From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #525 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Tuesday, 28 November 1995 Volume 05 : Number 525 In this issue: Mystery plane popularmechanics.com Re: Mystery plane(s) Re: Mystery plane ESPN 2 - Ultimate flights re: mystery plane Re: Mystery plane Re: Mystery plane Area 51 Anti-gravity report See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: seb@tadpole.co.uk (Steven Barber) Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 10:46:06 GMT Subject: Mystery plane I'm not ignoring you, Andreas, I'm just getting swamped at work! SR71 and F117 operating out of Macharanish pre-disclosure: I don't have the references, I think that it comes out of either one of the newspaper articles re rumblings & Mach 3+ radar track picked up near M., or from one of Bill Sweetman's books that got mentioned associated with these reports. If I'm guilty of spreading disinformation, I apologise! Once I get my head back above water, I'll try & get more details. In the meantime, I'm hoping someone else can confirm or deny the F117 ops from Macharanish! Regards, Steve ------------------------------ From: dougt@u011.oh.vp.com (Doug Tiffany) Date: Mon, 27 Nov 95 10:04:49 EST Subject: popularmechanics.com X-URL: http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/tech/1HOMETECH.html Tech Update Of The Day: November 27, 1995 Vikings Go Electric GAETA, ITALY -- Born in the '50s, the Douglas A-3 Skywarrior served long and well with the U.S. Navy. When the last "electric" version was retired after Desert Storm, a gap loomed in electronic-intelligence gathering. But Lockheed Martin has converted 16 S-3A Viking antisubmarine-warfare aircraft into a squadron of able replacements. Based on Viking (left), ES-3A "Shadow" intercepts and analyzes electromagnetic emissions. Dubbed the "Shadow," the new ES-3A has been in such demand recently that its pilots have been logging as many as 80 hours per month -- nearly triple the time of Hornet jocks. The heart of the Shadow is its avionics suite, based on the Aries II system of the land-based EP-3E Orion. Much of the plane's fuselage is packed with sensor stations and processing equipment, while on the outside jut more than 60 antennas. - -- A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of house I live in, how much is in my bank account, or what kind of car I drive, but the world may be a different place because I was important in the life of a child. Douglas J. Tiffany dougt@u011.oh.vp.com Varco-Pruden Buildings Van Wert, Ohio ------------------------------ From: "J. Pharabod" Date: Mon, 27 Nov 95 16:37:31 MET Subject: Re: Mystery plane(s) >Perhaps we're talking about non US a/c here.It has been suggested to me >that the Soviets have an almost innate proclivity to build prototypes >and that the North Sea and/or other sightings are covertly acquired >Soviet X-planes that are under evaluation. That way, the US can say, with >hand on heart, that no such a/c exists in their inventory...and no >gigabuck funding. It would make more sense to fly such a/c in Europe... >David Windle (Fri, 24 Nov 1995 20:24:18) One of my (numerous) hypotheses is indeed that the Belgium events were a Soviet revenge for the Mathias Rust incident (I don't know if I am really joking...). J. Pharabod ------------------------------ From: FR8Driver@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 13:30:05 -0500 Subject: Re: Mystery plane Several posts to this list mention reports of a Mach 3+ radar trace near Scotland and a stealthy recon aircraft. Do the two really go together? If it can be picked up by ATC well enough to allow a speed estimate, it doesn't sound very stealthy. My 2c Joe Vincent ------------------------------ From: BaDge Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 14:04:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: ESPN 2 - Ultimate flights Highlights of the Paris Air show and Oshkosh are on ESPN 2 NOW!! 1400 EST. Sorry I didn't know about it sooner. SHould have a repeat broadcast late nite or somesuch. regards, ________ BaDge ------------------------------ From: Wei-Jen Su Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 14:36:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: re: mystery plane On Sat, 25 Nov 1995, ALBERT DOBYNS wrote: >=20 > People are removing screws from the plane?? That's not nice!! Maybe > they should post guards near the plane. =09I am agree that taking screw out of the A-12 was very bad. But,=20 the paintfull thing is that the Intrepid museum treat the A-12 (that=20 represent part of the American High Tech) like a piece of garbage...