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SDASM.CATALOG: 01_00093109
SDASM.TITLE: Convair C-131B 53-7793, NC-131H Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS)
SDASM.CORPORATION NAME: Convair
SDASM.DESIGNATION: C-131
SDASM.OFFICIAL NICKNAME: Samaritan
SDASM.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Convair C-131B 53-7793, NC-131H Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS)
SDASM.TAGS: Convair C-131B 53-7793, NC-131H Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS)
PUBLIC COMMONS.SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
29th November 2012 - The BAE Systems’ Jetstream, known as ‘The Flying Testbed’, is an aerial laboratory. It's a unique aircraft which has been developed to be flown by pilots or as an Uninhabited Air Vehicle (UAV). Racks of computers and control systems in the rear of the aircraft, together with satellite communications, mean it can fly as if it were a UAV without any input from the pilots. This year it is trialing a range of new technologies to be developed under the ASTRAEA programme, including what is believed to be the world’s first autonomous weather avoidance system, in addition to ‘sense and avoid’ technologies and an autonomous
Heidi Obermeier, meteorologist at KETV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska, issues a tornado warning after utilizing the GOES-R ProbSevere product during the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) 2015 spring experiment.
This spring, NOAA satellite experts and weather forecasters had the opportunity to work together at the HWT in Norman, Oklahoma, to evaluate new science, technology and products that will be available from the GOES-R satellite for improving short-range hazardous weather forecasts and warning decision-making. From May 4 to June 12 (during the height of severe weather season), National Weather Service forecasters, TV broadcast meteorologists, and researchers worked side-by-side to evaluate new products and tools and participated in experimental forecast and warning generation exercises. This approach allows for a two-way path between research and operations and prepares weather forecasters to use the new capabilities that will be available from
NOAA’s next generation of geostationary weather satellites, the GOES-R series.
In conjunction with the HWT spring experiment, NOAA’s GOES-14 spare satellite was brought out of storage in its central orbit and operated in super rapid scan operations mode. This demonstration provided special one-minute imagery of severe storms that simulates the capabilities that will be available with the GOES-R series satellites.
Photo credit: Heidi Obermeier
Feature story: www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news_archives/hazardous_weather_testb...
GOES-R HWT blog: goesrhwt.blogspot.com/
GOES-14 SRSOR: cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/srsor2015/GOES-14_SRSOR.html
Original photo source: www.goes-r.gov/multimedia/pg.html
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
An experiment with A.I.-based picture generation, using a still/portrait as a starting point.
Some background:
The MBR-07 Spartan was born as a humanoid-type weapon from the United Nations Military ambulatory weapons program. The MBR-07 Spartan was the second-place participant, the winning design became the Main Battle Robot-Series 04 family of Destroids that included the Tomahawk and specialized variants like the Defender and the Phalanx. However, soon after the 04 family’s introduction field experience suggested that a higher hand-to-hand combat capability was required to protect the MBRs which rather carried medium- and long-range weapons. This tactical gap led to the MBR-07 Spartan and its unique chassis, which had been specifically designed for unarmed close combat, but its development encompassed a series of prototypes that honed the technical aspects of this task.
Joint development of the MBR-07 by Centinental and the Kransmann followed one year and two months after the first MBR-04 series Destroids began design in 2003 at Viggers Chrauler. One of the experimental designs that supported its optimization as a close combat Battle Robot was the XMBR-04-Mk. VII, unofficially nicknamed “Pollux” (after the mythical Greek siblings (Castor being Pollux’ brother); during the expedition of the Argonauts, Pollux took part in a boxing contest and defeated King Amycus of the Bebryces, a savage mythical people in Bithynia).
As straightforward proof-of-concept vehicles for the required powerful and highly articulated arms as well as the corresponding reinforced internal structures that would support them when deployed as contact weapons, two MBR-04-Mk. VI “Tomahawk” Destroid chassis’ were set aside by Viggers Chrauler as testbeds.
