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I received this photograph in 2002 and the picture file name was
11_ARIA. I knew that there were only eight ARIA aircraft produced and it was
only later that I learned that the balance of the Aircraft were TRIA,
Telemetry Range Instrumentation Aircraft. These were similar to the ARIA
Aircraft however they did not have the voice capability for the Apollo
Missions.
The TRIA Aircraft were eventually converted for other programs. One of
those aircraft was 61-0331 that made it's way to Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base in Dayton Ohio and became a "Project III" Aircraft.
A Long Story Short
I received an email from a person living in Hawaii that was upset that
I had neglected to bring to the forefront, on the flyARIA.com website, the
loss of the ARIA Aircraft 61-0331 that crashed into the Pacific
Ocean southwest of Hawaii on 13 June 1971. This person had thought that
0331 was an ARIA aircraft even though it was never an ARIA aircraft. This
happened a number of years ago and I had never realized the connection
between 0331 and TRIA. It was only after research on ARIA 328 did I
discover that there was another catastrophic aircraft crash out of
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and that the aircraft was at one time a
TRIA aircraft.
When 0331 arrived at Wright-Patterson the large bulbous radome
had been
removed from the front of the aircraft and retrofitted with a
extremely large radome on the top of the aircraft that extended far down
the fuselage. It was thought the failure of this radome caused the crash
of the aircraft and the loss of 24 souls during a mission to monitor
French nuclear testing. Only minor debris was recovered from the crash
area.
At the Memorial Park, National Museum of the Air Force Dayton Ohio, there
is no reference that I can find of the loss of 0331. At Majors Field in
Greenville, Texas, there is a Reconnaissance Memorial that was dedicated on
9 October 1998 to pay respect to the programs that Greenville played a
major roll in that refers to 0331.
If any of you know of someone that has visited the Memorial at Majors
field or will be in the area, if they could forward pictures of the plaque
for 0331.
The following pictures are of the Memorial at Majors Field and were taken
by Jack Sukenik. From his pictures I was able to locate the memorial in
the satellite image indicated with an arrow. I have not been able to
contact Jack Sukenik.
If you have any information please contact me
Randy.Losey@ARIAMemorial.com
ARIA 328 Memorial Foundation
Aircraft 61-0331 Memorial
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National Museum
