From: owner-skunk-works-digest@netwrx1.com (skunk-works-digest) To: skunk-works-digest@netwrx1.com Subject: skunk-works-digest V10 #3 Reply-To: skunk-works@netwrx1.com Sender: owner-skunk-works-digest@netwrx1.com Errors-To: owner-skunk-works-digest@netwrx1.com Precedence: bulk skunk-works-digest Tuesday, February 6 2001 Volume 10 : Number 003 Index of this digest by subject: *************************************************** Re: FWD (TLCB/PVT) U-2 Refueling [was Re: B-52 and KC-10] More ON-Topic Stealthy stuff (was Brass Monkeys) Re: More ON-Topic Stealthy stuff (was Brass Monkeys) "FLYING TRIANGLES" - WHY THEY MAY INDEED BE SUBJECT TO A "D" NOTICE. ADMIN: UFO Postings "Unknown" Aircraft//Banned? Re: ADMIN: UFO Postings - Define PLEASE! Re: "Unknown" Aircraft//Banned? Re: ADMIN: UFO Postings - Define PLEASE! Fw: HYPERSONIC VEHICLE ENTERS FLIGHT PHASE; SECOND VEHICLE ARRIVES *************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 13:56:01 -0500 From: "Pat Griffith" Subject: Re: FWD (TLCB/PVT) U-2 Refueling [was Re: B-52 and KC-10] > > Warrior Bravo supports the U-2 flights out of > Kuwait and over the >Southern No-Fly Zone. Until > > a year or two ago these U-2 flights originated out of > Saudi Arabia. U-2s are still in Saudi Arabia flying missions in support of Operation Southern Watch. Prince Sultan AB to be exact (Unless something has changed since September). Not sure exactly what areas they fly over though. Pat _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 08:25:12 +0000 From: Robin Hill Subject: More ON-Topic Stealthy stuff (was Brass Monkeys) Bill Turner (SecretJet@aol.com) wrote: >Fascinating, Thanks! >(All before my time!!!) >(Do you supply the answers to those tricky >questions in the Daily Express? ('Old Codgers' is it?!) Yes. I gave up after they started repeating the questions. (I submitted a hundred answers and got 53 printed. Interesting little experiment. Proves people are fascinated by useless information. Like cat's urine is visible under ultraviolet light....) >If you can supply information on OTHER - more ON-Topic, >Stealthy stuff - we'd REALLY appreciate it!!! Erm, how about F-117s being (apparently) acoustically stealthy as well as low-visible to radar. During the Gulf war a sentry in a hangar housing F-117s heard an odd noise. On investigation he discovered a stunned bat that had flown into the tailfin of an F-117 and landed on the floor. BTW, I'm a bit surprise nobody's tried taking the idea of painting dummy cockpit canopies and tail fins underneath fighter aircraft (to make it difficult to see quickly which way up they are) to a logical conclusion. Why not cover the aircraft in that self- adhesive laser-etched rainbow plastic film so that it has a continuously shimmering colour scheme that makes it difficult to see surface detail? Rather than trying to blend in with the sky (difficult, as there'll always be shadows in daylight), why not just make it difficult to look at? Flying disco mirrorball, anybody? Perhaps there's scope for a research project to counter active optical tracking of targets. Robin Hill, BAE SYSTEMS, Brough, East Yorkshire. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 00:43:05 -0800 From: Dan Zinngrabe Subject: Re: More ON-Topic Stealthy stuff (was Brass Monkeys) > >BTW, I'm a bit surprise nobody's tried taking the idea of painting >dummy cockpit canopies and tail fins underneath fighter aircraft >(to make it difficult to see quickly which way up they are) to >a logical conclusion. Why not cover the aircraft in that self- >adhesive laser-etched rainbow plastic film so that it has a >continuously shimmering colour scheme that makes it difficult to >see surface detail? Rather than trying to blend in with the sky >(difficult, as there'll always be shadows in daylight), why not >just make it difficult to look at? I'd have to look up the references for it (I don't think they're at the *top* of my research pile), but quite a bit of the smart-skins work of the past few years has been just that- creating "flickering" skins to trick IR seekers into thinking the aircraft is smaller, somewhere it isn't, etc. Sort of using the whole plane as an IR/optical jammer. From what I understand, the hurdles in deploying such a system- wether it is incorporated into a new design or retrofitted to an old one- are not all that different from more advanced systems. The costs of getting a "flickering" system into the field is about the same as that for something much more impressive, so that's one reason flickering skins haven't made it out of the labs yet. > >Flying disco mirrorball, anybody? Perhaps there's scope