Posted on 04/02/2014 6:00:03 AM PDT by C19fan
A retired Marine with nearly two decades of aviation experience has stepped forward with a compelling theory about a mysterious plane that was spotted flying over Texas last month. On March 10, photographers Steve Douglass and Dean Muskett took pictures of three puzzling aircraft flying over Amarillo, and posted them online in hopes of identifying the planes. Retired-Marine James Vineyard has submitted one of the more interesting explanations, telling the Houston Chronicle he believes they are SR-72 Blackbirds - a spy plane that can cross the U.S. in less than an hour, unmanned.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Is this the “Aurora?”
What?! Just have a 20-second flight? ... :-) ...
Looks a bit similar to the X-47B.
Outside of Amarillo the norther panhandle is pretty isolated.
From the photo it is a Delta, with the Wingtips look like they are going to a High Aspect Ratio Section, almost Blended Wing Body-ish. No center Cuspidate ( aka “Bat-Tail” ) Tail like the B-2 or the Horten 229. Which leads to the question why not the center stub tail which the R/C modeling community has found out really works...
No vertical stabilizer is required and it only adds drag.
Once you accept that you are reliant on a working computer to fly, you can get rid of the tail and control yaw with tiny movements of speed brakes at the wing tips.
The SR-72 is NOT an unmanned aerial vehicle.
The Blackbird is an SR-71, not SR-72.
SR-72’s are back in service, but now unmanned? Hmmm.
That would be SR-71, not SR-72.
(Actually was RS-71, but someone (LBJ?) mixed up the letters and "SR" stuck)
looks like the Earth to Space station shuttle from 2001 a Space Odyssey.
And, as it turns out, the SR-72 will be a hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle in another 15 years or so.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2013/sr-72.html
The next SR-72 or whatever it is called should be unmanned for multiple reasons. One drone technology has matured to the state it should be used. Speed and altitude wouldn’t be an issue like t is with a pilot. If the vehicle is shot down there won’t be a pilot to rescue. You could blow the thing up if need be.
Yes, the Recon and Surveillance (RS) 71 aircraft was a technological marvel at the time and LBJ slipped up and transposed the letters. This was years before the "gotcha" journalism era and a time when deference and respect for the office of the President caused the Lockheed officials to scramble to change the designation from RS-71 to SR-71, even changing the painted letters and logo.
That’s a dead ringer
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