Any Landing You Can Walk Away From

A NASA high-altitude research plane made a dramatic belly landing today at Ellington Airport in Houston, Texas today. Following a mechanical issue the plane was forced to land with its landing gear raised, showering the field with sparks and flame before it came to a stop. Luckily, the crew survived unscathed! Here's video of the incident:

But what does this have to do with Wing Commander? The plane in question is a Martin WB-57 Canberra which is a manufactured-under-license modification of a British Cold War bomber design: the English Electric Canberra. Behind the scenes fiends may already recognize that a B 2 model English Electric Canberra cockpit was used to build the Broadsword bomber set for the Wing Commander movie!

Even though the first Canberra flew over 75 years ago, several continue to serve in utility roles today as the type proved itself excellent for high altitude research and photo-recon work. Up until today, NASA operated three as part of their climate research efforts.