Lockheed ER-2 Dragon Lady – N809NA NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Palmdale, CA, 1999

Hobby Master 1/72 scale HA6905: Lockheed ER-2 Dragon Lady N809NA of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Palmdale, CA, 1999

Length 10.5 inches Wingspan 17.25 inches

The Armstrong Flight Research Center (formerly Dryden Flight Research Center) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA’s premier site for aeronautical research.

NASA acquired its first ER-2 aircraft in 1981 and a second in 1989. They replaced two Lockheed U-2 aircraft, which NASA had used to collect science data since 1971. The U-2s, and later the ER-2s, were based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, until 1997, when the ER-2s and their operations moved to NASA Dryden. Since the Airborne Science Program’s inaugural flight on Aug. 31, 1971, NASA U-2s and ER-2s have flown more than 4,500 data missions and test flights in support of scientific research. NASA’s ER-2 set a world-altitude record for the class of aircraft with a takeoff weight between 26,455 and 35,275 lb on Nov. 19, 1998, when the aircraft reached 68,700 feet.

In 1954 Lockheed received approval to produce a long-range, high-altitude reconnaisance aircraft; the U-2 was first flown on August 4th, 1955. The creation of this aircraft went to Lockheed?s Skunk Works and the famous Kelly Johnson. The aircraft, a single-engine jet that could provide images day or night over Soviet territory, was labeled U-2 (U=utility) and given the name ?Dragon Lady?. The first test flight took place in 1955 and was used by the CIA and the USAF during the Cold War. The U-2 came to international notoriety in 1960 when one piloted by Gary Power was shot down over the Soviet Union.