Aurora - a Famous Speculative Project

[Saber]

That’s blown the theory of Aurora then if the Pentagon considered bringing back the HABU for The GWOT

The SR-71 Blackbird Was Almost Brought Back For The Global War On Terror

A little known chapter in the twilight of the SR-71 program became the final nail in its coffin.

www.thedrive.com

cheers

So what explains the donuts on the rope contrails that everyone was seeing back in 1990? If we can discount the Aurora as fantasy then it must have something else that was causing them.

Yeah, wind conditions, the whole donut on a rope contrail thing is quite old. Besides, pulse detonation engines "pulse" at such rates that the exhaust would be near continuous, it's not like it's a Orion type nuclear engine.

 

[RanulfC]

That’s blown the theory of Aurora then if the Pentagon considered bringing back the HABU for The GWOT

The SR-71 Blackbird Was Almost Brought Back For The Global War On Terror

A little known chapter in the twilight of the SR-71 program became the final nail in its coffin.

www.thedrive.com

cheers

So what explains the donuts on the rope contrails that everyone was seeing back in 1990? If we can discount the Aurora as fantasy then it must have something else that was causing them.

Yeah, wind conditions, the whole donut on a rope contrail thing is quite old. Besides, pulse detonation engines "pulse" at such rates that the exhaust would be near continuous, it's not like it's a Orion type nuclear engine.

Yep, personally seen them forming overhead while I was working at the Ogeden Nature Center in 2000 on more than one occasion. They tend to 'sneak up' on you if you're not paying strict attention but it's literally formed from a pair of standard contrails merging.

Randy

 

[Grey Havoc]

That’s blown the theory of Aurora then if the Pentagon considered bringing back the HABU for The GWOT

Not necessarily. The Bush (43) administration (Rumsfeld in particular) had a rather unfortunate tendency to try and do things on the cheap even when there was plenty of money available, then blowing any savings made (and plenty besides) on ill-advised 'Transformational' projects & programs.

 

[Mr London 24/7]

I've been interested on Foreign Intelligence collection efforts against something such as an 'Aurora', if indeed there was one. One would presume that attempts to obtain details and photography of such a vehicle would have been a priority, and therefore why would such not have found its way into the public domain in some fashion so long after the break up of the Soviet Union in particular.

Along related lines perhaps is a year 2000 report by the UK Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) on ah... Aerial Phenomena... At one time classified 'UK Eyes Only' but released several years ago.

(Quote): "The projected (USAF) priority plan is to produce unpiloted air-breathing aircraft with a Mach 8-12 capability and transatmospheric vehicles." and later "as well as highly supersonic vehicles at Mach 4 to 6".

Exotic (propulsion) technologies (inc detail on PDE), starting page 4:

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/189E48A0-0169-4C89-AA95-120EE0B50E7D/0/uap_vol2_pgs61to75.pdf

In another section "Western Programmes", several aircraft progams are detailed, firstly the SR-71 (curiously referred to by the little-used SENIOR CROWN), the F-117, F22 & B2. But of particular interest are the paragraphs on two other systems which are completely redacted along with a redacted image of each one:

'Black and other aircraft', starting page 9:

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6A30B96E-35AD-4F73-93B1-863F59A3A0E4/0/uap_vol2_pgs76to90.pdf

Considering the time frame, I'd dearly love to see what was there.


Another snippet made it out from the head of the 'DI55' Defence Intelligence section, noting media reports in the UK at the time on Aurora. He writes to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff:

(Quote) “Given recent speculation about Aurora by both media and MPs it is surprising that so far this has not been taken up by the Press or, indeed, again by MPs. Frankly, I can see little that we can do to follow it up. If there has been some activity of US origins which is known to a limited circle in MoD and is not being acknowledged it is difficult to investigate further. I would however be interested in your views in light of your earlier interest about Aurora.” (DEFE 24/2086 page 53).

