NASA Kitbashes a WB-57F

[scooter]

Frankenstein Bomber

While the basic airframe is at least from the same airplane type, more grafting took place under the skin."The wings were 80 percent rebuilt," Lesenski explained. "But all the wiring and plumbing had to be redone. The wiring, hydraulics, everything got touched."He added: "Serviceable engines were installed, and the aircraft was reequipped from available NASA stores. Upgrades included modified main landing gear using F-15 tires, wheels and brakes, and F-16 ejection seats. In 1968 the plane used McDonnell Escapac ejection seats, but you can't get those anymore. The mounting rails proved to be compatible with the same Aces II ejection seats as the F-16, and proved to work just as well.

"The landing gear was modified years ago with a redesigned and rebuilt piston axle, which enabled an increase in the gross weight by 14 percent—from 63,000 to 72,000 pounds. The aircraft can carry up to 8,800 pounds of sensors, instrumentation and a full load of fuel—whatever the mission requires. For the main undercarriage we used the same wheels, tires, brakes and anti-skid as the F-15E. The nose wheel uses the same tires as the A-4. Those carrier plane tires are a bit heavier than we're used to, but they worked out fine, and A-4s are still used all over the world, so we can replace them easily. This may not be a restoration in the strictest meaning of the word, but we will be able to keep it flying because there will be components for decades."

Talk about raiding the spares box... 

[PR19_Kit]

They're forgetting that the original loaded weight was only 40000 lb or so, so that's an increase of 80%....