Hobby Master Archive

F/A-18B 161217 c/n 0016 (B003) was the third pre-production two-seat TF-18A built that later became known as F/A-18Bs. F/A-18B 161217 had been assigned to VFA-125 “Rough Raiders” but in 1994 it was assigned to the NASA Dryden Research Center, later known as the Neil Armstrong Research Center. In July 2001 161217 moved to NASA Edwards AFB with the registration of N852NA. 161217 acted as a chase aircraft equipped with cameras that could send live video back to engineers who could watch what was happening in real time.