for >a research project to counter active optical tracking of targets. > Plenty- a good deal of Russian AAA systems use optical and IR tracking. A ZSU-23 can really ruin your day. Dan - -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Linux: What do you want to port today? _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 19:16:35 -0700 From: "Terry W. Colvin" Subject: "FLYING TRIANGLES" - WHY THEY MAY INDEED BE SUBJECT TO A "D" NOTICE. Flying Saucer Review, Volume 45/3, Autumn 2000, pp. 14-18 "FLYING TRIANGLES" - WHY THEY MAY INDEED BE SUBJECT TO A "D" NOTICE. by Omar Fowler, Founder and President of Phenomenon Research Association, Derby, FSR Director and Consultant. Foreword by Editor of FSR [Gordon Creighton]. [We heard talk last year and rumours that the British media, including the BBC, had received official instructions not to publish any reports about black triangular UFOs, and in due course I received from a long-established FSR reader, Larry Robson, of Stratford-upon-Avon, the following report. As it is useful background information, I am publishing the entire text of it as a prelude to what our Triangle expert Omar Fowler has to say about this matter!--- The Corner House 5(th) December 1999 Shottery Village Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 9HD Dear Gordon, I have located the original article from which *CAUS* derived their account. Source obviously is not reliable, but mention of Nick Pope does presumably lend some status? U.K. Press Told Not To Report Black Triangle UFOs. UFO Magazine Says Media Got "D-Noticed" On Mystery Aircraft. [CNI News, thanks Ian Reid for the following text, which ran in the British magazine *UFO Reality*, issue No. 5.] A top BBC executive let slip recently that there is a *D-Notice* on media-reporting of the so-called *"Black Triangle"*. The executive, who cannot be named, is the former producer of a very popular BBC science programme. He told one of our team that the black triangle "craft", first witnessed by hundreds in the Hudson Valley region of the United States [(mid-1980's), then by thousands in Belgium (1989-90) and more in Britain], has been "heavily D-Noticed" by the Government. For this reason the BBC will not be reporting on the enigmatic craft, no matter how many witness reports they receive. According to the former science programme producer, the reason the Government has seen fit to slap a restrictive notice on reporting of the Triangle is because -so far as the Government has secretly informed the BBC- the craft is part of a new secret military project, and as such must be protected under the secrecy laws. If this is the case, however, it surely begs the question: If the so called Black Triangle is a secrety military aircraft, then what is it doing hovering over residential areas and frightening people half to death? Something somewhere simply does not add up. [CNI News adds: As noted by Nick Pope in the previous article, it is very unlikely that the "Black Triangle" aircraft can be explained as a secret military project. Its technical capabilities and flight behaviour suggest it neither belongs to any earthly government nor falls within the envelope of human technology. Perhaps, then, the British media are actually being warned away from reporting on a fairly obvious example of "alien" craft intruding with impunity into British airspace.] (Original file name: *CNI - Flying Triangles*. This file was converted with TexToHTML - (c) Logic n.v.) Subsequent articles appear at CAUS website:- Flying Triangles Continue To Defy Identification. (*CAUS* thanks Morgan Clements (UFOREPORTS@aol.com), World Wide UFO Reporting Centre for this report.)) Massachusetts Triangles. Brookfield, Mass. October 22, 1999. "I was just walking home in the woods, behind where I live, from scouting deer for the upcoming hunting season. It was getting pretty dark, so I was in a hurry and got tired walking up the final hill. I stopped to take a quick breather at 7.30 pm, when all of a sudden one, then two, three, and then four Flying Triangle craft went right by me in the bottom of the small valley. "They were totally silent and appeared to be sneaking through the valley. They were triangular in shape and about 75 feet long and as wide. There were no outside lights, but being so close to them I could tell there was lighting inside. I was scared! "All of a sudden three large noisy planes came screaming by as if they were chasing the triangles. This is the second night I've seen these craft. I thought I saw two craft the week before, but they caught me off guard. I caught them going over the ridge, but was not