Chief of the Air Staff does not appear willing to contribute information. In his answering letter, he writes:

(Quote) “I can add nothing to the debate.” (DEFE 24/2086 page 47).

A later memo does contain a handwritten note advising him to 'drop this subject'. However it is open to question if this relates purely to an 'Aurora' as a subject or the wider subject as a whole.

DEFE 24/2086:

Digital copy of DEFE 24/2086: UFO reports sightings, 30/31 March 1993; with redactions | The National Archives

The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

To follow-up my own post along these same lines 10 years later: noted sceptic Dr David Clarke highlighted further DI55 Defence Intelligence Staff files released under FOIA to the UK National Archives in 2018 quoting:

"In his UK Restricted minute ‘Wrap Up of UAP Material’ dated 22 March 2000 the report’s author – a retired RAF scientist – refers to a collection of slides and photographs that he consulted in the MoD’s archive.


The UK Restricted memo that refers to a D-Notice issued in the 1990s on the Astra/Aurora project (Mr London 24/7 - Image inline and attached here is Copyright: Dr David Clarke)
These contained images of the ‘ASTRA/AURORA‘ project – a top secret, hypersonic Cold War spyplane.

The author goes on to note ‘there was a Press D-Notice issued at the time‘.

This is the first solid evidence to emerge that refers to the involvement of the former D-Notice committee in the Aurora saga."

Offered here not as proof of a 'Hypersonic Aurora' of course - but rather that the MoD's own DI55 desk jockeys had access to images of 'some-things' that they believed might be matching sight-sensitive aircraft, in some fashion.

Article is also interesting due to mention of possible D-Notice activity.

The pictured DI55 Document Ref 55/108/15 does not appear to be digitised and online yet.

Source article:

Black Projects, UFOs and the mysterious MO D-Notice

Has the Ministry of Defence ever suppressed media stories about Black Project aircraft operating secretly over the British Isles? For many years conspiracy-minded aviation writers and UFOlogists ha…

drdavidclarke.co.uk

The 'retired RAF scientist' is at least partially identified in a further article here:

Why Britain’s MoD closed the UFO files: exclusive new evidence

Newly-released British intelligence files reveal the hidden agenda behind the MoD’s decision to close down their 50 year investigation of UFOs. The last three UFO files produced by the UK’s defence…

drdavidclarke.co.uk

 

[antigravite]

I've been interested on Foreign Intelligence collection efforts against something such as an 'Aurora', if indeed there was one. One would presume that attempts to obtain details and photography of such a vehicle would have been a priority, and therefore why would such not have found its way into the public domain in some fashion so long after the break up of the Soviet Union in particular.

Along related lines perhaps is a year 2000 report by the UK Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) on ah... Aerial Phenomena... At one time classified 'UK Eyes Only' but released several years ago.

(Quote): "The projected (USAF) priority plan is to produce unpiloted air-breathing aircraft with a Mach 8-12 capability and transatmospheric vehicles." and later "as well as highly supersonic vehicles at Mach 4 to 6".

Exotic (propulsion) technologies (inc detail on PDE), starting page 4:

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/189E48A0-0169-4C89-AA95-120EE0B50E7D/0/uap_vol2_pgs61to75.pdf

In another section "Western Programmes", several aircraft progams are detailed, firstly the SR-71 (curiously referred to by the little-used SENIOR CROWN), the F-117, F22 & B2. But of particular interest are the paragraphs on two other systems which are completely redacted along with a redacted image of each one:

'Black and other aircraft', starting page 9:

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6A30B96E-35AD-4F73-93B1-863F59A3A0E4/0/uap_vol2_pgs76to90.pdf

Considering the time frame, I'd dearly love to see what was there.


Another snippet made it out from the head of the 'DI55' Defence Intelligence section, noting media reports in the UK at the time on Aurora. He writes to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff:

(Quote) “Given recent speculation about Aurora by both media and MPs it is surprising that so far this has not been taken up by the Press or, indeed, again by MPs. Frankly, I can see little that we can do to follow it up. If there has been some activity of US origins which is known to a limited circle in MoD and is not being acknowledged it is difficult to investigate further. I would however be interested in your views in light of your earlier interest about Aurora.” (DEFE 24/2086 page 53).

