the yf-23

Texthey guys, the yf-23 is not dead. the air force is using it over the range to dog fight against other fighters from nellis. there have been reports of two or three of them at tonopah on the ground. where did these come from? anyone know?

They probably just gave them to the aggressor squadrons...those F5's, even though I love them, are getting kind of old. Even with the F-15's, F-16's and F-18's they have for adversary training (they are slowly revamping the squadrons) the Yf-23 wouldn't hurt.

Also Tonopah was where they based the Constant Peg program with the MiG-17's, 19's and 21's.

Only two YF-23 airframes were built. One is at the Northrop Grumman plant in Los Angeles. The other is at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio. There is also a full-scale pole model for RCS testing in outdoor storage at White Sands Missile Range.

reply to post by goldmember2


Sorry but both test articles are accounted for and while restored in terms of a static display / gate gurd, it is highly unlikely that either airframe is in a flyable condition.

Also, why would you fly a airframe that would be impossible to maintain due to its limited numbers (2) when you have the F-22 in squadron service avalible for the task anyway?

This isn't the first report I've heard of the F-23 or something very similar at Tonopah, for what it's worth.

Originally posted by _Del_
This isn't the first report I've heard of the F-23 or something very similar at Tonopah, for what it's worth.

Its been on and off esp after the one at the Western Museum of Flight disapeared. Both have been accounted for as noted above

Originally posted by FredT

Originally posted by _Del_
This isn't the first report I've heard of the F-23 or something very similar at Tonopah, for what it's worth.

Its been on and off esp after the one at the Western Museum of Flight disapeared. Both have been accounted for as noted above

I participated in some of the leg work in that thread. I'm just saying I/we have heard reports of one or more airframes very much like the F-23 in and about Tonopah.

reply to post by feygan


A shame it wasn't put into frontline production. That would've been one awesome airborne weapons platform. Would the bombs on this bird have been externally mounted??

[edit on 25-7-2009 by Marrr]

Originally posted by _Del_
I participated in some of the leg work in that thread.

I'm just saying I/we have heard reports of one or more airframes very much like the F-23 in and about Tonopah.

You must be mistakened - there are no F-23 like airframes at Tonopah, at least in the air. Tonopah like Creech has become experimental UAV heaven.
I spend A LOT of time out at Creech and the surrounding area - and there are no Black Widows flying out of Tonopah that controllers at Creech know about - and they would almost certainly know.

[edit on 7-26-2009 by intelgurl]

Originally posted by Marrr
Would the bombs on this bird have been externally mounted??

Yes, they would have been internally stored under the air intake while the air to air missiles were stored internally on the sides of the intakes.

Originally posted by intelgurl
You must be mistakened - there are no F-23 like airframes at Tonopah, at least in the air. Tonopah like Creech has become experimental UAV heaven.
I spend A LOT of time out at Creech and the surrounding area - and there are no Black Widows flying out of Tonopah that controllers at Creech know about - and they would almost certainly know.

[edit on 7-26-2009 by intelgurl]

I'm claiming no inside knowledge of the airframes being there (I've never been to TTR, and it has been years since I've been to Nevada in general), only that it's been reported several times. Hence ", for what it's worth" at the end of the post.

Originally posted by _Del_
I'm claiming no inside knowledge of the airframes being there (I've never been to TTR, and it has been years since I've been to Nevada in general), only that it's been reported several times. Hence ", for what it's worth" at the end of the post.

Sorry if I sounded so authoritative, (read "rude", as it wasn't my intent - always liked your posts) and there certainly is a chance that something like that might be flying out of Groom Lake... anything that has to do with the next gen bomber would probably be flying out of Groom, and the YF-23's were almost certainly pulled from their museum locations in support of a Northrop Grumman effort in that direction.