quite sure what I'd seen." CAUS thanks George A. Filer (Majorstar@aol.com); Filer's Files#43, 1999, for these reports:- Florida Triangle With Blue Ionization Near Gulf Breeze Pensacola Beach. On October 9, 1999, the witnesses were rod fishing in Pensacola Pass when a strangely configured craft came into view over Fort Pickens State Park at an altitude of 200ft at a quarter of a mile. The witnesses are an ex-USAF Security Policeman and a retired US Army chopper pilot, presently a city police officer. The UFO was travelling west over the Gulf of Mexico in a zig-zag fashion at 7.57 pm. The craft flew slow, 100 to 300 knots, sliding south and back to north in a continuing forward motion. The craft moved in a Z-pattern, erratic with no sound. It seemed to be suspended in flight at various positions. The craft was silent with high intensity blue arcing lights that fluctuated around the entire craft. These lights resembled electrical charges coming off an alternator's brushes. Further observation revealed three larger lights in a triangle configuration dimly lit with variable output glowing blue to pale yellow. The UFO appeared triangular in shape, but this might be a deception as skin structure could not be seen. The FM radio receiver suffered extreme static during the event. The craft changed locations in split seconds covering distances of approximately half a mile to over two miles instantaneously. At least four times it hovered for 30 seconds with longest delay of about a minute and a half over the southwestern boundary of Pensacola Naval Air Station. One aircraft was launched from Sherman Field about three minutes into event but, seemed unaware of the UFO and turned away in an easterly direction. When the UFO was first observed a trailing sound of a helicopter could be heard but never could be observed. The UFO left the area after fifteen minutes at 8.12 pm local time moving west along the coast. One witness suffered from nausea for about 10 minutes but the other was fine. "I have never seen a conventional craft operate in this manner nor has my friend." Thanks to Peter Davenport, UFO Reporting Centre. Pilots Spot Huge Flying Triangle. Initial reports indicate an apparently very large triangle was seen by two commercial jets on October 26, 1999, over Western US. The planes were 100 miles from each other, and the object passed between them, and overtaking them, headed east. Both pilots reported that the object was "huge". It was as big as their fists held at arm's length. Thanks to: Peter B. Davenport, Director National UFO Reporting Centre, PO Box 45623 University Station, Seattle, WA 98145 (director@ufocenter.com). It has lately been reported in UFO circles, that a BBC executive recently let slip the fact that a D-Notice has been placed on the subject of "*Flying Triangle*" craft. This matter has been the subject of previous rumours and speculation for a number of years. However, before we all start screaming "Cover-up and Censorship!" let us examine some of the information that has come to hand in recent months. As the result of sifting through UFO reports and information from confidential sources, I have concluded that it is extremely likely that Britain has been working, in great secrecy, on the development of a triangular Stealth aircraft. Small black triangular craft have been seen with accompanying conventional aircraft on a number of occasions and may be controlled by a 'parent' craft. The Following Report Is Taken From The Wigan Reporter, Published In Mid-August 1996: At 1.30 pm on Monday August 12, a number of people in the Wigan area heard a very noisy helicopter overhead. On rushing outside to look at the copter, they found that it was a *Chinook* twin rotor machine flying extremely low. It was following a small black matt triangular object about a quarter of a mile in front of it. The *Chinook* was moving very slowly and was followed about two minutes later by a *Jaguar* fighter that passed overhead as low as the copter - with its undercarriage down." (*In order to keep its speed as low as possible, no doubt!*) A Confidential UFO Report That I Investigated In July 1997 Deepened The Mystery. The Incident Took Place Near Rugely, Staffs., At Night, Near The Home Of A Mr. 'N'. Mr. 'N' was working late at night (approx. 1 am) in his home, which is situated near a heavily wooded area, when his attention was attracted by a noise "similar to a high-revving two-stroke engine" outside. He went outside in the darkness and vaguely made out lights and the shape of an object hovering about 150 yards away and at a height of about 150ft. Mr. 