F-104G "NASA 826" with a flight test fixture (FTF) mounted on the fuselage centerline 1985

RF-104G, construction number 683D-8213, model 683-04-10, built by Fokker
manufactured by North Group (ARGE-Nord); first flight January 30, 1964 coded KG+313; January 30, 1964 to Avio Diepen for RF-104G photoreconnaissance version modifications according project "Recce"
March 5, 1964 to Fokker for camouflage scheme "Norm 62" according tech order "TA-196"; acceptance date by BABwFokker (RNAF-MTA) April 16, 1964
LVR 3 (Luftwaffenversorgungsregiment 3) on April 27, 1964 for technical upgrading; EB+114 AG 52 at Leck AB delivery date on November 5, 1964; IRAN SABCA July 8, 1966 with 170 flight hours; back to AG 52 on April 18, 1967
24+64 WaSLw 10 on September 20, 1971; modified to AWX (All Weather Fighter) version F-104G on November 18, 1971
JG 74 on May 30, 1972; MFG 1 (Marine Air Wing 1) at Schleswig-Jagel AB on July 8, 1974; struck off charge order (AVA) December 4, 1973; WaSLw 10 on June 26, 1975 for NASA training with 1.671 flight hours
ferry flight from June 27, until July 2, 1975 together with construction number 5735 and 5739 via RAF Lossiemouth to Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, CA; arrived at Dryden flown by Gary Krier
NASA 826 [N826NA] aeronautical experiments test bed at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California.
Last research mission with NASA 826 was January 31, 1994. Last flight was February 3, 1994 as last NASA F-104.A symbolic farewell with NASA 826 is piloted by Tom McMurtry, Chief Flight Operations Division.
Preserved at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California from July 1995; on display at NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility in Visitor Center, Edwards California; 2003 first noted; November 2024 noted.

34°57'7.45"N 117°53'20.29"W

The aircraft was distinguished by a pylon called a flight test fixture (FTF) mounted on the fuselage centerline between the main landing gear.
Articles to be tested were attached to or installed in the FTF, which was instrumented to record the research data aboard the aircraft.
The instrumentation package also transmitted the same data in "real time" to engineers in Dryden's mission control room as test events took place.
The FTF was an excellent device on which experiments were placed that required in-flight temperature, pressure and air flow velocity variations.

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Through the years, Dryden has used a variety of chase and support aircraft. First acquired in August 1956, F-104s were the most versatile work-horses in Dryden's stable of research and support aircraft,
with 11 of them flying mostly research missions over the next 38 years. Tail number 826 flew the last of these missions on 31 January 1994.
By then the 11 F-104s had accumulated over 18,000 flights at Dryden in a great variety of missions ranging from basic research to airborne simulation and service as an aerodynamic testbed.

NASA 826 has been used in a wide variety of research programs, including testing of the heat-resistant Space Shuttle tiles. Affixed to the FTF, the tiles were flown through rain to study how moisture would affect them.
The tiles were also flown on the fixture in a position similar to the environment on the orbiter to determine if the bonding used to secure the tiles was sufficient.