One of them (“Pollux I”) was used to develop and test new rigid arms and their mounts, provided by Centinental, plus highly articulated claw hands made by Norman Banks with 5-finger manipulators, while the second one (“Pollux II”) received a new upper body to improve the swivel capability of the waist and test a new balancing system designed by Kransmann. This system would allow much more dynamic movements of the massive Destroid, including kicks, punches, and even complex martial arts stunts. Both elements would later be combined into the new MBR-07 chassis and the Spartan family of Destroids based on it.
The two Pollux prototypes went through quick but thorough testing in late 2003 and in early 2004 the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces ordered a small pre-production series of the experimental type to test the systems under field conditions. Outwardly the serial MBR-04-Mk. VII looked like the 1st prototype, but it already used the new balance system for the MBR-07 as well as improved servos to deliver much more effective close combat attacks than any other humanoid weapon in the U.N. Spacy's inventory, coming close to the VF-1's agility but adding considerably more force to the punch. These tests lasted until early 2005 and a total of twenty MBR-04-Mk. VIIs, which retained the unofficial "Pollux" moniker in service, were built.
By the same time the Spartan Mk. I entered trial production in February 2005, too, and by January 2008 Mk I units were beginning first rollout but were quickly superseded by the redesigned Mk. II variant after it had become clear that a pure close-combat robot was too vulnerable, esp. against air attacks. All Mk I units were later upgraded into Mk II units, and the small Pollux force retired from frontline service and rather relegated to pioneer/marines units where its power and manual agility became welcome asset.
General characteristics:
Equipment Type: main battle robot, Series 04, optimized for close/hand-to-hand combat
Government: U.N. Spacy
Manufacturer: Viggers Chrauler (chassis)
Centinental/Kransmann (arms and corresponding ambulatrory system)
Introduction: Prototypes 01 & 02 in September 2003
Pre-production models in March 2004
Accommodation: 1 pilot only
Dimensions:
Height: 11.27 meters (to shoulder), 12.7 meters (overall)
Length: 5.1 meters
Width: 7.9 meters
Mass: 27.8 metric tons
Power Plant:
Kranss-Maffai MT808 thermonuclear reactor developing 2800 bhp;
auxiliary generator GE EM9G fuel generator rated at 450 kW
Propulsion:
Multiple low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles
Armament:
2x Norman Banks CH2-TYPED claw hand with 5-finger manipulators
Provisions for 2x Bifors close-in self-guided rocket launchers, 12 rockets each (not mounted)
1x optional metallic club (for hand-to-hand combat)
The kit and its assembly:
This kitbashing project was inspired by a sketch I recently came across while doing internet research. I assume that it is not an official Macross design, rather a fan-art/dojinshi design, because I could not find reference to it in official sources, any other media with or, or even come up with a name. However, what triggered me was the fact that it looks like a prototype/test rig for the close-combat Spartan, just based on a Tomahawk chassis? Overall, this made it a plausible missing link, and since I have already built/scratched/converted a Spartan Mk. II into its earlier Mk. I variant, adding another (probably fictional, bu6t who knows?” ancestor to the collection of 1:100 Destroid models was a logical step.
Another selling point was that I had an Imai Tomahawk kit stashed away with no concrete plan yet, and at first glance only a Spartan's arms would be necessary as donorparts to bring the illustration into hardware form. Finding a suitable donor kit turned out to be almost impossible: Arii Spartan kits in 1:100 have become rare and mind-boggingly expensive, and things became so desperate that I eventually procured one of those ugly chrome-plated "Metal" kits as donor source. This had two drawbacks: despite being quite cheap the kit’s postage from the USA more than doubled its price, and the plating had to go before could use the parts for my plans.
Stripping the sprues’ plating off took several weeks and the help of sodium hydroxide, foamed oven cleaner, and patience. This procedure revealed, to my surprise, that the "Metal Spartan"'s polystyrene color of the individual sprues was different, ranging from mint green to a greenish ochre!
Technically the model is a kitbashing, but in order to improve the kit(s) and/or make life a little easier I made some visible and invisible mods. Most obvious difference are the shoulder mounts that attach the Spartan arms to the Tomahawk torso. Taken OOB they are mechanically not compatible, and to make life easier I decided to transplant the Spartan’s complete arms, including the upper arms/shoulder sections, what was easier than trying to adapt the Tomahawk shoulders to the Spartan's lower arms AND to improve the shoulder joints so far that they would be movable at all when the body would be completed. This is just one of the Tomahawk kit’s many issues, in this case because the Tomahawk kit is a very early mecha model, a very simple construction and without any vinyl caps for the joints (which the 1:100 Spartan kit already has!). Another selling point of the Spartan's shoulders is that their diameter is slightly bigger than the openings in the Tomahawk's torso flanks, so that they would cover them well.
