Current mystery aircraft / urban legends

[Whisperstream]

I'm not convinced that this image is "better than nothing." It is of such poor resolution that there is really no data to work with. I don't believe we can say with any degree of certainty that the airplane making the contrail is triangle-shaped (or even necessarily that it is visible in the image, for that matter).

I sort of criticized him for posting a picture (allegedly taken by someone he knew not himself) and greatly edited and also greatly zoomed in with line drawings over the image.

He then posted a picture that was unedited. Now that was modestly interesting and unfortunately taken by a many year old
cellphone. The sighting was vertical as if it was flying overhead and whoever took the shot did it in selfie orientation.

I've practiced taking movies of flights overhead for years in case something interesting flies over an I'm guessing this is a 5 year old or more phone camera. Too bad. My 3 year old iPhone 12 ProMax does a far better job of providing clarity to such a photograph. But,
I guess this is better than nothing.

 

[publiusr]

NSF has a mystery vehicle

unknown Boeing experimental Rocket ?

unknown Boeing experimental Rocket ?

forum.nasaspaceflight.com

Well—that’s the tic-tac, of course

Branson should love this space toy—where the goal is to be bent over and flushed:

INSERT AND BLAST-OFF

the blog about vintage and modern space toys

projectswordtoys.blogspot.com

Obviously a hybrid between liquids and solids…

 

[X-39]

I sort of criticized him for posting a picture (allegedly taken by someone he knew not himself) and greatly edited and also greatly zoomed in with line drawings over the image.

He then posted a picture that was unedited. Now that was modestly interesting and unfortunately taken by a many year old
cellphone. The sighting was vertical as if it was flying overhead and whoever took the shot did it in selfie orientation.

I've practiced taking movies of flights overhead for years in case something interesting flies over an I'm guessing this is a 5 year old or more phone camera. Too bad. My 3 year old iPhone 12 ProMax does a far better job of providing clarity to such a photograph. But,
I guess this is better than nothing.
View attachment 696633

Hmmm. Need proof of this and other claims in the thread:

Re: tooth

 

[aliensporebomb]

Proof of my phone getting good footage or proof of the tooth? The footage will be boring 4k 60fps of airliners. But you mostly can tell what they are. But sure, there was one that was really interesting that likely was a bizjet.

The single shot provided by Smythers friend was taken with possibly the worst cell phone cam I've seen in the last 5 years. You can't tell much from it. It's a contrail.

Smythers has said a lot of things to get people in a froth.
He's the only one who's used that name at dlr. Who knows?
He claims it's the latest iteration in a design that goes back some decades.

There's another site I access (the special access subreddit) where they think Smythers is a kid saying provacative things that he has no knowledge of. He's also said things about the B21 that raised an eyebrow or two.

Check his posts at dlr if you want to check them.

 

[sublight_]

There's another site I access (the special access subreddit)

/r/specialaccess you say? I have totally never heard of that....

 

[X-39]

Proof of my phone getting good footage or proof of the tooth?

Nonono, proof that there's some veracity to what he said in his latest "leak" (the attached image)

He's also said things about the B21
that raised an eyebrow or two.

Depends on what your definition of raising an eyebrow is. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/northrop-grumman-b-21a-raider-lrs-b.25915/post-586688 We'll see if after seeing the Raider flying with his own eyes he keeps yelling FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!

There's another site I access (the special access subreddit) where they think Smythers is a kid saying provacative things that he has no knowledge of

You mean like this?: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/northrop-grumman-b-21a-raider-lrs-b.25915/post-574022

 

[aliensporebomb]

Well yeah but honestly, now the latest thing he's talking about is "water cooler talk" about a certain fast aircraft that may or may not exist.

 

[Black Dog]

Well yeah but honestly, now the latest thing he's talking about is "water cooler talk" about a certain fast aircraft that may or may not exist.

Direct quote - "Mach 3 on powerplant, 6+ on the voodoo mix and away she goes.

I heard one old-timer actually paced her in stripped down, bare to the metal F-15. "Pulls up, thumbs up, nose goes up, and she accelerated away like I wasn't even doing mach 2.4. Hella thing to see. Hella thing to see indeed."

I really don't believe anything this guy says

 

[Ninja]

Wish we had more mystery aircraft. Only current mystery aircraft we have is the RQ-180, which is no doubt real. The 90s and early 2000s was the time when there was plenty of good stuff. As well as when aircraft speculation was at its peak. Not much going on now...

