WTF was that refueling

intresting report with even cooler refrences

a reply to: penroc3

A lot of nice pdf's from you lately. Do you have anything from 80s, 90s and so on? Keep posting!

a reply to: SpeedFanatic

yeah i'll dig some up, the funny thing is that in the one i just posted it talks about the exhaust plasma emits light around 490nm very brightly using hydrogen fuel

guess what color that is.

Just a long time lurker here. Could the vehicle ridgerunner is talking about be the filmed with night vision klingon like craft at "Alien Technology Exposed 2014" on youtube. I know the alien technology part of of the title might put people off but have a look anyway. The film seems very genuine and the craft looks very real.

My son and I saw something interesting on the 4th. I noticed a contrail with a square edge, like it had been started instantly and smoothly. I followed the contrail up and saw a large refueling aircraft with the boom down and what appeared to be four aircraft in a row below it.
As if four small aircraft were being fueled simultaneously. Knowing that was most unlikely, I assumed it was a larger aircraft that was light in color with dark areas in the rear with no discernible tail sections, possibly a flying wing platform. My thought then was B2, but it was the wrong color.
The contrail stopped in a similar fashion that it started, with a smooth edge, at about the time both aircraft were beginning to be obscured by some lower level clouds. The lower aircraft appeared to bank right and peel off slowly.
At this time the clouds blocked the observation. My son said he didn’t recognize the aircraft, either.
Is it possible the aircraft was venting something to make a contrail in such a fashion?
This took place to the south of our location which possibly put the aircraft just west of Louisville, KY.

a reply to: aQuietKnight

There's usually some fuel venting when an aircraft disconnects from the boom, as well as some aircraft having a fuel tank vent that will "leak" if the tank has too much pressure in it.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thought that was the case.

Wish I would have gotten a better look. I need to keep some optics handy more often.

a reply to: aQuietKnight

The disconnect is usually just a quick puff of fuel, but can leave a short trail. I've had fighters (which if there were four, these were) come back because the external tank vents had debris in them and stuck open, or the tank over pressured and they started leaking. There was an F-15E in the UK that was on the runway, and the wing vent started dumping fuel right as he started his takeoff roll.

Another Lakenheath jet with the external venting to show what I mean:

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks for the follow up.
I knew the venting was a possible explanation. Didnt know there were many different ways that it could happen.

a reply to: aQuietKnight

External tanks used to drive us up the wall. I lost count of how many times we had a jet come back because the externals wouldn't feed, or were venting, or something was wrong with them.

originally posted by: ridgerunner
Yesterday evening I walked out to go to work and heard jets overhead.I live right under a refueling track,see them often and enjoy it,brings back memories of being a KC10 crew chief.Well,usually its nothing unusual but not this time.spotted the tanker right away and then I saw the most wicked looking aircraft I`ve ever seen.It was a delta wing with a long fuselage,very much like the old XB70 or a Klingon bird of prey.My brother saw it last year and described it as Klingon like and damn if it isn`t.It is also very large,quite a bit larger than the tanker. I would love to see that bird up close,it sure looked awesome gliding up behind the tanker.Funny thing was I didn`t see it one second the next second I saw lights right behind the tanker.Definitly the neatest looking aircraft I have ever seen.Anyone else saw her?Would love to hear some clues to purpose,betting on bomber or recon.

Was the unknown aircraft that you saw that day similar to the below model?

a reply to: SpeedFanatic

Yes,looks a lot like it,the wings looked like they curved down .Very similar to the picture in your post,fuselage may have been longer,not sure