To center and align the “foreign objects” properly I had to build an internal carrier structure with the Spartan's vinyl-cap-bearing sockets for the arms, scratched from styrene profiles, and mounted into the right position. Similar material was used to create a new vertical pelvic joint that would allow to keep upper and lower body separate for painting, and I scratched a two-dimensional hip joint from steel wire and styrene tubes that would allow a much more dynamic, "open" leg position (and even slight movement). Another small measure that improves the model's looks is to fill the hollow heels of the legs. All hardly visible efforts which are nevertheless IMHO worthwhile to make this old 1:100 Destroid model look much more convincing.
Other small mods are additional surface details created with styrene bits, and I added shoulder hardpoints that carry a searchlight (left over from a 1:72 ESCI M48 tank) and something that I’d interpret as a camera, inspired by the mecha’s drawing. The Tomahawk’s prominent gun clusters on the lower torso as well as the machine guns at the cockpit flanks were deleted and faired over. On the torso they were replaced with 3D shapes made from 2C putty, which extend the shoulder missile launchers' covers downwards.
Painting and markings:
While I am not a fan of pop colors like violet (esp. on “real robots”!) I decided to stay true to the mecha drawing and adopt the shown purple/white paint scheme. I (still) had a tin of ancient Humbrol Authentic "IJN Purple" (then called HJ04 "Mauve") at hand which turned out to be an almost perfect match as basic overall color, with the benefit that it IS a purplish tone, but very dull and with lots of grey. The light contrast areas were painted with RAL 9002 (Grauweiß). Once thoroughly dry the parts received a black ink washing and some post-shading as well as dry-brushing with ModelMaster's "Napoleonic Violet" and medium grey (Revell 47) around the edges to emphasize details and add a worn look.
The black-and-yellow warning stripes on arms and feet are generic decals from TL-Modellbau, and I decided to add some tactical markings and stencils from the Tomahawk's OOB sheet and the scrap box, to give the model a more realistic look. After a coat with matt acrylic varnish, I added mud and dust stains esp. around the feet with watercolors and mineral pigments, as a result of thorough "field tests".
Airbus A400M aircraft approaching Runway 22 at Swansea Airport circa 2300 feet.
Airbus Military's testbed/demonstrator previously registered EC-406 and still using the company call sign CASA406..
28th September 2022.
Swansea.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
The XK120 was launched in open two-seater or (US) roadster form at the 1948 London Motor Show as a testbed and show car for the new Jaguar XK engine. The display car was the first prototype, chassis number 670001. It looked almost identical to the production cars except that the straight outer pillars of its windscreen would be curved on the production version. The roadster caused a sensation, which persuaded Jaguar founder and design boss William Lyons to put it into production.
Beginning in 1948, the first 242 cars wore wood-framed open 2-seater bodies with aluminium panels. Production switched to the 1cwt or 112 lb (51 kg) heavier all-steel in early 1950. The "120" in the name referred to the aluminium car's 120 mph (193 km/h) top speed (faster with the windscreen removed), which made it the world's fastest production car at the time of its launch. In 1949 the first production roadster, chassis number 670003, was delivered to Clark Gable.
The XK120 was ultimately available in two open versions, first as an open 2-seater described in the US market as the roadster (and designated OTS, for open two-seater, in America), then also as a drophead coupé (DHC) from 1953; and also as a closed, or fixed head coupé (FHC) from 1951.
A smaller-engined version 2-litres, 4 cylinders, intended for the UK market was cancelled prior to production.