'N' went indoors and fetched his binoculars and he was then able to make out the shape of a black helicopter in the vicinity of the lights. It so happened that Mr. 'N' was a bit of an electronics buff and had a night-vision-scope, with which he returned a few minutes later. (*Type Tasco, 1(st) generation type, with night scope and also infra-red beam emission*). He then viewed the aircraft again and clearly saw the helicopter, which was illuminated by the flashing stroke and navigation lights. He described it as being similar to the "*Air Wolf*" helicopter in the television series. He then switched on the infra-red beam and immediately noticed that there was a completely blacked-out, triangular, craft adjacent to the helicopter. "I couldn't believe my eyes" he commented. The triangle, which was a similar size to the helicopter, reflected no light from the strobe/navigation lights and appeared to have no visible means of propulsion or support in the hovering mode. The witnesses stated that there was no apparent noise coming from the triangular craft, although the helicopter may have drowned this out. Almost instantaneously, the helicopter switched on alight beam towards the witness (blinding his equipment), while at the same time moving away "at an incredible rate of knots. It disappeared like a rocket.". Mr. 'N' tried to follow it with his night-viewer, then suddenly realised that it was more important to study the triangular craft. He turned back to where it had been hovering, but it was gone! (*Mr. 'N' was sure that he had witnessed a secret aircraft and was petrified that he might be the subject of investigation if he related the incident to anyone. He eventually only mentioned it to two other close friends.*) A Further Report Reached Me From "Skywatch International" At Spilsby, Lincs. This Concerned A Sighting By A Witness On The Night Of The 17(th) September, 1998. This Witness Said: "I finished work at Louth at 10 pm and headed out on the B1502. It was 10.25 pm and I was about 4 miles past Ulceby Cross, when I saw something in the starry night sky that I thought looked a little odd. I saw what I believed to be two *Tornado* aircraft in company with a craft that, because of its lights, appeared to be of a triangle nature. On each point it had a bright green glow, rather than a green created by a light bulb. The triangle completed flight manoeuvres that I had never seen before. As the two aircraft approached my car, the left aircraft tried to get ahead; the two aircraft passed over my car I looked up through my sunroof and noticed that the triangular craft was about three-quarters the size of the *Tornado* aircraft. I live near RAF Coningsby and I am familiar with *Tornado* aircraft." Finally, On 15(th) August, 1997, I Received Some Information From A Confidant Who Revealed Details Of A Surprising Conversation At A Recent Aeronautical Show: Source: "In absolute confidence please. I deal with aviation products, I do pilot supplies, satellite navigation equipment, I retail various products. We did an exhibition at Christmas, at 'XXXXXX'. This chappie came to see me and we are talking about aircraft. I gather that he is a civilian, in his sixties and ex-military, and he commented that he had flown a lot of aircraft, all sorts of aircraft. We were talking about aircraft and I sprang the question on him that I do with all sorts of people, '*do you believe in UFOs?*' Source: "He said to me -'what do you mean?", I replied that we had heard of people that have had quite a few sightings of the Flying Triangle. 'Yes', he said 'Yes, I make them.' I said "How do you mean 'I make them'? "Well, let me put it this way' he said, 'we are actually making triangular-shaped craft in this country, but we are also aware of what we would call extra-terrestrial craft flying over this country.' He repeated, when questioned, 'We are aware that there are triangular craft flying over this country, that are not of this world!' "At this, I moved him away from the other customers, as this was a private conversation. I said to him, 'do you mind me asking you one question, 'where are you located?' I said. 'I can't tell you that' he said. I said, 'I'll ask you one other question. What is the chance of me visiting your factory? 'Absolutely not,' he said 'We're not Top Secret, we're levels above Top Secret.' 