This Buffalo started out as a CV-7A Buffalo for the US Army with serial 63-13687. Designed as a CV-2 Caribou replacement, it got caught up in an inter service rivalry when the USAF objected to Army large fixed wing transports. The program was taken over by the Air Force and only four test aircraft were delivered. Transferred to the University of Michigan (N325D), it was operated for the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Transferred to NASA in 1975, the aircraft was modified as a Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft (QSRA) and was registered as N715NA in 1978 for the program.