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Going Home: NASA Retires S-3B Viking to POW/MIA Museum

Going Home: NASA Retires S-3B Viking to POW/MIA Museum

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The S-3B Viking aircraft rests in the NASA Glenn Hangar. The plane is painted gray, black, and white. The wings are folded atop the aircraft.

This S-3 supported vital flight research by donating parts to its sister plane, another S3-B Viking that was retired in 2021.

Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran

After supporting the center’s research missions for more than a decade, NASA’s S-3B Viking aircraft is moving on from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to begin a new and honorable assignment.

The aircraft is heading to the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Florida, where it will be on display, honoring all Prisoners of War (POW), those Missing in Action (MIA), and the families who seek the return of their loved ones. The museum gives visitors a place of solace to reflect, learn, and hear stories about America’s POW and MIA service members through exhibits and events.

A team of volunteers, many of whom are veterans, converged to disassemble an S-3B Viking at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland so it could be transported by truck to the National Pow/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Florida.

Credit: NASA/Lillianne Hammel

“We are honored to be part of it,” said JD Demers, chief of Aircraft Operations at NASA Glenn. “Moving the S-3 is a win-win for everybody. The museum gets an aircraft in beautiful shape, and our S-3 gets to continue living a meaningful life.”

Originally designed by Lockheed Martin as an anti-submarine warfare aircraft, NASA’s S-3B Viking will travel south to its new museum home, which is located at the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field where S-3B Vikings once flew. It will be displayed with a plaque recognizing the 54 service members who perished during S-3 flight missions.

Two men pose smiling in front of an S-3B Viking aircraft inside NASA Glenn’s Hangar. They both wear blue shirts and khaki pants. The man on the left has his hands on his hips, and the man on the right stands with his arms at his sides. Behind them is a plane painted gray, black, and white with its wings folded atop of the aircraft.

NASA’s JD Demers poses with National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum’s Ed Turner in front of NASA’s S-3B Viking aircraft.

Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran

“It’s really fortunate for us that this S-3 has such a well-kept, beautiful airframe that we can use as part of this plaza,” said Ed Turner, executive director of the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum. “Cecil Field was the East Coast home for the S-3B Vikings, so we are proud to have it for display here as one of Cecil’s legacy aircraft.”

Behind the scenes, this S-3 supported vital NASA flight research by donating parts to its sister plane, another S3-B Viking that was retired in 2021. Through the donation of its parts, the S-3 contributed to communications research in advanced air mobility and monitoring of algal bloom growth in Lake Erie.

“Having this aircraft added an extra 10 years of life to its sister plane,” Demers said. “Those 10 years were vital for research. This plane allowed us to keep flying that aircraft after the Navy retired the S-3B Vikings in 2009. We wouldn’t have been able to find parts.”

A man washes the S-3B Viking’s wings with a hose. He stands on a yellow ladder to reach the top of the aircraft’s wing. He wears sunglasses and a red hat. It is a sunny day, and sunlight reflects off the water from the hose. The aircraft is parked in front of the NASA Glenn Hangar. The wings are folded atop the aircraft.

NASA prepares its S-3B Viking for its journey to the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Florida.

Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna

The U.S. Navy flew S-3 Vikings primarily out of three locations: North Island Naval Air Station, Naval Air Station Cecil Field, and Naval Air Station Jacksonville. There were S-3B Vikings in all locations except Jacksonville, until now.

“There are three bases in three locations that used to fly S-3s, and now each area has an S-3 as part of its display,” Demers said. “It belongs there. It’s going back to its original home.”