 

[quellish]

Wish we had more mystery aircraft. Only current mystery aircraft we have is the RQ-180, which is no doubt real. The 90s and early 2000s was the time when there was plenty of good stuff. As well as when aircraft speculation was at its peak. Not much going on now...

Oh there are plenty going on now. You just don’t see the press covering any of them.

 

[Ninja]

Oh there are plenty going on now. You just don’t see the press covering any of them.

Mind provinding a few examples? And yeah I havent seen the press cover any mystery aircraft besides the RQ180 sometimes. Genuinely haven't seen or heard of any on-going mystery aircraft. Also with this specific thread being over a decade old, isn't the time to make a new list or thread dedicated to the mystery/rumoured aircraft of the 2020's? Only mystery aircraft I can find are mostly from the 90's and early 2000's. We should really make something dedicated to the new mystery aircraft of the decade.

 

[F.L.]

By its very nature, a mysterious aircraft is unknown to the general public, so we'll know it existed the day it's unveiled. There may be dozens of secret aircraft out there right now, but we don't know.

 

[Ninja]

This deserves to be posted here. Here is an Lockheed poster teasing at still-classified platforms. Each little skunk in a cloud represents a still classified aircraft. This poster was released by Lockheed somewhere in the 2000s.

 

[flateric]

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/interesting-collage-from-lockheeds-skunk-works-site.15351/

 

[Fluff]

By its very nature, a mysterious aircraft is unknown to the general public, so we'll know it existed the day it's unveiled. There may be dozens of secret aircraft out there right now, but we don't know.

In other words, there are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.

 

[Ninja]

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/interesting-collage-from-lockheeds-skunk-works-site.15351/

Its so cool it needed to be uploaded again. Also because I dont want it to be lost to time.

 

[Ninja]

Found a good resolution image of the Boscombe Down incident.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/boscombe-down-incident-1994.38581/post-625483

 

[Q-nimbus]

Looks like Peter Merlin found another classified aircraft in his newest book ‘Dreamland’: the YF-45D. According to Peter Merlin Marshall was assigned to the Red Hats at the time.

 

[Ninja]

Looks like Peter Merlin found another classified aircraft in his newest book ‘Dreamland’: the YF-45D. According to Peter Merlin Marshall was assigned to the Red Hats at the time.View attachment 709840View attachment 709841

Good find! Also who is Peter Merlin?

 

[Whisperstream]

Good find! Also who is Peter Merlin?

Author of "Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51"

Dreamland

A highly detailed look into the Groom Lake test site known as Area 51, from the early years (circa 1955 to 1969) through to present day Area 51, a top-secret military installation hidden in the desert northwest of Las Vegas, has been shrouded in mystery since 1955. Now, aerospace historian...

schifferbooks.com

Subject matter expert with numerous appearances on television documentaries for the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Travel Channel, etc.

Peter Merlin | Actor, Additional Crew

Known for: Dreamland: Area 51, Space Shuttle, Mystery Hunters

www.imdb.com

 

[littlebit]

Definitely an... interesting designation. In the same vein as Col. Dan Javorsek's "YF-220", Col. Joseph Lanni's "YF-24", and Col. John Manclark's "YF-110" and "YF-113" (although I'm pretty sure those were both FME MiGs). There seems to be a trend of test pilots and officers casually mentioning unknown platforms in their biographies/resumes. Makes me wonder if it's some kind of long-running practical joke? I'd be a little surprised if 3-4 different pilots collectively made the exact same slipup like this, but stranger things do happen.

 

[Whisperstream]

Definitely an... interesting designation. In the same vein as Col. Dan Javorsek's "YF-220", Col. Joseph Lanni's "YF-24", and Col. John Manclark's "YF-110" and "YF-113" (although I'm pretty sure those were both FME MiGs). There seems to be a trend of test pilots and officers casually mentioning unknown platforms in their biographies/resumes. Makes me wonder if it's some kind of long-running practical joke? I'd be a little surprised if 3-4 different pilots collectively made the exact same slipup like this, but stranger things do happen.

These are real designations, many of which have been well documented. The entire purpose of this designation system (I use the term "system" advisedly) is to obfuscate the actual nature of the airplanes in question. These designations were not allocated in numerical order either.

A couple decades ago, there was some excitement when an Air Force officer's official biography revealed he had flown the YF-113G. His service history included Foreign Materiel Evaluation test programs (evaluations of Russian fighter planes), but the language of the description made the YF-113G sound like something new rather than an acquired foreign aircraft. It remains a mystery to this day.

