ARIA conversion

ARIA Conversion

Douglas Aircraft Engineer Gary Roland relates –

“I was employed by Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa Oklahoma as an aeronautical engineer beginning in 1963 and was assigned to the Apollo Program, including the conversion of eight C-135A aircraft into EC-135N ARIA aircraft.

During flight test in Tulsa and at Edwards AFB, I was assigned to the flight test group as a flight test liaison engineer.

I can provide the date and location of the first photo in the ARIA Photos section of your web site. ARIA 372 is on its first flight from Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa Oklahoma. The date of the flight was September 19, 1966. The date is stamped on the back of the three official Douglas photos. The date is also verified by page 2 of the flight test report.”

Gary Roland (centre) with the ARIA Flight Test Group, September 1966.

A/RIA Category 1 Flight Test Final Report Summary, dated November 1967.

Download the 5.2MB PDF file.
Preserved and scanned by Gary Roland. PDF by Colin Mackellar.

The internal configuration of an ARIA, with an ALOTS pod attached.

Excerpted from the above document. Image cleanup: Colin Mackellar.

Radome test, June 1966.

Radome installation, August 1966.

August 1966.

ARIA 372 First Flight, Douglas Aircraft, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
19th September 1966. Douglas Aircraft photo.

ARIA 372.

ARIA 372 First Flight, Douglas Aircraft, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
19th September 1966. Douglas Aircraft photo.

The Tulsa Daily World newspaper reports on the test flight the next day.

ARIA Flight Test Group, September 1966. Gary Roland, who provided these photos, is arrowed.

ARIA Flight Test Group, October 1966.

November 1966.

ARIA 00375 in flight, November 1966.

ARIA Comm Station, November 1966.

A report on the test of an ARIA to communicate with Gemini 12 (which was in November 1966).

ARIA/A-LOTS 327. Taken at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, in early 1967.

An official Air Force photo.

ARIA/A-LOTS 327. Taken at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, in early 1967.

An official Air Force photo.

ARIA Cockpit, April 1967.

ARIA Dish Antenna, June 1967.

not dated.

Radome installation fixture, June 1967.

ALOTS pod, November 1966.

Photo by Gary Roland, taken during a Douglas Aircraft open house for employees and families.

Special thanks to Gary Roland for all the above scans.
Image restoration, where needed, by Colin Mackellar.