What crashed at Boscombe Down?

a reply to: Sammamishman

From the aerodynamic standpoint the forebody chines and the inward canted tails are both part of the same package and point towards a supersonic cruiser. I remember reading some technical papers years ago on the development of the SR-71; as I recall, the chines were put on so the fuselage could contribute lift and not be a pure drag generator. The idea is that at supersonic speeds, the leading edge of the chines creates strong shock fronts which stay attached and fixed in place. The expanding shock fronts underneath the fuselage then create compression lift--kind of a wave rider. Once the forebody is generating lift, the chines shed vortices which sweep back and wrap over the aft body. Because of this the resulting airflow over the vertical tails is not strictly from fore to aft; it was found from wind tunnel testing to have an inward component. So the rudder cant angle that produces zero lift is not vertical, but inclined slightly inward.

Given that the Boscombe Down aircraft had both forebody chines and inward canted tails, we might make an educated guess that it was intended for supercruise.

a reply to: 1947boomer

Hence my guess that it was a Northrop-built, YF-23-based supercruising platform of some sort. From what I understand, the YF-23's butterfly tail was to maximize control surface area while minimizing RCS, for the exact same reason why it's chines were minimized and flowed into those trapezoidal wings.

Eliminate the need for maneuverability and build on the -23's already-impressive super cruising ability and low RCS, and you'd likely end up with the fuselage intact, but with extended chines flowing into a Delta wing and with inward-canting tailplanes shielding the dorsal exhaust even further than the -23's butterfly tail did.

Sounds awful familiar now, doesn't it?

Nice thread didn't know anything about this. Just replying so can come back to it

What!! No flags ? Interesting thread too. Star and a flag for you

originally posted by: Sammamishman
a reply to: cavtrooper7

At least we know the design is airworthy in the small scale.

Though, so was this:

Or even this:

a reply to: Northernhollow

That one was the curvy F-19 design wasn't it?
keiththomsonbooks.com...

a reply to: RadioRobert

What must have crashed at Boscombe must have been an earlier development of that flying lawnmower you linked to. It all makes perfect sense now, what better place to test it's mowing prowess than in the green grass of the UK?

originally posted by: Sammamishman
a reply to: RadioRobert

What must have crashed at Boscombe must have been an earlier development of that flying lawnmower you linked to. It all makes perfect sense now, what better place to test it's mowing prowess than in the green grass of the UK?

I don't think it's a coincidence... That's all I'm sayin'...

Id say it has something of a LockBo flavour.

a reply to: RadioRobert

There was a spate of crop circle appearances roughly around this time if I recall correctly...

I read over the whole article over again. Talked to some people. Early 90's was a "time" of SR-71 successor testing. Mach3+ flight envelope. The craft was most likely titanium carbon graphite composite material. Titanium for strength, flexibility, weight and carbon graphite for heat and rcs reduction. Roughly triangular shape, think swissmountainbat sighting....

The aircraft was a "Stealth bomber" when I pressed for details. He stated that it was of a type similar
to the B-2 but about the size of a Tornado. The accident had occurred on landing, and he had overhead a
discussion concerning an electrical and hydraulic failure. On landing the nose gear failed, pushing the
nose into the runway but surprisingly doing little damage to the aircraft. The aircraft had twin tails
located outboard of the top-mounted "lumps", and little else was visible due to coverings on the aircraft
to obscure its shape from view.

The above description is from someone who was on the flightline that day (link, page 6)(assuming it is authentic...)

I know it has been discarted before but when I read "stealth bomber" and "twin tails
located outboard of the top-mounted "lumps"" it does sound awefully like a FB-23 or at least something very similar. Would the timeframe match a YF-23 bomber spinoff or would 1994 be too early for that?

Alternatively, could this possibly have been something from the THAP programme or maybe even the infamous 'companion' aircraft to the F-117A?

a reply to: spaceman42

That sounds an awful lot it like the THAP, though my hunch is still on some sort of THAP/YF-23 hybrid of sorts

It had absolutely nothing to do with the YF-23 or THAP. Not by modification, not by taking elements, nothing.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Is it a F117 companion?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
It had absolutely nothing to do with the YF-23 or THAP. Not by modification, not by taking elements, nothing.

* furiously taking notes
At least we now know what it is not. One day, one day, we will know.....

Would you be able to tell if the aircraft was a prototype or (limited) operational? If it is/was a stealth bomber and it is/was operational, that opens up some interesting avenues.
If it was a prototype, what was it doing in Boscombe of all places. I mean I can understand flying around Scotland, but Boscombe would probably be risky for a highly classified U.S. prototype. Maybe if it was a collaboration with BAe or DERA or some other British organisation it had reason to be there. Something like that is probaly not flow there just for kicks

Is this aircraft something that has been talked about on this forums or is it something 'new' if you know what I mean.

a reply to: Bfirez

I'm not going to say what it was, but it had nothing to do with either of those.

You need look at what programs they were vying for at the time or who was playing with what tech....

a reply to: spaceman42

The UK has been a major partner in stealth development. That's one of the reasons they fly over there, even in the early EMD stages, for testing.

As for this, it was post FOC.

Operational, Yes. NRO.

something similar to the f-121 but with In
ward chanted tails?