F-104N "011" chasing YF-12A 60-6935 (SR-71)

F-104N, construction number 683C-4045, model 683-10-19, built by Lockheed
[N811NA] F-104N officially delivered to the NASA on July 19, 1963; flown to NASA FRC August 19, 1963 (by Joe Walker) for high speed chase coded NASA 011
From the beginning it flew with code "011" and very bright NASA color scheme
In 1970 it was resprayed into the well-known white-dark blue-light blue scheme which later changed into white-blue-white
It got also recoded into N811NA. On October 23, 1987 it made the last official NASA research flight with Bill Dana at the controls
operational storage until at least 1990, then it was officially phased out with a total of 4.370 fights accomplished
In October 1992 it was seen at Edwards Air Base completely cocooned to protect the airframe from the outside environment
preserved at Prescott, Arizona, with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, first noted in 1997; September 2024 noted.

34°37'02.5"N 112°27'02.5"W

copyright © Grondstein collection