On 30 May 1949, on the empty Ostend-Jabbeke motorway in Belgium, a prototype XK120 timed by the officials of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium achieved an average of runs in opposing directions of 132.6 mph with the windscreen replaced by just one small aeroscreen and a catalogued alternative top gear ratio, and 135 mph with a passenger-side tonneau cover in place. In 1950 and 1951, at a banked oval track in France, XK120 roadsters averaged over 100 mph for 24 hours and over 130 mph for an hour, and in 1952 a fixed-head coupé took numerous world records for speed and distance when it averaged 100 mph for a week.
The Motor magazine road-tested an XK120 roadster in November 1949. This pre-production car, chassis number 670001, road-registered as HKV 455, was the first prototype built. It was also the 1948 London Motor Show display model, and had been driven by Prince Bira in the 1949 Silverstone Production Car Race. When tested, it had the 8:1 compression ratio, was fitted with an undertray, and ran with hood and sidescreens in place. The magazine reported a top speed of 124.6 mph (200.5 km/h), acceleration from 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 10.0 seconds and fuel consumption of 19.8 miles per imperial gallon (14.3 L/100 km; 16.5 mpg-US). The car as tested cost £1263 including taxes.
Airbus conducting flight-testing of the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan demonstrator engine on its A340-600 flying testbed in Toulouse. Seen here taxiing to perform a rejected take off RTO.
Airbus conducting flight-testing of the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan demonstrator engine on its A340-600 flying testbed in Toulouse. Seen here taxiing to perform a rejected take off RTO.
Project Mangaer, Matt Ondler, and Test and Verification Lead, Howard Flynn, going over the Hot Fire test plan.
Location:
Vertical Testbed Flight Complex
Johnson Space Center
Photographer: Kris Kehe
This is the first prototype of the Boeing 757 series, which sits in the Boeing Military Systems area right next to the Museum of Flight today. The strange looking things mounted at the front of the airplane are the nose and avionics systems of the F-22 Raptor for which this aircraft was a testbed.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2012 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Figured a grey airplane should be photographed in black & white once in a while. Hope you approve...
Please enjoy and check out my growing album with developed photos from the flight: www.flickr.com/photos/avgeekjoe/albums/72157666967795633 More to come!
PHOTO CREDIT: Joe A. Kunzler Photo, AvgeekJoe Productions, growlernoise-AT-gmail-DOT-com
In the late 1930s, Grumman successfully marketed the G-21 Goose as a "air yacht," with good performance and generous interior space; it was initially meant mainly for wealthy buyers who wanted something to fly around in on weekends in the Hamptons or to Catalina Island. Since that was the Goose's original market, the price tag was a bit high for other possible buyers. With this in mind, Grumman scaled down the Goose to the G-44 Widgeon.
Selling the Widgeon would have to wait, however--Grumman had barely flown the first prototype in 1940 before the US Navy requested the Widgeon be put in production as the J4F. As a result, the first production Widgeons ended up in Navy service. World War II broke out soon thereafter, and the entire production run was reserved for military service. J4Fs were originally intended as utility aircraft and supplements to the Navy's large numbers of PBY Catalinas and the US Coast Guard's Goose fleet, but in 1942 they were pressed into service as antisubmarine aircraft, armed with depth charges. German U-boats were ravaging the US East Coast and sinkings skyrocketed; anything that could fly was over the coast.
The Widgeon's comparatively long loiter time made it a good patrol aircraft, even if it was a little limited on armament. It could carry two depth charges, and more importantly, it carried the deadliest foe of the U-boat: a radio. If a J4F crew sighted a U-boat, they did not need to attack it--just shadow it until heavier ASW forces could be brought to bear. This is not to say the Widgeon could do nothing but shadow submarines: a Civil Air Patrol Widgeon scored the CAP's first sinking on 11 July 1942. Another J4F flown by a Coast Guard crew made that service's first U-boat kill a month later.
As the U-boat threat receded, the Widgeons of the US Navy, Coast Guard and Civil Air Patrol returned to more generalized duties and search and rescue. After the war, most were sold off as surplus to civilian owners or friendly militaries, while Grumman kept the Widgeon in production for a short time; a number were also license-built in postwar France. 317 Widgeons were produced, and quite a few are still in service with private owners, and upgrade kits are still being manufactured.