Chief of the Air Staff does not appear willing to contribute information. In his answering letter, he writes:

(Quote) “I can add nothing to the debate.” (DEFE 24/2086 page 47).

A later memo does contain a handwritten note advising him to 'drop this subject'. However it is open to question if this relates purely to an 'Aurora' as a subject or the wider subject as a whole.

DEFE 24/2086:

Digital copy of DEFE 24/2086: UFO reports sightings, 30/31 March 1993; with redactions | The National Archives

The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

To follow-up my own post along these same lines 10 years later: noted sceptic Dr David Clarke highlighted further DI55 Defence Intelligence Staff files released under FOIA to the UK National Archives in 2018 quoting:

"In his UK Restricted minute ‘Wrap Up of UAP Material’ dated 22 March 2000 the report’s author – a retired RAF scientist – refers to a collection of slides and photographs that he consulted in the MoD’s archive.


The UK Restricted memo that refers to a D-Notice issued in the 1990s on the Astra/Aurora project (Mr London 24/7 - Image inline and attached here is Copyright: Dr David Clarke)
These contained images of the ‘ASTRA/AURORA‘ project – a top secret, hypersonic Cold War spyplane.

The author goes on to note ‘there was a Press D-Notice issued at the time‘.

This is the first solid evidence to emerge that refers to the involvement of the former D-Notice committee in the Aurora saga."

Offered here not as proof of a 'Hypersonic Aurora' of course - but rather that the MoD's own DI55 desk jockeys had access to images of 'some-things' that they believed might be matching sight-sensitive aircraft, in some fashion.

Article is also interesting due to mention of possible D-Notice activity.

The pictured DI55 Document Ref 55/108/15 does not appear to be digitised and online yet.

Source article:

Black Projects, UFOs and the mysterious MO D-Notice

Has the Ministry of Defence ever suppressed media stories about Black Project aircraft operating secretly over the British Isles? For many years conspiracy-minded aviation writers and UFOlogists ha…

drdavidclarke.co.uk

The 'retired RAF scientist' is at least partially identified in a further article here:

Why Britain’s MoD closed the UFO files: exclusive new evidence

Newly-released British intelligence files reveal the hidden agenda behind the MoD’s decision to close down their 50 year investigation of UFOs. The last three UFO files produced by the UK’s defence…

drdavidclarke.co.uk

Hi.

An intuition.

If there is anything related to strategic reconnaissance aircraft bearing the code-name ASTRA, it could be an easy guess acronym.

ASTRA:
1 - Advanced Strategic Reconnaissance Aircraft
2 - Advanced Strategic Aircraft
3 - Advanced Strike & Reconnaisance Aircraft (this one being a little far fetched)

In the same vein, the AURORA could also be an acronym, and this might explain lots of things and shed light on many possible confusions.

1 -Advanced Unmanned Remotely Operated Reconnaissance Aircraft
2 - Advanced Unmanned Remotely Operated Research Aircraft
3 - Advanced Unmanned Reconnaissance Operations Research Aircraft
4 - Advanced Utility Reconnaissance Operations Research Aircraft
5 - Autonomous Reconnaissance Operations Research Aircraft
etc.

Any guess, bet or suggestions?

If ASTRA and/or AURORA were actual program acronyms for advanced aerospace vehicles, choice of words and words of choice are likely going to be very limited.
Who's in for this unexpected serendepitious challenge.

A

 

[In_A_Dream]

Any guess, bet or suggestions?

1 - Advanced Unmanned Remotely Operated Reconnaissance Aircraft
1 - Advanced Strategic Reconnaissance Aircraft

 

[Orionblamblam]

So what explains the donuts on the rope contrails that everyone was seeing back in 1990?

Everyone has been seeing them since at least WWII. They are "contrail lobes" and are nothing special.

