It may be hard to believe, but this Neptune is not a spares ship. It is undergoing restoration to flight, after many years of storage and neglect. It made its first post-restoration flight on 6 Dec 2007 and became Tanker 42 (N442NA) a week later. Unfortunately its career would not be long - a bit more than a year later, on 25 Apr 2009, it crashed into high ground in the Oquirrh Mountains near Stockton Pass, UT, during a positioning flight from Missoula, MT to Alamogordo, NM. In this photo it still carries its former US Navy markings, with faded MASDC inventory number PA011 still on the nose.

This photo is copyright © Aad van der Voet, and may not be used or published in any way without permission.

It was added on 22 October 2018, and has since been viewed 298 times.