'We have materials now, in this country, with which we could manufacture *stealth* aircraft that would be virtually undetectable.' Source: 'Undetectable by what means, I don't know, visual, night vision, radar, I don't know.' He complained to me that quite frankly, 'there are too many so-and-sos in London sitting on their backsides, who are not releasing funds to us, but we have the technology to lead the world in *Stealth* aircraft'. Then he said, 'our aircraft are telemetrically controlled?' (*This would account for the widely reported 'parent' aircraft*). Source: 'That is 100% the truth, but please don't mention my name. He seemed a very sincere fellow. I can't disclose his name for obvious reasons, but yes, that's what I was told.'" In conclusion, we must accept that the placing of a "D-Notice" on the subject of Flying Triangles could well have taken place to guard the secret development of a British *Stealth* aircraft and not as the censorship of information on extra-terrestrial FTs. After all, which is the more important from the Government point of view? (-and what could possibly have been more logical? A marvellous way for the Government to confuse the issue and strengthen the cover-up over the Alien Triangles! G.C.) - -- Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@frontiernet.net > Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html > Sites: Fortean Times * Northwest Mysteries * Mystic's Cyberpage * TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program - ------------ Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Allies, CIA/NSA, and Vietnam veterans welcome] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 09:03:25 -0600 From: George R. Kasica Subject: ADMIN: UFO Postings >George: > >Re: "FLYING TRIANGLES" - WHY THEY MAY INDEED BE SUBJECT TO A "D" NOTICE. > >Sorry, but this posting is all UFO and no Skunkworks, in my opinion. >Makes me wonder why there's no mention of Bigfoot. David & ALL: Problem solved PERMANENTLY...he's now the first banned user on the server. Hate to do it but obviously multiple warnings don't cut it. Next?? George ===[George R. Kasica]=== +1 262 513 8503 Skunk-Works ListOwner +1 206 374 6482 FAX http://www.netwrx1.com Waukesha, WI USA georgek@netwrx1.com ICQ #12862186 Digest Issues at: http://www.netwrx1.com/skunk-works S L O W E R T R A F F I C K E E P R I G H T tm / \ / \ _/ ___ \_ ________/ \_______/V!V\_______/ \_______ \__/ \___/ \__/ www.habu.org The OnLine Blackbird Museum ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 10:33:20 EST From: SecretJet@aol.com Subject: "Unknown" Aircraft//Banned? Greetings! Not wishing to get banned myself, can I just say that any flying craft is 'Unidentified' if we cannot tell what it is! While not supporting any 'Space Alien' postings on this superb Skunk-list, I feel it's somewhat draconian to ban someone who may have been commenting on a product of the American or British Aerospace industry! Obviously it's YOUR list George, & you can hire or fire whoever you want... But what if some of these aircraft were tested at/from Groom/Palmdale/White Sands/Pax River or Pensacola? Would you ban someone for revealing too much information about a REAL 'Secret (Black) Project? Are we TOO close to the truth? Please don't ban me too! Just send/refer any Greys or UFO researchers over to our Black-Triangle list!!! MTIA - --------- Regards, Bill Turner, 'Admin'. Black-Triangle E-Group HQ. Near London Heathrow, UK. AIM:Secretjet2 ICQ: 29271956 http://members.aol.com/Secretjet/index.html http://members.aol.com/BlackTriangles/index.html - ----------------------------------------------------------------- No Door is Closed - To an Open Mind! - ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://members.aol.com/Secretjet/index.html http://members.aol.com/Secretjet/Links.html Black-Triangle Links ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 10:39:59 EST From: SecretJet@aol.com Subject: Re: ADMIN: UFO Postings - Define PLEASE! Me again! Perhaps we can avoid any more ejections/bans if you can define EXACTLY what aircraft/craft/flying things we can & cannot discuss? MTIA, Bill Turner, UK. Yahoo! Groups : black-triangle ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 09:58:23 -0600 From: George R. Kasica Subject: Re: "Unknown" Aircraft//Banned? On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 10:33:20 EST, you wrote: >Greetings! > >Not wishing to get banned myself, can I just say that >any flying craft is 'Unidentified' if we cannot tell what it is! True. >While not supporting any 'Space Alien' postings on this >superb Skunk-list, I feel it's somewhat draconian to ban >someone who may have been commenting on a product >of the American or British Aerospace industry! There were so many off topic posts about various thing in the past and repeated on and off list warnings that I didn't see any alternative. When I'm getting requests from list members and people