So, this happened yesteday

What do we think?
gofile.io...

I've been out of the biz for a minute. But it looks like someone took time over the holiday to do a bit of flying....

SENIOR COOL RANCH as we like to joke.

Nice picture of the flying Doritos

originally posted by: 727Sky
Nice picture of the flying Doritos

No, it was a Japanese pregnant marshmellow.

a reply to: aholic

Awesome pictures. I showed my kid and he said "whoa it's a triangle!".

Side note, can't wait for the B21 reveal on December 5th!

a reply to: TheGoondockSaint

If you’re waiting for it on the fifth, you’re going to be waiting for a bit. Heh. Rollout is the second.

a reply to: Zaphod58

You are the aviation expert on this forum.

Why was this flight flying around Koblenz to land at Frankfurt yesterday?


simpleflying.com...

Wow, what aircraft is that? The B21 is going to be awesome, are they going to be based at Dyess AFB. I remember when i was in elementary school, Dyess had an open house/air show and they had an F117 on display, soo cool as a little kid to see up close.

originally posted by: 727Sky
Nice picture of the flying Doritos

Thanks, Sky! I think we finally have an answer for the picture we took in the spring of 1999, 100 miles SW of Spokane's Fairchild AFB.

a reply to: Bordon81

Cabin pressure issue. Frankfurt has a repair facility that can deal with it, and was closer than going back to London.

a reply to: aholic

Nice con ...

... trails, that is.



Cheers

a reply to: aholic

Wasn't there a Navy A12 that was a triangle?

a reply to: pteridine

It never flew. The program was an utter disaster that was finally closed out a few years ago.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: pteridine

It never flew. The program was an utter disaster that was finally closed out a few years ago.

Yes, that is true, but I was thinking about the possibility of a follow-on black program. The supposed pics of the 21 don't show as triangles. Was it made to be seen with contrails to convince people that it is jet powered or to deflect attention from the quiet slow-moving triangles ?

Do we have any idea of where this photo was taken?

a reply to: pteridine

Just about all large stealth aircraft are going to be triangular to some degree. The B-21 is optimized for all aspect stealth, and is one of the first that is. It’s triangular, with a beaver tail aft. The design is actually very similar to how the B-2 started.

The Navy didn’t follow up on the A-12, because of the issues with it, and the amount of their budget it would eat up. It would have caused them to not buy ships, and cut into maintenance programs. They didn’t get into an actual stealth aircraft until the F-35C. Shortly after the A-12 program died, McDonnell-Douglas merged with Boeing, in large part because of the A-12 failure.

a reply to: Zaphod58

From 2014. "Not one but two different triangular mystery jets are being secretly flown across the US"

theaviationist.com...

a reply to: pteridine

Yep. Doesn’t mean any were related to Avenger though. There are plenty of missions out there to cover. At least one platform flew for several years that we’re aware of. The other wasn’t a full up platform.

a reply to: aholic

that looks like a stealth VTOL or they have some really 'wheel well covering' panels or they are large sensors


personally i think its a taker, or SF insertion aircraft.

I'm still gathering info but it appears, if real, to be taken from central California on or the day before Thanksgiving. The photo on the left, as many of you know, is from Kansas in 2014 used as comparison to the recent photo (right).

My hunch is that is a product related to the B-21. We know there were one or two sidecar systems being matured in time for operational testing. The scope that the B-21 is designed for it would require a couple of assists from other penetrable aircraft. It's not an A-12 but wouldn't surprise me if there's some DNA in there.

Tactical tanker, ISR/BDA, EW are all good guesses along with a good photoshop job.

a reply to: aholic

Never did find out where the pic. on the right was taken/if it is real- so share your concerns about it being a shoop.
Think the first time it was posted on ATS - the poster said the right pic was taken over Canada...

The one taken by Dean Muskett seems legit. and was taken shortly after (or before- I forget) an unknown ITK'er called up Steve Douglass to tell him to grab his camera for an overflight of some other interesting aircraft.

One of the more plausible guesses at purpose was a display for certain foreign sensors - but it's been 8+ years with no further sightings which makes the whole episode even stranger for me.

a reply to: aholic

It realy look like the 2014 sighting mystery craft, for what program it could be the child ? There is a NGAD demonstrator flying since 2020 somewhere is it that ? or something else ? Don't think so much about a tanker may be related to the RQ-180 ? oR A b-21 COMPANION ?