Pictures requested by popular demand of planes in Groom and the NTS

Thanks for the photos. All of them appear to have been taken over southern California. The pictures of the gray YF-117A (tail no. 783) were taken over the southern Sierra Nevada, Fremont Valley, and Edwards AFB. Koehn Dry Lake and the Honda test track south of Cantil are visible in two of the photos. Some of the F-22 pictures appear to have been taken over the southern Sierra Nevada, as well. The B-2 pictures look like they were taken over the San Joaquin Valley, but I have yet to identify the reservoir that appears in one of the photos.

reply to post by Shadowhawk


Good eye, actually the B-2 pics were probably taken around the midwest somewhere. I only refueled a B-2 out of Edwards once, when they were testing a new bombing system on it.

Tried to clean up the picture a little bit but I'm no means a computer guy. but here's groom and papoose..

reply to post by amongus


If you really want to Impress show a pic of the Lockheed X-22A Dark Star

reply to post by Shadowhawk


Good eye. I see the Honda track in the 2nd and 3rd F117a shot.
Honda 35°16'16.61"N 117°57'25.02"W
Kia (not seen) 35° 3'29.28"N 118° 2'0.41"W
That would then be route 58 in the 3rd shot.

Regarding the blurry Papoose and Groom, there isn't much that can be done. The unsharp mask just fools the eye by tweaking the acutance. Here ere is the wiki if you never heard the term:
en.wikipedia.org...

I know how to do A Trous wavelet sharpening, which is better than the unsharp mask, but it really isn't worth the effort. We have satellite photos of Groom and Papoose, not to mention photographs from nearby viewspots. Plenty to see at Groom, nothing to see at Papoose except for the Papoose Mountain facility. Certainly there is nothing at the alleged S-4 site.

reply to post by gariac


I just bought a scanner so I'm getting to work on doing that. I'll have more pictures sometime in the next few hours...

First pic scanned from my original post instead of taking a picture of a picture. guess it's a little better...

Boomer, you sir, are the best.

By far, some of the best legit photos I've seen from a fellow ATS'er, other than Gariac.

You just keep with these awesome posts and you'll be giving him a run for his money!!


Thanks for the great photos man and again, thank you for keeping our country safe!

Here's some more. Should hold you guys and gals over for a while. I'm tired of scanning. lol

first the inverted ones...







More B-2:







B-1







A-10








more F-22







other fighters







And for a finalle, let's play name that base....Any takers???



More to come...

Amazing pictures that B2 is scary awesome, i love it! more pictures would be appreciated if you can.

Very nice shots! I wish I could also have this kind of experience - seeing different top of the line planes that close.

Its always nice when someone has something really interesting to bring to ATS. SnF for you good sir.

Absolutely amazing pics, I love the view from the Tanker, is that a KC-135 Stratotanker. Are you the Boom operator., Nevermind your name says Boomer. LOL sorry, So whats the hardest plane to refuel at those altitudes, and what plane takes the most fuel during those refuelings?????

Is that last pic you posted, asking what base it is? Is the base "Holloman" in New Mexico, or maybe, "Kirtland", or "Ellsworth base", I dont know im just guessing, Thinking its either in the Southwest, or overseas in an Arab country due to the geography of the land.

reply to post by Glassbender777


Yes, it's a KC-135. And the hardest if there is one is probably the F-117. The first time I ever did one was during the Iraq war the first few nights be bombed them in 2003. It was lights out ops and that's a very black plane! You have to fly the boom around the canopy just like the F-16, but if you hit the F-117 and scratch the paint it can loose it's stealth and it's your ass...

As for which takes the longest, it depends on the type of aircraft and how many refueling pumps we can use. We have four, and they put out 1500 pounds per minute each. Most fighters can only hold on with one pump running and they only take like 10-12 thousand pounds of fuel anyway. Biggest offload I ever did was 105,000 pounds to a C-5. 6,000 pounds per minute so you can do the math! It took a while.

reply to post by Glassbender777


Good guesses but no, it's overseas somewhere. Anyone else?

I would hazard a guess at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar?

Brilliant pictures i wish i could have seen these as close up as you
more if you have any
SnF

Cran

reply to post by jimbib


Wow that's a very good guess!

Just a check, can these round triangle shaped aircraft - stealths/bombeers ionize the air around, flash and make them move more rapidly and reduce air resistance? Like so: