Martin WB-57 (N926NA)

can anyone tell me the history of this aircraft please?

Ian McDonell - here's the "quick & dirty" on this aircraft... the WB-57F is used by NASA for high altitude scientific research. It is derived from the Martin B-57A which is a license built version of the English Electric Canberra. NASA has 3 of this type in service with FAA civil registration and all are based at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.

Martin built 403 B-57s in various versions. A good history is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-57_Canberra

When you see high altitude photos of the Space Shuttle after take-off, one of these A/C took it.
Many people think (and say) those shots were taken from the I.S.S.

Used to see USAF B57 Canberras on a regular basis when I was a wee child here in Grand Rapids. I THINK they were flying into GRR for electronic upgrades by Lear. The Lear plant was right next to the then Kent County Airport here in town. They could land and taxi up to the plant hangers. This was before GRR was opened out in the southeast corner of the county...Nov. 1963.

We flew these "B57D" models powered by J-57 engines in the early 60's to serval the Russian A bomb test clouds as well as our own tests in the Pacific. Never told how high they flew however the pilots wore full pressure suits. Take offs were spectacular.

Interesting to say the least. Nice shot.

I parked the last EB-57B #506 in the desert at Davis Montham on December 10th 1981. With that last aircraft parked I had 1,334 hours flying for North American Air Defence Command. We trained the NASA Pilots in the Dual Control “C Model before the went to fly the long wing “F” models. Over 1,000 hrs as a 2LT from Alaska to Iceland.