 

[_Del_]

Any guess, bet or suggestions?

1 - Advanced Unmanned Remotely Operated Reconnaissance Aircraft
1 - Advanced Strategic Reconnaissance Aircraft

Just to tinfoil this further, if AURORA was such, and it was the eyes in the Hunter -Killer package with the ATB program (similar or concurrent in mission to Tier III, QUARTZ, only focusing on rapid penetration rather than relying on persistent ISR), then it could explain the appearance next to the TR-1 in the budget -- and saying AURORA budget line-items were "just" spending related to the classified B-2 program, would technically be true.

 

[In_A_Dream]

Any guess, bet or suggestions?

1 - Advanced Unmanned Remotely Operated Reconnaissance Aircraft
1 - Advanced Strategic Reconnaissance Aircraft

Just to tinfoil this further, if AURORA was such, and it was the eyes in the Hunter -Killer package with the ATB program (similar or concurrent in mission to Tier III, QUARTZ, only focusing on rapid penetration rather than relying on persistent ISR), then it could explain the appearance next to the TR-1 in the budget -- and saying AURORA budget line-items were "just" spending related to the classified B-2 program, would technically be true.

The US was pushing hard to have unmanned penetrating ISR for a very long time, wouldn't be out of the question.

 

[marauder2048]

* ICBM delivered MaRVs guided in the terminal phase by a sensor equipped PBV
* ICBM delivered long-loiter, subsonic cruise missiles

Neither of these things made it much past wind tunnel models.

Funny how the recently revealed post-Cold War approach to the SRT threat, Vintage Racer, is pretty
much exactly like the known, well documented late-Cold War approach to the SRT threat.

 

[marauder2048]

And some were FOG missiles from B-52!

 

[marauder2048]

All from the J. Robert Beyster (SAIC founder) collection.

The penetrating sensor architecture was satellite based.
The shooters are strategic bombers, ICBMs and cruise missiles.

 

[serg.gonzp]

Any documentary we talk about the aurora??

 

[Hanz2k]

Folks, some time ago (2-3 years) on other forum there was grainy pictures done in the morning around Scotland of aircraft pretending to be Aurora (showel nose, thermal management system etc.) Author claimed it was powered by jet and rocket engine.
1. Does anybody have link to the pictures?
2. Any follow up info if this was debunked?

 

[bob225]

Have a look in here: current-mystery-aircrafts-urban-legends.11250

 

[Hanz2k]

Have a look in here: current-mystery-aircrafts-urban-legends.11250

Thank you! Found it - it was 9 years ago

 

[greenmartian2017]

I'd like to re-direct this thread back to exo-atmospheric vehicles that may or may not exist.

I have stumbled across this particular Web page recently. It originally was posted in April 2018.

I am intrigued by the upper 50% of this Web article (flying triangle/pyramids don't interest me, which is lower 50% of the blog article).

I would like some feedback from you guys as to what might be accurate, versus fiction, versus something else. It also includes alleged "eyewitness drawings" too.

Of course, Michael Schratt wrote the piece. But I don't want to dismiss this out of hand if there are any real items in this we should be taking notice of in regards to possible US black projects that were aerospace vehicles under test.

Schratt's drawings and CGI paintings look nice, but I find them troubling.

Please let me know your reactions to this.

That’s Classified: Exposing Silver Bullet Technology - Openminds.tv

Aerospace trade publications, visual reports and personal interviews with test pilots and engineers confirm the existence of multiple highly classified aerospace vehicles. These include boomerangs, black triangles, diamonds, arrowheads, and Spaceplanes/Trans Atmospheric Vehicles (TAVs). Funded...

www.openminds.tv

 

[flateric]

Self-proclaimed "military aerospace historian" producing drawings like this is an idiot.

 

[sferrin]

That landing gear is hilarious.

 

[Fluff]

Base station, call sign, earth.

brilliant, that should fool everyone.....

