I Saw Tacit Blue or Similar Today

15 Miles West of Boston, Massachusetts

Walking my dog this afternoon I heard a loud aircraft and looked up to see Tacit Blue or a very similar designed airframe. It was white and it had the blunted nose. I saw it for about 5 seconds before it disappeared into the clouds. It was pretty amazing!




Thirty seconds later, at a lower altitude but along a similar flight path, I saw an E2 Hawkeye. Twin prop AEW plane with a huge radome. The hawkeye was followed by a C-2 Greyhound on the same flight path. They were all flying East to West. They flew on and I never caught another glimpse.

ATS is filled with good detectives and experts on experimental craft. What did I see? Tacit Blue is retired, correct? Military aircraft make rare appearances in my neck of the woods. I see F-15's when they fly by Fenway Park and that's about it. I have never seen an AEW/AWACS plane in my life. My impression is that it was carrying out radar/ELINT tests on the Tacit Blue-like aircraft.

I'll be carrying my camera with me tomorrow, that's for sure!

Edit to add: This was 5 miles from Hanscom AFB. It would be a safe bet to assume the aircraft came from there.

I see those e2 hawkeyes or something similar all the time over there.

reply to post by METACOMET


you should tune into hanscom ATC tower this week too and carry that camera.

i work over at lahey - just not today - and wish i had seen that.

Yeah Tacit Blue is apparently on display at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.

What else could it be? Dunno really - possibly the EA6B might look similar from some angles & given the other 2 were naval perhaps they were all operating from the same base.

It could have been nothing more than a Raytheon Sentinel - the RAF have had one in the US for the past 6 months doing training for ground troops.

Yeah, it wouldn't make sense to have a C-2 Greyhound travelling along. They are just cargo planes.

I agree it was probably something else like an EA-6B Prowler. Chances are, these aircraft were being flown to another base for transfer or repair or an airfield for a show.

Nice looking plane. I have fond memories of shows at Hanscom when I was young. I'm down south now but lived in Beverly, MA for 30 years. Making me miss home. Then again it's been in the 70's and 80's here.