is in storage at Edwards AFB, California; the AFTI/F-16 was retired to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in 2001. www.lockheedmartin.com/codeone
Northern prototype 3-car 'Sprinter' 150001 drifts downgrade through Turton Towers with the 15.25 Clitheroe - Rochdale service.
*The bridges in view were built following the construction of the Bolton & Blackburn Railway through the grounds of Turton Tower in 1847. James Kay the landowner at that time, commissioned two footbridges across the railway specifying that their design had to be mediæval style in keeping with the rest of the estate.
** During 1984, BREL constructed a pair of prototype three-car Class 150/0 units, numbered 150001 and 150002; the first unit was delivered to BR only 15 months following the date of order. 150001 was fitted with Cummins engines and Voith hydraulic transmission and 150002 was fitted with Perkins (Rolls-Royce) engines and a fully automatic gearbox developed by the Self-Changing Gears company.
Other than the power train, the two units were identical.
The design specifications of the prototypes were similar to the later production units, but they were to remain as the only Class 150s to be built as three-car units. Additional three-car units were created later by re-marshalling a 150/2 car in the middle of a 150/1 set, but only the prototypes had purpose-built centre cars without driving cabs. Both cab doors are air-operated, unlike the Class 150/1 production model, but seen later on in the 150/2 variant.
150002 proved to be the worse of the two for reliability, and was consequently chosen for use as the testbed for the Class 158, being re-geared to a maximum speed of 90 mph (140 km/h) and fitted with Cummins engines and Voith transmission, and with a Class 158 interior.
One car was fitted with the Class 151 Twin Disc 'hot-shift' transmission, which it used successfully, once the control software was sorted out. To distinguish this unit, it was reclassified as the Class 154. It has since been returned to the standard configuration and reverted to its original number. Both prototypes were still in service with London Midland until 2011.
150001 entered service with First Great Western in January 2012 with 150002 to follow after refurbishment and re-livery. 150001 & 150002 then operated for Great Western Railway. 150001 was based at Bristol's St. Phillips Marsh Depot, primarily working the Bristol Parkway-Weston Super Mare route. 150002 was based at Exeter St. Davids Depot and mainly operated the Riviera Line alongside Class 143 Pacers. In April 2020, both units transferred to Northern's Newton Heath Depot. Both units have since entered into service, initially being used mainly on the Manchester Victoria - Todmorden - Blackburn diagram, and subsequently on Rochdale - Manchester - Bolton - Clitheroe services.
At the same time that BREL built the 150/0s, Metro-Cammell built two prototype Class 151 units at its Washwood Heath plant.
The two types of unit were exhaustively tested, with a view to placing further orders for the more successful. These tests revealed that the Class 150 had exceptional ride quality as well as fully meeting the 50 percent engine-out performance requirements. In the event, the two Class 150 units proved to be more reliable and, as a result, an order for 50 two-car units was placed with BREL.
12-7-2016 - Airbus Industrie, Airbus A350-941.
Powering into the air at Farnborough ready to start its display at FIA 2016.
Info:
The aircraft was built in 2013 and is part of the Airbus test bed fleet of A350 aircraft.
C/n - 2
General Electric Boeing 747-121(A/SF) / N747GE (cn 19651/25) / The General Electric classic 747 engine testbed (line number 25, previously registered N744PA)
Photo from the Florian Weiß collection, kindly provided by him for inclusion on this page.
München-Riem
ca. October 1980
OY-APZ
Boeing 720-051B
18384 / 237
Maersk Air
OY-APZ has just landed on runway 25 and is leaving the runway via the end. Lufthansa B747 and DC-10 in the background, and the Dove is very likely Riem resident D-IKUR.
Information from flickr - thanks to Paul:
c/n 18384/237. New to TWA as N795TW in 1961. To Northwest Orient as N733US in 1962 then to Maersk Air as OY-APZ in 1972. Leased to Trans European Airways as OO-TYA from 1979 to 1980 and returned as OY-APZ. To Conair of Scandinavia in 1981, then Allied-Signal as N720GT in 1987. To Honeywell as N720H in 2000. Retired in December 2007 as the last airworthy B720 in the USA, and scrapped at Phoenix in June 2008.
