F-104B "FG-303" (57-1303) NASA testing an optical system consisting of two monocular periscopes in flight

F-104B, construction number 283-5015, model 283-93-03, US serial number 57-1303, built by Lockheed
delivered to the Air Force on October 2, 1958, ARDC (AFFTC support)
used at Ames from October 3, 1958 to December 16, 1959 as 71303, arrived at NASA FRC on December 16, 1959 as FG-303-NASA 71303
1977 as "NASA 819" N819NA. After 19 years of extensive use 57-1303 was retired from service in April of 1978
(last NASA flight April 21, 1978) and flown to the US Air Force's AMARC (Aircraft Maintenance and Recovery Center) facility in Tucson, Arizona
during its career of more than 18 years of NASA flight test work, 57-1303 flew 1.731 flights and was flown by at least 19 different pilots
(sixteen from Dryden, two from Ames, and one from the US Air Force)
these individuals included Apollo astronauts (such as Rusty Schweikert), X-15 pilots (Bill Dana, Joe Walker), and lifting body as well as
XB-70 and YF-12 pilots. Transferred to McClellan AFB, California on June 16, 1983. (It was flown to the museum in a C-130 on July 13, 1983)
on display at McClellan AFB, California as "71303-FG-303" 1986; Aerospace Museum of California, McClellan Park, near Sacramento, 2005 noted
March 2024 noted.

A short-eye-relief optical system, consisting of two monocular periscopes with overlapping fields of view, was mounted in an F-104B airplane to evaluate the feasibility
of using this type of indirect viewing system in place of normal vision for performing simulated lifting-body approaches and landings.

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