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Author
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Topic: Shuttle Carrier Aircraft over Mount St. Helens?
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-16-2024 05:54 PM
  
Did the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) ever fly over Mount St. Helens? I vaguely recall seeing such a photo many years ago, and haven't seen it since. I think the SCA was carrying an orbiter. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52249
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-17-2024 08:54 PM
The only instances I can think of when an SCA would have been in Washington (state) to be able to fly over Mount Saint Helens would have been when NASA 905 was flown to and from Everett to be modified and then delivered back to NASA as an SCA. Those dates are: - March 30, 1976 - N905NA to Paine Field
- Dec. 16, 1976 - Check flight over Washington
- Jan. 14, 1977 - N905NA to Edwards AFB
NASA 911 (N911NA) was modified in Wichita and so was never in Washington to be photographed with Mount Saint Helens. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-17-2024 09:47 PM
My guess would be a flyover of Mount St. Helens on the way to the Paris Air show with Enterprise in 1983, which would have been about three years after Mount St. Helens exploded.The first stop after departing Edwards Air Force Base on the Paris trip was a two-day stopover at Peterson AFB in Colorado on May 16-18, 1983. That is not too far by air from Washington State, and they may have had time for a flyover. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52249
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-17-2024 09:59 PM
This map shows that a flight over Mount Saint Helens would be quite a detour for a flight from Edwards to Peterson Air Force Base (now Space Force Base). Given that fuel was a concern, I would be surprised if flew all the way up the west coast. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-18-2024 01:49 AM
Salt Lake City, Utah is even closer. SCA/Enterprise was there in August 1979. SCA/Discovery was there in September 1995. But I doubt they would have flown Discovery to Mount St. Helens just for a photo op. Enterprise, maybe. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-19-2024 11:26 PM
The SCA photo can be seen on this page. It appears to be 905/Enterprise. When was the photo taken? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52249
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-20-2024 10:45 AM
This photo (found on eBay) appears to show the same mountain range and may be from the same flight. Unfortunately, the listing doesn't offer any more details as to date or location. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-20-2024 02:29 PM
That might be Colorado Springs, Colorado in your photo. That is where Peterson AFB was located. As mentioned earlier, SCA/Enterprise was there on May 16-18, 1983. That could be Pikes Peak in the background.The two mountains do look similar, but I can't say for sure. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1927
From: United States
Registered: May 2000
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posted 04-20-2024 03:56 PM
That is not Mount St. Helens in the first photo. The second photo is indeed Pikes Peak and shows Colorado Springs. Both photos appear to be from the same shoot, so that's almost certainly the Colorado Rockies in the first as well. They both show Enterprise. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-20-2024 04:09 PM
Here is a 1943 photo of Peterson Field. The mountains in the background look very similar to the photo of Enterprise taking off. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52249
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-20-2024 07:23 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
When was the photo taken?
A reader emailed with the answer: The picture is the Space Shuttle Enterprise preparing to land at then Peterson Air Force Base on its way to the Paris Airshow.I believe the picture was taken as it was arriving. It was in the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper.  |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-20-2024 08:14 PM
Mystery solved, then. Thanks to all. Amazing how similar the two mountains look. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3930
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-21-2024 04:13 AM
The caption for photo ECN-24314 mentions the NASA 905 crew: The Space Shuttle Enterprise, the nation's prototype space shuttle orbiter, departed NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, at 11:00 a.m., 16 May 1983, on the first leg of its trek to the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France. Carried by the huge 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), the first stop for the Enterprise was Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Piloting the 747 on the Europe trip were Joe Algranti, Johnson Space Center Chief Pilot, Astronaut Dick Scobee, and NASA Dryden Chief Pilot Tom McMurtry. Flight engineers for that portion of the flight were Dryden's Ray Young and Johnson Space Center's Skip Guidry. |
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