Information and many photos on this airframe’s later use as an engine testbed:
www.air-and-space.com/Boeing 720 engine testbed.htm
Registration details for this airframe:
www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/Registration/OY-APZ/490561
This airframe as N733US at JFK in July 1970 (also see here for a detailed history of the airframe:
www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding/6054317398
OY-APZ with Conair at SZG ca. early 1980s (hybrid Maersk/Conair colours):
www.flickr.com/photos/steelhead2010/17131926811
OY-APZ with Conair in September 1984:
www.flickr.com/photos/steelhead2010/18644875028
This airframe as N720GT with Allied-Signal Aerospace at PHX in April 1991 (still with Conair cheatline):
www.flickr.com/photos/pslg05896/32834925395
www.flickr.com/photos/pslg05896/32834925665
This airframe as N720H with Honeywell Aviation Services at PHX in October 2007:
imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/8/0/5/1591508.jpg
Scan from Kodachrome slide.
03/03/19 Blackbird Air Park.
61-7973 Constructed as a SR-71A.
22 December 1964 First flight Flown from Lockheed Plant 42.
Circa 1964 Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Air Force with s/n 61-7973.
Transferred to Edwards AFB, CA. Extensive flight testing.
January 1966 Transferred to Strategic Air Command (SAC), Beale AFB, CA.
Transferred to Kadena AB, Japan.
Transferred to RAF Mildenhall, England.
21 July 1987 Damaged during a demonstration flight at RAF Mildenhall.
21 July 1987 Last flight.
Flown from Mildenhall to Plant 42 at Palmdale, CA. Landed with a total of 1,729.9 total flying hours.
6 March 1990 Set a transcontinental coast to coast record, flying 2,404 statue miles in 68 minutes and 17 seconds.
Restored. The work was carried out by the Lockheed Advanced Development Company.
To National Museum of the United States Air Force Loan Program, Wright Field, Dayton, OH.
Circa 2003 Placed on display with Blackbird Airpark, Palmdale, CA.
60-6924 Constructed as an A-12. Two J75 engines originally installed.
Circa 1960 Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Air Force with s/n 60-6924.
27 February 1962
Transported by ground.
Trucked to the test site. This airframe had been designated the primary testbed for airworthiness and handling qualities, envelope expansion, airframe/powerplant integration, subsystems and propulsion.
25 April 1962 First flight.
During a high-speed taxi run, Lockheed test pilot Louis W. Schalk took it airborne for the first time, flying for about a mile and a half at an altitude of around 20 feet.
26 April 1962 First flight.
Lockheeds first planned flight took place on this day.
30 April 1962 First flight.
Shalk flew again for the customers official first flight, attaining a top speed of 340 knots and a peak altitude of 30,000 feet.
4 May 1962
Flew supersonic for the first time, Mach 1.1 at 40,000 feet.
5 October 1962
Made its first flight with one J58 and one J75 engine.
9 March 1963
First flight with two J58 engines.
January 1964
Lockheed test pilot James Eastham took Article 121 to Mach 3.3 with 15 minutes cruise time above Mach 3.2.
Completed 322 flights for a total of 418.2 hours.
6 June 1968
On behalf of the owner stored with/at Lockheed Plant 42, Palmdale, CA.
To National Museum of the United States Air Force Loan Program, Wright Field, Dayton, OH.
Loaned to 95 ABW/MU, Edwards AFB, CA.
September 1991
Loaned to Blackbird Airpark, Palmdale, CA.
17 February 2000
Transferred to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center (MASDC) with inventory number AF0001.
A highly autonomous self-driving shuttle has entered service at ESA’s technical heart. Its official inauguration took place on Tuesday, when it was assigned a suitably spacey name – ‘Orbiter’ – chosen through an employee competition.
The Agency’s ESTEC establishment in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is being used as a testbed for the automated shuttle, to assess its viability as a ‘last mile’ solution for public transport.
ESTEC was selected because it is a controlled private environment but with all common transport found on public roads – cars, bikes, pedestrians and roundabouts – the shuttle is able to operate in mixed traffic.