I was sufficiently enthralled with they mystery plane that I had a cap embroidered with the words YF-113G FLIGHT TEST. A short while later, an acquaintance who occasionally worked in the "black world" saw my hat and remarked, "It's not the G, it's the H." I subsequently learned that there was also a plane designated YF-113H. I don't know what that is either, but both planes were apparently flown by Red Hats pilots.

Someone once posted that they had heard of a YF-43B. I have never found any other refence to that designation.

 

[CiTrus90]

The time frame of his service in the VX-9 at Nellis and the reference to the cooperation between USAF and USN would place it as a (very possibly) NGAD - F/A-XX test article.

Also, page on YF-xxx designations list for those unfamiliar with the argument here.

 

[Ninja]

Someone once posted that they had heard of a YF-43B. I have never found any other refence to that designation.

Ive heard of it too before. Very obscure mention/rumor. Just like the YF-24, it was rumoured to be flown by Joseph A. Lanni as well.

 

[littlebit]

These are real designations, many of which have been well documented. The entire purpose of this designation system (I use the term "system" advisedly) is to obfuscate the actual nature of the airplanes in question. These designations were not allocated in numerical order either.

Yeah, I wasn’t questioning the possibility of the designation or its background, hope it didn’t come across like that. Really, I was intrigued because of the relatively rare mentions of YF-xxs in the double digits (most seem to have been century-series style triple digits), and the 40s especially are not a number range I see quoted often.

It’s also the kind of designation that I struggle to imagine being a misquoting or a typing issue- if it were just F-45D or X-45D I could see it being in reference to some X-45 or F-15 variant, with either the F-prefix or 4 being a mistyping, but the fact that the Y is appended before everything else is hard to rationalize as a mistake. No ideas of what, exactly, a YF-45D would entail, but the designation is so specifically obtuse that I can’t imagine it was accidental.

 

[edwest4]

I often think that growing up in the 1950s must have been a marvelous experience, what with all the rapid technological advances and powerful visions of the future. Every month you had magazines such as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and the likes full to the brim with all sorts of innovations and hundreds of possibilities to improve our daily life in the near future... or so they thought. Today you get a new plane every year or about, and even then it's rarely very different from what already exists.

Speaking about that time period, yes, it was fabulous. Some important breakthroughs did occur. But after landing on the Moon, it seems U.S. aerospace projects just faded away.

 

[Ninja]

Looks like Peter Merlin found another classified aircraft in his newest book ‘Dreamland’: the YF-45D. According to Peter Merlin Marshall was assigned to the Red Hats at the time.View attachment 709840View attachment 709841

Any updates on the YF-45D? Also for my black aircraft art enjoyers out there, here is good resolution art of the "A-17 Stealth Swing-Wing" (mentioned in the first page of this thread too).

 

[Q-nimbus]

Any updates on the YF-45D?

As Marshall was assigned to the Red Hats at the time it’s very likely a Russian or Chinese jet. It could very well be the SU-27 that was photographed above Groom Lake, but that is pure speculation; we just don’t know.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Author of "Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51"

Dreamland

A highly detailed look into the Groom Lake test site known as Area 51, from the early years (circa 1955 to 1969) through to present day Area 51, a top-secret military installation hidden in the desert northwest of Las Vegas, has been shrouded in mystery since 1955. Now, aerospace historian...

schifferbooks.com

Subject matter expert with numerous appearances on television documentaries for the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Travel Channel, etc.

Peter Merlin | Actor, Additional Crew

Known for: Dreamland: Area 51, Space Shuttle, Mystery Hunters

www.imdb.com

Also a forum member posting in this very topic.

 

[F.L.]

Also a forum member posting in this very topic.

Who ?

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Forum members are free to be anonymous if they choose - I'm not outing anyone. I'm simply saying that there are good quality contributors here.

 

[Whisperstream]

The early 1990s were a heyday for articles about exotic, allegedly secret, airplanes in Popular Science, AvWeek, and others. I just wish they they had proved more substantial than just rumors and wishful thinking. At least the artwork was always cool.

 

[publiusr]

The era of Detroit Spy Reports...the 90's didn't have Starship--but it felt like something like that was around the corner.