=20 =09I remember that one time I was in the Intrepid, I saw two girls=20 talking in foreign languages (I believe it was some kind of european=20 languages), and scraching the outer paint of the A-12. They were taking=20 sample of the material!!! > > =3D09Even you can touch the F-117 at Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio= ------------------------------ From: Greg Fieser Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 13:56:07 -0600 Subject: Re: Mystery plane > > Several posts to this list mention reports of a Mach 3+ radar trace near > Scotland and a stealthy recon aircraft. Do the two really go together? If it > can be picked up by ATC well enough to allow a speed estimate, it doesn't > sound very stealthy. > I seem to recall reading that SR-71s could be tracked, not by their radar returns, but by an 'ionization/ionized trail' left by the aircraft. I don't know exactly what phenomenon they were referring to, or if it was even true/ possible. Any comments? Greg Fieser (since I'm self-employed, the views expressed above ARE those of my employer!) ------------------------------ From: Brett Davidson Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 12:17:33 +1300 (NZDT) Subject: Re: Mystery plane > Several posts to this list mention reports of a Mach 3+ radar trace near > Scotland and a stealthy recon aircraft. Do the two really go together? If it > can be picked up by ATC well enough to allow a speed estimate, it doesn't > sound very stealthy. > > My 2c > Joe Vincent Stealth is not an end in itself. Stealth is to avoid detection so that an aircraft may not be intercepted. Very high- hypersonic- speed serves the same purpose very well. A hypersonic vehicle would be virtually immune to interception because even if it was tracked and a fast enough missile launched, a very minor course change would put the aircraft miles off the missile track and well out of the missiles manoevring range or blast effect. It is thought that hypersonics will maintain relative invulnerability longer than stealth will. It is very difficult to make a very fast vehicle stealthy- aerodynamic and thermodynamic considerations allow less compromise and I've heard that the superheated airflow is ionised and produces a radar track (???). Also, stealth aircraft carry transponders and reflectors on training missions. In short, a high degree of stealth isn't always useful or worth the compromises entailed and designers know that. - --Brett ------------------------------ From: Michael G Schwern Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 19:13:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: Area 51 Well... I suppose this is on-charter, kinda cute. We just got a new video game here at CMU, "Area 51". You use guns to shoot guys who pop-out on the screen a la "Lethal Enforcers" and "Wild Gunman" (really nice polygon & live-action digitized graphics...) anyhow, that's not the point. As the story goes in the game, a UFO crashes and is taken to "Area 51" in the Nevada Desert and subsequently "Area 51" is taken over. Now, they never specifically say what "Area 51" is... but as the viewpoint is swinging and scrolling around the battlefield you occationally catch glimpses of "Groom Lake" and a hanger with a big "18" on the outside. Cute touch, I think. Kinda emphasizes the public's linking of Skunk Works with UFOs. Anyhow, I thought it was interesting. No wonder its zero! http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~msdt msdt+@andrew.cmu.edu All opinions are my own and not of my employ---wait... I'm self-employed. - -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.10 GE/F/O d--(pu) s+:-->--: a-->? C++@ U P+>++ L>++ E+ W++$ N+++(+) O?>+ K- w-- o? M+(-) V? PS+(+++) PE(-)+ Y+(++) PGP? t+* 5++@ X+ R+ tv@ b+++ Dl+ D++ G e(*) h-- r*(--) y-(!) - ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ Blood type: A+ CMU- ... should have known. ------------------------------ From: rswood@igc.apc.org (Ryan S. Wood) Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 22:41:37 -0800 Subject: Anti-gravity report Dear skunk works, A friend of mine has a copy of this report. As far as I know, it was never classified. Its Title is "Electric Propulsion Study,", dated August 1980. Nice academic coverage of the topics you listed in the Table of Contents. I was never very excited qabout it - i.e., no great revelations, all open-source references. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Ryan S. Wood | President Wood Enterprises, Los Gatos, CA 95030 * Intuition Services | Intelligence: Technology, Market, Futures * Lotto Systems Group | Psychic Jackpot Software and Lotto Tools * QuakeLine 1-900-844-JOLT (Bay Area) * Bayview Technology Group, Inc. | Director | Energy Conservation http://www.igc.apc.org:80/GreenMarket/COMPANIES/Bayview Phone & FAX - 408-395-0316, e-mail: rswood@igc.apc.org <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #525 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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