Convair 880 airframe number 22-7-3-55, was delivered to the Federal Aviation Administration in August 1961 registered as N112. It was used to train FAA examiners and Flight Standards pilots in the operations of typical jet air transport aircraft. The FAA re-registered it as N42 in 1974. Flight Systems bought it in 1980 and registered it as N84790. After modification as an in-flight tanker for the United States Navy, it was designated UC-880 and given BuNo 161572. The UC-880 and three Douglas KA-3B Skywarrior tankers were utilized for McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 test support at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in the early 1980s. The UC-880 refueled the KA-3B tankers which then refueled F-4J chase planes and F/A-18 Hornet prototypes. The UC-880 was destroyed in a cargo hold explosion test at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland in 1995.