 

[quellish]

The early 1990s were a heyday for articles about exotic, allegedly secret, airplanes in Popular Science, AvWeek, and others. I just wish they they had proved more substantial than just rumors and wishful thinking. At least the artwork was always cool.

So about that…
As it turns out a number of these stories came from a single source who is… less than reputable. That source was partnered with an individual who was not only one of his “sources” but illustrated many of the articles.

I was researching something else when I found myself in this rabbit hole. I may post something about this soon in the SCIF

 

[Black Dog]

Has anyone seen these? The poster seems confident he has caught something, but it's pretty hard to make anything out. I can see something that resembles a tailless YF-23 in the 2nd set of photos, but it could be anything. I can't make anything of the supposed F-16

Mystery aircraft on a Groom's runway - discussion and images

 

[martinbayer]

My mom told me to stay away from any websites with yellow and white writing against a black background...

 

[CJGibson]

Ah, I see it now!

Chris

 

[Hood]

While the 90s were a hotbed of 'secret' planes - that was a (largely) pre-internet era and relied on aviation magazines to spread the word (and largely pre-digital artwork with paintings rather than CGI stuff).
I guess the late 90s splurge just after the Boscombe Down thing with books like Warplanes of the Future and X-Planes by Mike Ryan and David Oliver, the Avpro paintings (Mike Ryan was Avpro's CEO) and Key Publishing's two-volume X-Planes (also heavily featuring Avpro!) was the terminal stage.
So like Quellish has pointed out, a suspiciously small number of people were churning out a lot of content - cool stuff but it was it really just a case of manufacturing cool pictures and stories to shift magazines off the shelf? (Page 3 for plane nerds?)

Or the case of Testors/Italeri - four plastic models: F-19 stealth fighter (rounded), MiG-37 Ferret stealth bomber (faceted), Stingbat stealth helicopter (faceted), Penetrator/Thunderdart hypersonic recon. AKA F-117, LHX and Aurora. Some of them lucked out as guesses and some were nearly on the money. Four plastic kits that cashed in on the whole thing/drove it forward.

Even recent excitement about things like Calvine hark bark to that 90s golden age.

Once we got into the internet era in the 2000s, 2010s, 2020s we've actually seen very little crazy speculation other than rumoured Groom spottings, refined theories about some of the 90s stuff and a couple of terabytes of dodgy Chinese CGIs and Photoshops of stealth fighters and bombers. Most of the aviation press is paywalled or glorified picture books now and even if there was some super cool stuff most of them are too busy talking to some aviation leasing CEO or corporate PR person to notice. The manufacturers/corporations meanwhile have been titillating us with random references in Super Bowl ads and Top Gun movies, becoming a pastiche of themselves in the process - "whoooo phantom ghost cloud shapes" or "Skunky hyper-fast planes for Real MenTM".

We've had few other interesting excursions in 30 years - the RQ-170 turning up in Iran (which seems to have been swept under the carpet), the StealthHawk in the Bin Laden raid, the RQ-180 which probably exists as flying hardware but perhaps not actually designated RQ-180. Even the X-Plane series since the X-51 have been pretty boring compared to their illustrious forebears - plastic leccy planes and UAVs seem about as exciting as the Bensen X-25....
Doubtless there are some smaller-scale, perhaps private venture, testbeds in the military sphere - maybe an NGAD demonstrator of sorts - maybe some of these do sport odd designations like YF-45D, maybe they don't - but they might actually be quite mundane.

 

[Whisperstream]

A brief funny story from November 1988:

A friend of mine invited me to his wedding, which was to be held in Daytona Beach, Florida. As he was an aviation aficionado, I wanted to bring him something special. So, I went to the Lockheed employee store in Burbank and picked up a solid chocolate "F-19 Stealth Fighter" (it looked like the Loral ad design). It had all of the classically curved and rounded surfaces we had come to expect of a low-observable platform. The next morning I was sitting in the airport, waiting to board my plane to Daytona and reading the Los Angeles Times. There, to my amazement, was the first declassified photo of the Lockheed F-117A in all its faceted glory.

 

[Dynoman]

There, to my amazement, was the first declassified photo of the Lockheed F-117A in all its faceted glory.

I think everyone that saw the declassified image of the F-117A, after all of the 'smooth' surfaced stealth-aircraft drawings, models, and paintings depicting Lockheed's design, left everyone with a sense of confusion. I personally remember thinking in 88' that Testor's design (F-19) would have been a better choice (having been based loosely on the RCS principles of the SR-71). However, form follows function!