This J4F-2 is unique. Delivered to the US Navy as 32976 in 1943, it had a quiet war as a utility aircraft at NAS Seattle, Washington. In 1948, it was handed over to the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) and extensively modified to test hull designs for future amphibians. It was based at Langley AFB, Virginia and the Naval Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, but used by both NACA and US Navy crews. 32976 was nicknamed the "Petulant Porpoise," and was so modified that it barely resembles a Widgeon. It would be the last J4F in Navy service, and was retired in 1954. Passed on to the Smithsonian, it eventually ended up at the Pima Air and Space Museum in 1987.
To preserve its unique design, the "Porpoise" is displayed inside, next to Pima's other unique amphibians. The overall yellow scheme was for greater visibility in test photographs. Speaking of photographs, I wish mine had turned out better; for some reason, both pictures I took of the Widgeon blurred a little.
Arriva London Ltd.:
DW411 was retrofitted with a new driveline, as a testbed for what would become the Wrightbus StreetDeck. The original 6-cyl Cummins ISBe engine was replaced with the Mercedes-Benz (Daimler) OM934. The vehicle caught fire shortly after arrival to the London fleet in 2011, so instead of being written off, she was given a new lease of life, and a slightly different identity!
VDLbus DB300 (Daimler) /
Wrightbus Gemini 2DL (10.5m)
H41/24D - 2011
Clapton Common, Stamford Hill (A107)
Saturday 1st August 2015
Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems - North American NA-265-40 Sabreliner - N168W (c/n 282-33)
It was a bonus catching this rare aircraft coming in to BWI. This is a Sabreliner specially modified to act as a radar testbed for the F-16 for Northrop Grumman. The "W" at the end of the registration denotes the aircraft's Westinghouse heritage (Northrop Grumman acquired Westinghouse's radar business in 1996).
More than likely N168W is carrying the newest Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fighter sensor, the Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) an upgrade for AN/APG-66 and AN/APG-88 radars currently used by American and export F-16s . Someone at Northrop Grumman must have recognized the humor in a Sabreliner equipped with SABR radar.
It is worth nothing, that N168W's Sabreliner stablemate, Northrop Grumman's N160W, landed at BWI approximately 20 minutes earlier sporting an unusual small pod (possibly a Lüneburg lens?) mounted underneath the aircraft's centerline presumably related to the testing of SABR. Photos of N160W are also in this set.
Because all the cool kids are building microspace fleets. (word up to Yoder and Dunechaser)
The VS-4 Musashi is the Anchorage Fleet's latest V-class dreadnaught, loaded with the best and brightest crew and the most advanced tech possible. It's also the testbed for the new Synchrotron-Actuated Slipstream Engine, a torus-shaped spacetime drive using the high-speed interactions of exotic particles to travel through space and/or time.
Not a very good photograph ...how was I to know the aperture had jammed wide open at f2.8?... but of an interesting vehicle. This Bristol FLF Lodekka with Bristol engine, built in 1960, was retained by its manufacturer for experimental purposes. Presumably it was useful to have a "testbed" for trying out modifications and improvements. It was not sold for service until 1967, when production of the Lodekka ceased. It passed into the fleet of the Eastern Counties company and is seen in Norwich on Friday 11th June 1976.
United States Air Force - McDonnell NF-101A Voodoo - USAF 53-2418 (N9250Z) (c/n 1)
Note the construction number ("c/n") above, this is the first F-101A Voodoo delivered to the US Air Force.
As per information posted at the Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Reunion Group (FISRG):
The first F-101A (53-2418) was delivered in August of 1954, right on schedule. After completing some ground trials in St. Louis, it was shipped out to Edwards AFB. It took off on its maiden flight on September 29, 1954, McDonnell test pilot Robert C. Little being at the controls. He reached Mach 0.9 at 35,000 feet. Less than a month later, maximum speed had progressively been pushed to Mach 1.4. . . .
. . .
The first F-101A was bailed to General Electric in 1958 as a testbed for the J79-GE-1 turbojet. The designation NF-101A was assigned to this modification, the N prefix indicating a permanent change in configuration for test purposes. This aircraft was test flown with two J79s in 1958-59 before being retired to Amarillo AFB in Texas as a ground maintenance trainer.