“We’re very pleased to be involved with testing this project,” said Franco Ongaro, Head of ESTEC and ESA’s Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality, “as it makes practical use of technologies we have been developing here at ESTEC.”
The autonomous vehicle calculates its position using a fusion of satellite navigation, lidar ‘laser radar’, visible cameras and motion sensors. It is being used to transport employees and visitors around the ESTEC complex.
The fully-electric, zero-emission vehicle observes an on-site speed limit of 15km/h (although it has a top speed of 25 km/h). It can seat up to eight people, and is wheelchair accessible. For the first six months of service the vehicle will carry a steward to observe its operation along its programmed 10-minute-long roundtrip.
ESTEC’s Facilities Management team is working with vehicle owner Dutch Automated Mobility, bus company Arriva who operate the vehicle, provincial and municipal governments, vehicle provider Navya and other partners.
Deputy Floor Vermeulen of Province Zuid-Holland spoke at the official opening: “It is important for the province to know whether the technology of self-driving transport can make a real contribution to the objective of making Zuid-Holland the most accessible province in the Netherlands. And whether it fits in with our motto for the coming years: Better every day. "
Project partners and guests including the Mayor of Noordwijk Jon Hermans-Vloedbeld, came to ESTEC’s Erasmus Highbay, filled with notable human and robotic exploration hardware, to learn more about the project and ride the automated shuttle for themselves.
Credits: ESA_L. Cervantes
4/2015 - Altoona, PA
Built as Erie-Lackawanna 3632 SD45, this unit was retired in 1986. It sat around for about five years before being converted to a testbed unit. It has no traction motors. It's used to test overhauled prime-movers sent to the shop when the rest of the locomotive remains at the customer's location.
Boeing 707-321 N707GE at Mojave California in Oct 1993, used by General Electric for engine flight test, delivered to Pan American in April 1960 as N730PA, scrapped at Mojave in 2005.
N8049U - McDonnell Douglas DC-8-54F - Trans Continental Airlines
at Oostend Airport (OST)
c/n 45.886 - built in 1966 for United Airlines -
operated by Trans Continental between 1987 and 1992 -
final user was Stage 3 Nacelle Inc. as testbed for engine hush kits
stored MHV 3/31/02, canx 7/11/06
(scanned from Kodachrome-slide)
Departing runway 25L.
One of the funniest looking airplane out there. But I am happy that I was able to take a proper picture of it. Love it.
Used to be an American Airlines Boeing 727, Registration N710AA.
'Experimental November Seven Eight Seven Romeo Romeo Heavy' off of runway 17L heading back home to Tucson after having a fifth engine, what Rolls Royce calls the 'Pearl 10X', fitted on the right wing. The new Pearl 10X is visible just behind the Trent 1000 in this picture. Fascinating to see three different engines on a five-engine airplane.
This photo documents the only time the five ship fleet of F-104 Starfighters was ever airborne at the same time. The pilots were (top to bottom): F-104N No. 812 – Tom McMurtry; F-104N No. 811 – Bill Dana; F-104B No. 819 – Fitz Fulton and Ray Young; F-104A No. 820 – Gary Krier; and F-104A No. 818 – Einar Enevoldson.
Through the years, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center has used a variety of chase and support aircraft. First acquired in August 1956, F-104s were the most versatile work-horses in the center's stable of research and support aircraft, with 11 of them flying mostly research missions over the next 38 years. Tail number 826 flew the last of these missions on 31 January 1994. By then the 11 F-104s had accumulated over 18,000 flights at Armstrong in a great variety of missions ranging from basic research to airborne simulation and service as an aerodynamic testbed.
The photo taken by Bob Rhine on April 11, 1975 from T-38 No. 821 flown by Don Mallick.
Credit: NASA/Bob Rhine
Image Number: EC76-5145
Date: April 11, 1975
Visiting RAF Mildenhall circa October 1999. "Big Crow" was the designation of two NKC-135 testbed aircraft (55-3132 and 63-8050) heavily modified for electronic warfare testing.
Scan of a Kodachrome slide from my collection; image not taken by me.
