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Retired NASA F/A-18 Back on Display at 'The Hangar'

1,946 views · Published 7 July 2014 · 1:47 · Indexed 28 September 2026

Channel: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center · 2014 · Science & Technology

After a six-month absence, a retired NASA F/A-18A Hornet aircraft that served as an iconic landmark in front of "The Hangar" -- the Lancaster Municipal Stadium -- in Lancaster, Calif., for 17 years is back on its perch.

Sporting a fresh coat of paint, new logos and identification, the recently refurbished airframe was remounted on a new pylon June 24 by crews from NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's ground-support and transportation services contractor, Kay and Associates, with assistance from a large crane.

The refurbished F/A-18 gives tribute to the late NASA research pilot and astronaut Gordon Fullerton -- "Gordo" to those who knew him -- whose name is inscribed on each side of the fuselage below the cockpit canopy frame.

The early-model aircraft was used for developmental testing by the Navy. It was then flown as a mission support aircraft by NASA's Dryden -- now Armstrong -- Flight Research Center from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s when it was retired.

Learn more at: http://1.usa.gov/1lW6tci

Retired NASA F/A-18 Back on Display at 'The Hangar'

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