Originally Posted by
tdracer
I have to respectfully disagree with some of the details quoted - the number of 767s with the three crew configuration was much less - 7 or 8 - when it was decided to convert everything to two crew. The number one aircraft (VA001) flew and went through the initial flight test program and cert with the 3 crew configuration - all the rest were reconfigured to two crew before they flew. VA001 was eventually also converted to the two crew configuration. Boeing kept VA001 and it was used as a flying test bed for various other changes - including the initial PW4000 flight tests - before being leased to the USAF and converted to the "Airborne Optical Adjunct" or AOA. The AOA had a big hump on the top of the fuselage which contained a cryogenically cooled infrared red sensor intended to track inbound ballistic missiles as part of the "Star Wars" missile defense system.
Have to laugh a little as we use to tell people that that a part of Paul Allen's advanced in flight entertainment system that Boeing was working on. Paul Allen was a co founder of Micro Soft and had a very vivid imagination regarding aviation and space flight when he was alive.