 

[Agent A]

Schratt's drawings and CGI paintings look nice, but I find them troubling.

Please let me know your reactions to this.

What was your reaction that made you find them troubling?

Looking at the C-5C illustration, two things (only two?...), well the first two things that stood out:
1. Can you imagine the 'sub-scale demonstrator' dropping without striking the adjacent engine or fuselage (just physical room, let alone aerodynamic effects)?

2. Look at the front/back cargo doors and how the cheeks bulge outwards between the door apertures, can you see how a one-piece, outsized cargo that required the cheeks would actually access/reach/fit into the widened section? (If this is not clear, look-up a picture of the Airbus Beluga with cargo door open)

FWIW, I'd always pictured 'cheeks' as a swelling in both the front cargo door and aperture to accommodate the widest part of the load, imagine a 'space shuttle' shaped craft being loaded nose first through the front cargo door, and the cheeks accommodating the [widest] wing section, the remainder sitting within the regular hold.

 

[greenmartian2017]

While it is obvious that Schratt has learned mechanical drawing and cad-cam (and these drawings are quite nicely done), some of the very things that others have brought up I had noticed myself. Additionally, the two alleged "eyewitness drawings" may have been done by the same hand and not by two separate people. By that I mean (outside of the written text and words which are different) the presentation of the two drawings look very similar in drawing approach. Only one of the eyewitnesses seems to be aerospace oriented (the alleged F-15 pilot).

The CGI paintings are nice too, but I question what is claimed as being the exit point(s) for the claimed (alleged) "exhaust ports" for claimed linear aerospike engines. From open source material, that is not what the "butt end" of a linear aerospike engine looks like. It just doesn't look like that.

If anyone has better information, please hold forth.

Also: Recently, Schratt has posted a video to Youtube, which is chock full of misleading, and false information. Posted in November.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwIhNzwZW-g


For an example of which I speak, there is a segment on the Buran Shuttle program, and all you have to do is see that section and know this guy isn't meticulous at all. And by which I mean, if there is egregious error in one part of the proffer, there is likely egregious error in other parts of the presentation as well--even if the person reading/watching the material isn't versed in the topic.

On this topic of 1980s/1990s stuff about exo-atmospheric black programs, I would like to see data and information that isn't sourced to Michael Schratt. If anyone has found such information, I would be very greatly appreciative if you would post those URL links or book titles.

I am not ruling out that there were some black projects that reached flight test in this genre. However, I am saying that whatever Schratt is purveying, he is the wrong messenger to provide this stuff.

 

[flateric]

 

[RavenOne]

What do people think about the September '94 Boscombe Down incident speculated to involve the Aurora?

The Drive has revisited the incident today

The Boscombe Down Incident Remains One Of Military Aviation's Most Intriguing Mysteries

A secret aircraft reportedly crashed during takeoff at RAF Boscombe Down in 1994 sparking what has been an enduring mystery.

www.thedrive.com

cheers

 

[Hood]

So nothing new at all.

Its a pity they went into protective over-drive by flying in squads of SAS. Had they just treated it like any other emergency landing nobody would have raised an eyebrow and they could have shuttled it back home with no questions asked.

It does beg the question though, if this secret aircraft really was being tested at Boscombe, then surely there would already have been tight security in place? No eyewitnesses seem to have glimpsed it before the accident so presumably it was being kept under reasonably good cover.

 

[antigravite]

What do people think about the September '94 Boscombe Down incident speculated to involve the Aurora?

The Drive has revisited the incident today

The Boscombe Down Incident Remains One Of Military Aviation's Most Intriguing Mysteries

A secret aircraft reportedly crashed during takeoff at RAF Boscombe Down in 1994 sparking what has been an enduring mystery.

www.thedrive.com

cheers

Hi. My 2 cents, here.

I remember looking into that incident a long time ago.
What really struck me a lot a completely escaped The Drive's attention is the following.