@ Rolls-Royce North America 🇺🇸
Boeing 747-267B - msn 21966 / 446
• ENG : 4x RR RB211-524D4
• REG : N787RR
• CONF : Testbed
• RMK : Named "Spirit of Excellence"
@ History Aircraft :
• 07.APR.1980 : First flight / Everett ( KPAE )
• 24.APR.1980 : Delivered / Cathay Pacific / VR-HIA
• 17.OCT.1997 : Re-registered / B-HIA
• 12.JUL.1998 : Stored / Victorville ( KVCV )
• DEC.1999 : Sold / Air Atlanta Icelandic / TF-ATD
• DEC.1999 : Wet lease to / Saudi Arabian Airlines / AirAsia / until 2003
• 16.JUN.2005 : Sold / Rolls-Royce North America based KTUS / N787RR
Prior to adopting the M-72A Zmey as the nation's dedicated main battle tank, Yugoslavia toyed with the idea of fielding slightly more experimental--and hopefully cheaper--armored fighting vehicles to deter neighboring foes. Indeed, Yugoslavia took much inspiration from Sweden's UDES program which ran during the 1970s and into the early 1980s. The UDES suite of research was aimed at exactly what Belgrade desired: An alternative to large, expensive main battle tanks. Of particular interest was the UDES XX 20, an articulated mobile gun platform that sought to enhance achievable mobility whilst reducing the vehicle's targetable volume. Hence, at the twilight of the '80s, Belgrade began development of its own articulated tank in earnest.
Whereas the Swedes had decoupled the powerplant and armament, Yugoslavia insisted on keeping them together. This means that the lead trolley contains the crew, 120mm gun, optics, and engine. Although this would shrink crew space, the end result meant the front vehicle could be detached from the rear in a pinch and escape post haste. Of course the vehicle could only go so far with the meager internal fuel reserve, but that's besides the point. Meanwhile, the rear trolley contains a mechanical loading system, ammunition, fuel, and long-range communications. As seen in the image above, the cannon is dependent on the rear vehicle to fill its three-round magazine. Indeed the loading mechanism used on the M-91 would ultimately be translated onto the M-84 Dogoda multirole platform. This last point is perhaps the crux of the M-91 writ large.
Indeed, despite the M-91 technically being a success in miniaturization, compartmentalization, mobility, and general technological prowess, it was a maintenance nightmare. For this reason alone, the Podaga was never adopted as a mainstay combat vehicle. Nevertheless, the design did serve as a testbed for techniques, components, and concepts previously unknown to Belgrade. As aforementioned, many features of the M-91 would be used elsewhere. Aside from the M-84, vehicles that borrow technologies from the Podaga include the M-208 Vila articulated amphibious ferry system and M-93 Prepeluga articulated tracked carrier. What's more, the Brits are also suspected of reviewing the M-91's low volume turret to complete their own Crusader II. This latter claim is contested by London since the UK was obligated through NATO to contain Yugoslavia during the Eastern European Wars, but the coincidences are too numerous to ignore.
As a bonus factoid, the M-91 was never meant to be adopted into full service with the JNA; i.e. it was never meant to receive an M- designation. However, per national defense legislation, experimental vehicles are not allowed to leave the country. So, when East Russia sought to evaluate the M-91 in Siberia's rugged terrain, the vehicle had to be reclassified from prototype to active combat vehicle. That's why despite being in the JNA's official vehicle catalogue, only two examples exist.
Honeywell's testbed aircraft. This 757 is the oldest 757 still flying. It was the 5th one built, and was delivered to Eastern Airlines on 2/28/1983.
12-7-2016 - Airbus Industrie, Airbus A350-941.
Flying overhead at Farnborough during its display at FIA 2016.
Info:
The aircraft was built in 2013 and is part of the Airbus test bed fleet of A350 aircraft.
C/n - 2
A Vought F-8A Crusader was selected by NASA as the testbed aircraft (designated TF-8A) to install an experimental Supercritical Wing in place of the conventional wing. The unique design of the Supercritical Wing reduces the effect of shock waves on the upper surface near Mach 1, which in turn reduces drag. The smooth fairing of the fiberglass glove with the wing is illustrated in this view.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: EC73-3468
Date: March 23, 1973