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<br />I- <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I. <br />I <br /> <br />SECTION 1 <br /> <br />THE B-23 CLOUD PHYSICS RESEARCH AIRCRAFT AND AIRBORNE INSTRUMENTATION <br /> <br />1.1 Introduction <br /> <br />After searching for several years for a suitable aircraft for cloud <br /> <br />physics research, during which time we rented several aircraft currently <br /> <br />being used for research of this kind and carefully assessed their <br /> <br />capabilities (Hobbs and Ryan, 1969; Hobbs et al., 1970), we finally located <br /> <br />what appeared to be the ideal aircraft for our purpose. This was a Douglas <br />. ....' . '". <br /> <br />B-23 "Dragon" converted for civilian use by Hughes Aircraft Co. (Fig. 1.1). <br /> <br />A total of thirty.;.eight B-23's were built about thirty years apo and <br /> <br />these received limited use during World tiar II. More than twenty of these <br /> <br />were subsequently converted for civilian use and about ten of these are still <br /> <br />flying. Our B-23 (N52327) was purchased from an oil company which had used <br /> <br />it as an executive ail:'craft for many years and maintained it in excellent <br /> <br />condition. <br /> <br />In appearance the B-23 is somewhat similar to the Douglas DC-3, however, <br /> <br />its fuselage is much slimmer and it has a taller vertical stabilizer. The <br /> <br />aircraft has two large R2600 engines. As a result, the B-23 has many of <br /> <br />the outstanding features of the well-proven DC- 3 but it is more rugged, can <br /> <br />fly higher and faster, has a stall speed as low as 55 kts. The aircraft has <br /> <br />complete navigational and c.ommunication equipment, propeller and leading <br /> <br />edge de-icing gear, and a 5 ern we!lther radar. F\n>ther details on the <br /> <br />aircraft are listed in Table 1.1. <br /> <br />