1. Classified or not, something crashed.
2. Three issues were possible: a) human/pilot erro/mistaker b) a purely technical issue c) kinda mix of both
3. I was really surprized to see that a surge of open lit reports on so-called "PIO" (Pilot induced Oscillations) appeared a few years after this Boscombe-Dawn incident and for some reasons connected the dots.

Whatever happened ar BD, could have originated from a PIO, meaning better design (lessons learnt) for next-gen classified aircraft.

Hope this helps.

A.

 

[Q-nimbus]

A SR-71 or F-117 seems the most plausible possibility, as it seems higly likely it involved an American airframe (if the stories of USAF C-5's etc. are true)

But then I'm reasonably sure that if that was the case, we would have known about it by now, 27 years later. There is no need to keep it secret - both airframes were declassified by then, and there have been plenty of crashes that have been declassified. So that makes me think that there might have been something strange going on back then; if not an exotic aircraft, then certainly a highly, highly sensitive and classified mission by a known aircraft.

The one big problem with this theory is that hunderds, or maybe even thousands of non-Americans must have been involved or have been a witness. That Americans can keep their secrets that long, unlikely, but well, maybe. But it's strange that not a single Brit has spilled the beans over what he or she saw that day, something I consider unlikely if an exotic highly classified aircraft was involved. People like to talk, you know.

Also, one of the big guys who dug into this story is Nick Cook, you know, the guy who thinks the Nazi's were onto anti-gravtiy propulsion, and that the Americans perfected it.... well...

So my guess is a SR-71 or F-117 at best, but quite probably something much, much more mundane and ordinary.

 

[RavenOne]

(

So nothing new at all.

Its a pity they went into protective over-drive by flying in squads of SAS. Had they just treated it like any other emergency landing nobody would have raised an eyebrow and they could have shuttled it back home with no questions asked.

It does beg the question though, if this secret aircraft really was being tested at Boscombe, then surely there would already have been tight security in place? No eyewitnesses seem to have glimpsed it before the accident so presumably it was being kept under reasonably good cover.

or could it be a case of people putting together 2 plus 2 equals five point four, as in then 8 Flt A109 turned up in transit or pilot do some training and stopped off at BD for pit stop.

cheers

 

[Hood]

(

So nothing new at all.

Its a pity they went into protective over-drive by flying in squads of SAS. Had they just treated it like any other emergency landing nobody would have raised an eyebrow and they could have shuttled it back home with no questions asked.

It does beg the question though, if this secret aircraft really was being tested at Boscombe, then surely there would already have been tight security in place? No eyewitnesses seem to have glimpsed it before the accident so presumably it was being kept under reasonably good cover.

or could it be a case of people putting together 2 plus 2 equals five point four, as in then 8 Flt A109 turned up in transit or pilot do some training and stopped off at BD for pit stop.

cheers

I am surprised that nobody has speculated that the aircraft was actually a Senior Citizen carrying a squad of SAS and the Chinook arrived to take them home after the accident.
Not that Senior Citizen would be fighter-sized or fit into a C-5, but hey we might as well kickstart some fresh theories.

 

[In_A_Dream]

I would assume it was a classified a/c working with the F-117s during our '94 Bosnia campaign. Whatever it was, it was operational.

 

[Forest Green]

I am surprised that nobody has speculated that the aircraft was actually a Senior Citizen carrying a squad of SAS and the Chinook arrived to take them home after the accident.
Not that Senior Citizen would be fighter-sized or fit into a C-5, but hey we might as well kickstart some fresh theories.

Maybe Tony Stark was having suit problems.

 

[quellish]

So nothing new at all.

Its a pity they went into protective over-drive by flying in squads of SAS. Had they just treated it like any other emergency landing nobody would have raised an eyebrow and they could have shuttled it back home with no questions asked.

It does beg the question though, if this secret aircraft really was being tested at Boscombe, then surely there would already have been tight security in place? No eyewitnesses seem to have glimpsed it before the accident so presumably it was being kept under reasonably good cover.