Further, as described at the This Day In Aviation website:
General Electric returned the Voodoo to the Air Force in 1959. Now obsolete, it was used as a maintenance trainer at Shepard Air Force Base, Texas. It was next turned over to a civilian aviation maintenance school and assigned a civil registration number by the Federal Aviation Administration, N9250Z. The airplane was sold as scrap, but was purchased by Mr. Dennis Kelsey.
In 2009, Mrs. Kelsey had the airplane placed in the care of the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon. After being partially restored by the Evergreen Air Center, Marana, Arizona, 53-2418 was placed on display at the Evergreen Museum.
United States Air Force - McDonnell NF-101A Voodoo - USAF 53-2418 (N9250Z) (c/n 1)
Note the construction number ("c/n") above, this is the first F-101A Voodoo delivered to the US Air Force.
As per information posted at the Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Reunion Group (FISRG):
The first F-101A (53-2418) was delivered in August of 1954, right on schedule. After completing some ground trials in St. Louis, it was shipped out to Edwards AFB. It took off on its maiden flight on September 29, 1954, McDonnell test pilot Robert C. Little being at the controls. He reached Mach 0.9 at 35,000 feet. Less than a month later, maximum speed had progressively been pushed to Mach 1.4. . . .
. . .
The first F-101A was bailed to General Electric in 1958 as a testbed for the J79-GE-1 turbojet. The designation NF-101A was assigned to this modification, the N prefix indicating a permanent change in configuration for test purposes. This aircraft was test flown with two J79s in 1958-59 before being retired to Amarillo AFB in Texas as a ground maintenance trainer.
Further, as described at the This Day In Aviation website:
General Electric returned the Voodoo to the Air Force in 1959. Now obsolete, it was used as a maintenance trainer at Shepard Air Force Base, Texas. It was next turned over to a civilian aviation maintenance school and assigned a civil registration number by the Federal Aviation Administration, N9250Z. The airplane was sold as scrap, but was purchased by Mr. Dennis Kelsey.
In 2009, Mrs. Kelsey had the airplane placed in the care of the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon. After being partially restored by the Evergreen Air Center, Marana, Arizona, 53-2418 was placed on display at the Evergreen Museum.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
[210 mm - CROP]
Copyright © 2012 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Cindy Heer checks on the Hyperion testbed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
LLNL has teamed with 10 computing industry leaders to accelerate the development of powerful next-generation Linux cluster in a project dubbed Hyperion. Hyperion brings together Dell, Intel, Supermicro, QLogic, Cisco, Mellanox, DDN, Sun, LSI, and RedHat to create a large-scale testbed for high-performance computing technologies critical to maintaining the again U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without underground nuclear testing, and industry's ability to make petaFLOP/s (quadrillion floating operations per second) computing and storage more accessible for commerce, industry and research and development.
For more information or additional images, please contact 202-586-5251.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Pure luck I heard this gem coming, even more so that I was able to videotape it as it flew past my home Later, numerous searches to find out whose aircraft it is... especially since there are no legible markings. This beautiful CV-580 was first delivered to United Airlines in 1952. It has been a flying testbed for Honeywell, and previously Allied Signal, since 1992.
"Honeywell Aviation Services Convair CV-580... This aircraft was originally acquired by Allied Signal and flew as N580AS. Delivered as a 340-41 and converted to the 580 series, it is one of the oldest Convair 243/340/440/580 series aircraft flying -- it has the serial number of two (2). "
Honeywell’s Convair 580: Testing Tomorrow’s Tech in Yesterday’s Plane | Airchive
airchive.com/blog/2014/05/23/honeywells-convair-580-testi...
Arriva London Ltd.:
DW411 was retrofitted with a new driveline, as a testbed for what would become the Wrightbus StreetDeck. The original 6-cyl Cummins ISBe engine was replaced with the Mercedes-Benz (Daimler) OM934. The vehicle caught fire shortly after arrival to the London fleet in 2011, so instead of being written off, she was given a new lease of life, and a slightly different identity!
VDLbus DB300 (Daimler) /
Wrightbus Gemini 2DL (10.5m)
H41/24D - 2011
Rockwood Road, Stamford Hill
Saturday 1st August 2015