Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

One question is why would they fly a top secret plane in the northern Texas Panhandle instead of over the more traditional Nevada sites?
1 posted on 04/02/2014 6:00:03 AM PDT by C19fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


To: C19fan

Is this the “Aurora?”


2 posted on 04/02/2014 6:02:19 AM PDT by ken5050 ("One useless man is a shame, two are a law firm, three or more are a Congress".. John Adams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

What?! Just have a 20-second flight? ... :-) ...


3 posted on 04/02/2014 6:05:48 AM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

Looks a bit similar to the X-47B.


4 posted on 04/02/2014 6:06:06 AM PDT by edpc (Wilby 2016)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

Outside of Amarillo the norther panhandle is pretty isolated.


5 posted on 04/02/2014 6:07:57 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

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...


6 posted on 04/02/2014 6:08:47 AM PDT by taildragger (The E-GOP won't know what hit them, The Party of Reagan is almost here, hang tight folks....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

7 posted on 04/02/2014 6:12:36 AM PDT by slumber1 (Moderation is overrated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan
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.

The SR-72 is NOT an unmanned aerial vehicle.

9 posted on 04/02/2014 6:21:01 AM PDT by VRWCmember
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

SR-72’s are back in service, but now unmanned? Hmmm.


11 posted on 04/02/2014 6:24:06 AM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I miss you, dad.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan
telling the Houston Chronicle he believes they are SR-72 Blackbirds

That would be SR-71, not SR-72.
(Actually was RS-71, but someone (LBJ?) mixed up the letters and "SR" stuck)

14 posted on 04/02/2014 6:39:37 AM PDT by GBA (Here in the Matrix, life is but a dream.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

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.


17 posted on 04/02/2014 6:48:03 AM PDT by McGruff (prop.a.gan.da - information of a biased or misleading nature)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

A full scale X-48C?
18 posted on 04/02/2014 6:50:07 AM PDT by GBA (Here in the Matrix, life is but a dream.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

Looks like the Boeing “Phantom Ray”

Hard to tell the size since there is no other aircraft in the images I’ve seen, but the shape seems correct.

Here it is compared to a 747:
http://www.boeing.com/Features/2010/12/bds_phantom_ray_12_10_10.html


21 posted on 04/02/2014 7:00:31 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Politicians and diapers need to be changed for the same reason)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

In the mid-1990’s, a soldier in my M1A1 tank unit had a colorful past. He had actually been in an Army intelligence MOS...but he ended up a tanker. His story had something to do with Stop Loss during the ramp up to the first Gulf War...and his attempts to circumvent it failed, keeping him in the army. And, as a punishment, he was forced to change MOS to 19K (Tank Crewman).

Anyway, somehow we had this very smart ex intelligence soldier driving a tank. One day in casual conversation, he mentioned to me that he had once been tasked with measuring and photographing the camera mounts in the SR71, before it went out of service. The implication was that there was another plane in the works, to replace the SR71, that would still use the same camera.

Who knows what secrets are flying around up there.


22 posted on 04/02/2014 7:01:40 AM PDT by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

LJB?


23 posted on 04/02/2014 7:04:14 AM PDT by faucetman ( Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

Hang glider.


26 posted on 04/02/2014 7:12:39 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan
One question is why would they fly a top secret plane in the northern Texas Panhandle instead of over the more traditional Nevada sites?

That's a very good question, let alone why it has a subsonic profile and being hyped as something else...this is all very amusing.

27 posted on 04/02/2014 7:17:17 AM PDT by logi_cal869
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

It’s the drone dedicated to spying on Glenn Beck.


28 posted on 04/02/2014 7:17:59 AM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad and lived with his parents .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan
Could it be the SR-72?

No, it could not.

The reason it could not is that there is no such thing as a SR-72.

33 posted on 04/02/2014 8:25:28 AM PDT by MosesKnows (Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: C19fan

Looks a lot like an F-117 to me. Service ceiling of 40k plus. Top speed of just over 600 mph. They’re not all in the boneyard.


34 posted on 04/02/2014 8:26:00 AM PDT by afsnco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson