15-2735 —

N426NA (LOCKHEED P3B owned by NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION)

This is very cool! Excellent photo. I would love to see this aircraft.

This aircraft sports the civilian registry of a NASA owned bird. It was purpose built for NASA on a Navy P3B airframe and has a Lockheed serial number of 152735.

Call sign NASA42

Allison T-56-14. 4600 SHP per. Nice.

@Paul Wisgerhof: Begging your pardon, but this Lockheed P-3B-70-LO Orion (MSN 185-5175), US Navy Bureau Number 152735, was delivered to the Navy not later than 18 April 1966. After her Navy career was completed, she was delivered to NASA on 12 February 1991 and was given the civil registration of N426NA. NASA assigned 426 to the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Wallops Island, VA. [She was] "used in support of a variety of scientific studies including ecology, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, cryospheric research,
oceanography, soil science, biology, and satellite calibration/validation. The aircraft is also used as a technology testbed for new airborne and satellite instrumentation."
This info was gleaned mainly from www dot joebaugher dot com (an absolute gold mine of information).
So... Lockheed's serial number (MSN) was 185-5175, and the Navy's Bureau No. was 152735.

@David Seider: Thanks for that info. That places 185-5175 on Lockheed's Burbank flight-line while I was working there as an avionics apprentice. Just before I went over to the dark side and the SR-71 project. Your post brings back many, many memories.

Thanks William. With a total of more than 18,000 SHP, the P3 is in a class of her own, even at a heavy weight of around 135,000 pounds.