Northrop TACIT BLUE

flateric

flateric

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Some inflight footage from Discovery Channel documentary and my 3-view
 

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extra
 

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3-view
 

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Got to see this one at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio, not long after it had been declassified and placed on display. It's definitely one of the more bizzare birds out there and the cockpit I believe is single seat yet is quite wide!
 
Sentinel Chicken said:
It's definitely one of the more bizzare birds out there and the cockpit I believe is single seat yet is quite wide!
Click to expand...

Yes, it's indeed a single seater. That only adds to the weirdness :).

Andreas
 
Yes, it was roomy one:)
 

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USAF would never have owned more than one. It looks like a loaf of bread with wings. They DO have an image to uphold. ;D
 
If anyone is interested I have a bunch of images I shot after it had been moved over to the R&D annex of the USAF Museum (the hangar where the XB-70 resides). I got a lot of detail shots of gear bays and other bits and pieces.
 
I'll upload them and post a link here when it's done.

Incidentially, here's a link to my photo collection:

IMINT & Analysis Photo Archive

Digital Photography I've been an amateur photographer for a few years now, and have built up a pretty large battery of images. I'm going to ...
geimint.blogspot.com geimint.blogspot.com

Everything listed was shot by me, so these are my personal photos.
 
I'm pretty sure SOC took better pictures than I, but in the meantime here's one I took. i apologize if it's not very descriptive, I was mostly concerned with capturing details rather than the whole shape, which is in the public domain.

BTW, the shapes next to it belong to the XC-142 and the X-4 Bantam.
 

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Nice shot and funny view from this angle...as I always say, you just need megawatt-class flash while making pics at USAFM=)

Am i getting right, BTW, that entry hatch was below the chine at starboard?
 
I think that's right. There's a pretty large door you can see in some of the photos I'm uploading right now. FYI, when you open the zip file, the ones taken in 2007 were with the EOS 30D and are of a lot better quality than the rest of them!
 
Sean, thank you a bunch!
 
No problem. Let me know if you need/want anything else.
 

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flateric said:
Well, damn, anyone got his hands on these???
Found at Scaled Composites projects web site with hint from Machdiamond

http://stargazer2006.online.fr/index.htm
Click to expand...

I sent an email to the address listed on that page, requesting more info on the diagrams. The reply (I've replaced the first part of the email address with "XYZ," but the rest of it can be found easily enough):
-----------

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

XYZ@online.fr
SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<XYZ@online.fr>:
host mx1.free.fr [212.27.48.7]: 550 5.2.1 This mailbox has been blocked due to inactivity
 
yasotay said:
USAF would never have owned more than one. It looks like a loaf of bread with wings. They DO have an image to uphold. ;D
Click to expand...

Interesting how similar the Northrop AGM-137 TSSAM was to this in layout.
 
flateric said:
Well, damn, anyone got his hands on these???
Found at Scaled Composites projects web site with hint from Machdiamond
Click to expand...

These were from a .ppt put together by the late Dick Thomas and presented at a convention / meeting.

They were out there on the web for a while.

aero-engineer
 
Kevin, any chances that you have a copy?
 
Seems that it definitely WORTH buying

Hell of a Ride: A first person biography of the 'gutsy' test pilot, Richard G. 'Dick" Thomas, notorious for his bold, daring and dashing flight test escapades!: Thomas, Cynda: 9780595528783: Amazon.com: Books

Hell of a Ride: A first person biography of the 'gutsy' test pilot, Richard G. 'Dick Thomas, notorious for his bold, daring and dashing flight test escapades! [Thomas, Cynda] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Hell of a Ride: A first person biography of the 'gutsy' test pilot...
www.amazon.com
 
flateric said:
Seems that it definitely WORTH buying
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Ride-biography-notorious-escapades/dp/0595528783
Click to expand...

Note that if you search inside the book on amazon you can read excerpts. Definitely worth getting!
 
As I feared, I no longer have the original files, as they disappeared like 75% of my aviation stuff in a computer crashdown... :-[
 
Stephen - at least, can you describe them - were they hi-res or small ones (or even you can remember the source)?
 
As I feared, I no longer have the original files, as they disappeared like 75% of my aviation stuff in a computer crashdown...
Click to expand...
:eek: :'(

That's my worst nightmare, consequently I use Mac and have backup external hard disk
 
flateric said:
Stephen - at least, can you describe them - were they hi-res or small ones (or even you can remember the source)?
Click to expand...
They certainly were not high-res. I think I captured them from a PDF file I once found on the web. Sorry!
 
well, everyone, go for search of this pdf (or ppt) - we have a second confirmation that it was aviable on the net
keywords Dick, Rishard, Thomas, Tacit Blue, Northrop
 
flateric said:
well, everyone, go for search of this pdf (or ppt) - we have a second confirmation that it was aviable on the net
keywords Dick, Rishard, Thomas, Tacit Blue, Northrop
Click to expand...

Dan Vanderhorst presented on behalf of Dick Thomas.

aero-engineer
 
pometablava said:
As I feared, I no longer have the original files, as they disappeared like 75% of my aviation stuff in a computer crashdown...
Click to expand...
:eek: :'(

That's my worst nightmare, consequently I use Mac and have backup external hard disk
Click to expand...

afaik you can also backup a PC/Windoes PC...
 
afaik you can also backup a PC/Windoes PC...
Click to expand...

I know, there are many fine backup apps for Windows. My mistake, I wanted to say I use a Mac because there are less problems with it: data corruption, crashes...but despite using a Mac I backup my data.

Many documents and pics in my computer are a treasure for me and I care to keep it save.
 
Me to. I have a backup on another harddisc and my primary HDD works in RAID configuration. I also have the APU with overvoltage protection, so I hope that it will be enough :) End of off topic.
 
well, still found nothing even with hints from Kevin... :'(
 
This seems to be a nice high-res photo of the Tacit Blue, but for some reasons (highly probably my non-US IP adress) I cant open it:

link to image

Can somebody with US IP adress chceck it? Thanks.
 
Works fine here...
 

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