The only two shots I still have of “Embraceable Annie”:
According to Airliners.net she was scrapped in 2003
And a 5 engine Honeywell Boeing 720 taken from Airliners.net
This one belongs to the MDA. Anyone know what the bird is used for?
I ran into her in alt.binaries.pictures.aviation back in 2001. The guy that photographed and posted her, Dale Elheart (a.k.a. “The Legend of LAX”) told me:
“Sweet Judy is a plane that doesn’t exist, & is not talked about. I have
a friend who had a roll of film confiscated for shooting her. She is
owned by, I think, Raytheon, & used as a test bed for what I believe to
be side scan radars. You will notice a bulge on her belly also. The
color scheme, at a guess, is from Continental Airlines. The colors &
stripe are the same. She replaced a 707 called Embracable Annie (of
which I will post pics soon). The name “Sweet Judy” is actually painted
on the nose. The reg is something like N909SJ.
I can’t really tell you any more since she is nonexistent.”
Some of the shots he posted of Sweet Judy (who is actually N910SF):
Sweet Judy with the JSF systems testbed:
Sweet Judy at one time also carried this modification:
And I found this one at Airliners.net:
While on the subject of DC-10 modifications: I’m sure you all know of the two RNLAF KDC-10 tanker mods, but how about this tanker mod? 😮
The second largest tanker in the world, there is/was also an Evergreen B-747 tanker flying around.
If anyone can help with additional pictures inside and history on 159 this would be a help and current status.
Cheers
David
I would love to take a look (and pics) inside, but we’re strictly prohibited form doing so. I’ll try to find out who “owns” her (crewchief-wise), maybe he can help me.
Her current status is “on display, in need of restauration”.
As for her history:
Replacing the Avenger the RNLN (Royal Netherlands Navy) received 28 S-2As via the USNavy. In addition to those, the MLD (Marine Luchtvaartdienst or Naval Flying Service) received 17 CS-2F-1s through the Canadian Navy, entering service under the designation CS-2A.
VSQ-1 received the CS-2F-1, while VSQ-2, 4 and 5 flew the S-2A Tracker. VSQ-1 was based at Hato (Curaçao) and flew -when she was nearby- from the aircraft carrier Hr.Ms Karel Doorman (a.k.a “Fat Boat”) whilst VSQ 4 was the regular on-board squadron. The other squadrons were based at MVK (NAS) Valkenburg.
After HrMs Karel Doorman got withdrawn from service in 1968, the Trackers only flew from land bases. Between 1968 and 1972 eightteen S-2A’s were converted to S-2N. The other aicraft were delivered to Turkey. In 1972 four S-2N’s were converted into target tugs and redesignated US-2N.
159 made her final flight (and the final flight of the type in Dutch service) on October 1, 1975, with sistership 160. Afterwards she was put on display at the Aviodome museum at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. A few years ago the Aviodome moved to EHLE, taking with her 159, and changing the name to “Aviodrome”. Initially she was put on a concrete dispersal, but when the Aviodrome began to take in more large aircraft she was moved into her current location across the taxiway, next to the hangar.
Looks like a great candidate to restore for static possible ground runnable condition!;)
To be honest: I would be happy just to get permission and a crew together to get her back to display condition. If I wanted to get a “Stoof” running, or even flying, I’d make the apprentice school in Hoofddorp an offer they can’t refuse. Their “Stoof” is a near perfect “restore to full flight status” bird. Even it’s engines are still in pristine condition, and run at least once a year!
Taken from this excellent “Stoof” site:
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