The F/A-18 Hornet, bureau number 161214, is a pre-production A-Model airplane whose first prototype rolled out of the McDonnell Douglas plant on September 13, 1978. Derived from the Northrop YF-17, the Hornet was developed and produced jointly by Northrop and McDonnell Douglas, and the carrier-based naval strike fighter did not become operational for several years. This particular F-18 served first as a test aircraft for the U.S. Navy at Patuxent River, Maryland, then came to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, then called the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, in the fall of 1990. From then until 1997, it completed 513 flights as a chase and general support aircraft, giving pilots on research flights a second set of eyes in work involving the X-29, the SR-71, the oldest B-52 still flying, and the X-31. It also served as a chase plane in validating the space shuttle drag-chute deployment system, in tests with two F-16XL aircraft investigating and helping achieve laminar flow on wing surfaces, and in tests with the F-18 High Angle of Attack Research Vehicle. Through its initial Navy tests, F-18 842 played a part in the final development of production models of important fighter aircraft in the U.S. arsenal, and through its support role at Dryden it contributed to significant aeronautical research in support of American aviation.