  NASA's WB-57 High Altitude Research Program provides a deployable, mobile,
stratospheric platform for scientific research. Airborne platforms are of
particular value for making coronal observations during total solar eclipses
because of their ability both to follow the Moon's shadow and to get above most
of the atmospheric airmass that can interfere with astronomical observations.
We used the 2017 Aug 21 eclipse as a pathfinding mission for high-altitude
airborne solar astronomy, using the existing high-speed visible-light and
near-/mid-wave infrared imaging suite mounted in the WB-57 nose cone. In this
paper, we describe the aircraft, the instrument, and the 2017 mission;
operations and data acquisition; and preliminary analysis of data quality from
the existing instrument suite. We describe benefits and technical limitations
of this platform for solar and other astronomical observations. We present a
preliminary analysis of the visible-light data quality and discuss the limiting
factors that must be overcome with future instrumentation. We conclude with a
discussion of lessons learned from this pathfinding mission and prospects for
future research at upcoming eclipses, as well as an evaluation of the
capabilities of the WB-57 platform for future solar astronomy and general
astronomical observation.
