It's really interesting to see that sometimes the USA Armed Forces used civil airliners to make some military platforms. One of the most unique ones was no doubt the UC-880 " Old Smokey" from US Navy. This aircraft came as N112 from FAA c/n 55 and it was used in many various roles until it was wfu in 1995 at Pax River. My question is:
Do we still have this aircraft or it was scrapped already?
If not it would be a great item for preservation.
It was used to test aircraft resistance to bombs in the mid 80's. I belive it has since been scrapped.
I have a book on the 880/990 and they have pictures of it with the bottom lobe of the fuselage removed after the tests with a couple of 8 by 8's placed in the cargo hold to keep the structure from colapsing.
It is really sad to see an aircraft like that go especially when the aircraft was as clean and with as few hours on it as that one did.