It is important to remember that prior to that AFM article the general consensus was that it was a "TR-3" or similar. There had been no Aurora connection before that (and I still don't know what "ASTRA" is, I had not heard of it before the article).

Over the years I had tried many times to confirm or substantiate parts of the Boscome Down story. The C-5 flights, the other American aircraft, etc. I was never able to. As far as I could tell there was not a C-5 there, and there was no C-5 flight into Palmdale around that time.

IIRC the official story at the time was an accident involving a Tornado and a towed decoy.

 

[Flyaway]

2024/2025 would see the papers for that time period declassified under the 30 years rule, but I wouldn’t hold my breath being as some papers can remain classified for 50 or even 100 years in the U.K.

I suspect this has already been posted here as it’s quite old.

RAF Boscombe Down's Black Day

 

[bob225]

I just don't get it.

Why fly into or out of Boscombe? if it's an emergency RAF Lakenheath, Mildenhall or Fairford would be available, the heath especially is reasonably remote, with easy to close roads, secluded HAS sites and big enough hangers to hide most things, plus it's USAF ran, and there not that far away for a fast mover.

If it's an operational vehicle why use Boscombe, there's plenty of remoter places use.

I guess it could be a foreign a/c being delivered, sounds a bit like firefox!

More likely it's 2+2 = 100.

Just my five pence worth

 

[CJGibson]

I always wondered - why Boscombe?

The only reason I could think of is that The Hall, The Heath and Fairford have pretty much round-the-clock spotter cover.

That might explain Boscombe.

Chris

 

[CiTrus90]

Maybe it has the longest runway in the UK and the least ground overflight for an aircraft that deviated from a corridor passing over the Channel?

 

[bob225]

I always wondered - why Boscombe?

The only reason I could think of is that The Hall, The Heath and Fairford have pretty much round-the-clock spotter cover.

That might explain Boscombe.

Chris

They certainly do now, but not sure about 94?

Never been to Boscombe so not sure what you can see / get at from outside the wire?

I think you're right Boscome's run way may be a bit longer, RAF Lakenheaths, not far off though. (I think Macrihanish was still open then, with a 3 mile runway??)

A quick google maps measure, both Boscome & Lakenheath are about 50 miles fro the coast so equal.

Although according to the report Boscome were using runway 23, so lots more land to fly over and turn around, whilst lakenheath would use 24, which lines up nicely in from the wash / north sea (not many people around in north norfolk).

I guess the only risk then is someone on an oil rig spotting something, like that would ever happen!

 

[CJGibson]

In my experience, turn up on the perimeter with anything optical and its...like this without the 'birds':

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RUoEog2M1Q


They do make a nice brew in the Guard Room.

Chris

 

[Dynoman]

Although similar in configuration I have always wondered about Northrop Grumman's Low Observable concept aircraft that had an ornamental design which was patented on September 9th, 1994 (Patent 365545S) and the aircraft that was seen at Boscombe Down on September 26, 1994. Supposedly Northrop Grumman was working with BAE and the Royal Air Force to develop a concept for a stealth aircraft, which was known as LO/FOAS. Some think that a prototype of the Northrop design may have been built. There was a lot of PR that was done by Northrop of the LO design at the time.

I remember thinking back then that Northrop was going to reveal a prototype with the release of the patent and the design's promotion within the press. Then the Boscombe Down incident happened. I wondered if the two were connected. If so, the aircraft could have been flown to Boscombe Down for BAE and the RAF to test the aircraft using British pilots and facilities and then after the accident flown back to Palmdale for repairs considering the lack of equipment at Boscombe to do the job. Due to its classified nature and or the extent of the damages, the aircraft was not repaired and stored away or destroyed. A year later BAE begins development of it's own indigenous stealth fighter design, the Replica.

 

[Forest Green]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1379929308387373062

View: https://twitter.com/Aviation_Intel/status/1379929308387373062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1379929308387373062%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.strategicfront.org%2Fforums%2Fthreads%2Fus-military-technology.2769%2Fpage-11