leaving over postings I have to do something. Usually I try the talk to someone approach, I tried it multiple times here and was ignored. >Obviously it's YOUR list George, & you can hire or fire >whoever you want... But what if some of these aircraft >were tested at/from Groom/Palmdale/White Sands/Pax River >or Pensacola? Would you ban someone for revealing too >much information about a REAL 'Secret (Black) Project? Obviously not. >Are we TOO close to the truth? I'm doubtful of that...I don't have any special knowledge of projects, black or other colors :) >Please don't ban me too! >Just send/refer any Greys or UFO researchers over to our >Black-Triangle list!!! No other bans are even remotely considered at this time. Didn't know we had a Black-Triangle list...LOL George George, MR. Tibbs & The Beast Kasica Waukesha, WI USA georgek@netwrx1.com http://www.netwrx1.com ICQ #12862186 Zz zZ |\ z _,,,---,,_ /,`.-'`' _ ;-;;,_ |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'_' '---''(_/--' `-'\_) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 10:02:03 -0600 From: George R. Kasica Subject: Re: ADMIN: UFO Postings - Define PLEASE! On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 10:39:59 EST, you wrote: >Me again! > >Perhaps we can avoid any more ejections/bans if you >can define EXACTLY what aircraft/craft/flying things we >can & cannot discuss? > Bill: Here's our charter, I thinhk it has worked well for a long time...if we want to open discussion on changing it go for it. >The skunk-works mailing list was created mainly for discussions of >the technology produced by Lockheed Advanced Development Company >(LADC), also known as the Skunk Works, as our list name suggests. We >also welcome discussions about appropriate technologies from sources >outside of the Skunk Works. These discussions may include historical >and political aspects of these products. And in addition to include >discussion of sightings of unknown aircraft thought to have the >potential of being a LADC product. > >CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IS NOT ALLOWED > >Appropriate book and magazine reviews may be submitted > >Posting of complete magazine articles or other commercially published >materials that are copyrighted will not be permitted. A brief >synopsis with excerpts and quotes may be submitted. The poster will >attribute all copyrighted materials to the author AND publisher. > >The list-owner is responsible for maintaining order. Off-topic >discussions may occasionally occur as the list-owner permits, and the >majority of list participants concur. George ===[George R. Kasica]=== +1 262 513 8503 Skunk-Works ListOwner +1 206 374 6482 FAX http://www.netwrx1.com Waukesha, WI USA georgek@netwrx1.com ICQ #12862186 Digest Issues at: http://www.netwrx1.com/skunk-works S L O W E R T R A F F I C K E E P R I G H T tm / \ / \ _/ ___ \_ ________/ \_______/V!V\_______/ \_______ \__/ \___/ \__/ www.habu.org The OnLine Blackbird Museum ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 20:10:03 -0500 From: "Martin Hurst" Subject: Fw: HYPERSONIC VEHICLE ENTERS FLIGHT PHASE; SECOND VEHICLE ARRIVES This just in ... - -----Original Message----- From: Dennis daCruz To: press_release@cs2.dfrc.nasa.gov Date: Monday, February 05, 2001 5:26 PM Subject: HYPERSONIC VEHICLE ENTERS FLIGHT PHASE; SECOND VEHICLE ARRIVES >National Aeronautics and >Space Administration >Dryden Flight Research Center >P.O. Box 273 >Edwards, California 93523 >PHONE 661-276-3449 >FAX 661-276-3566 > >For Release: > >Leslie Williams February 2, 2001 >Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. >(661) 276-3893 >leslie.williams@dfrc.nasa.gov > >RELEASE: 01-02 > > >HYPERSONIC VEHICLE ENTERS FLIGHT PHASE; SECOND VEHICLE ARRIVES > > >The first of three hypersonic (X-43A) research vehicles started the >final preparations toward a flight in early summer, as the second >vehicle arrived on January 31, 2001, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research >Center, Edwards, Calif. > > >After successful completion of electrical and mechanical checks, mating >of the X-43A to the Pegasus( rocket booster was accomplished on January >10, 2001. Pegasus( is built by Orbital Sciences Corp, Dulles, Va. The >Orbital and Dryden team members performed several mission simulations >to validate the Hyper-X vehicle system operations. > > >"The Project team is excited about this milestone. Everyone is anxious >to fly," said Joel Sitz, Dryden X-43 project manager. "We have worked >extremely hard on improving the chances for Hyper-X mission success. >All the organizations at Dryden were involved and very helpful. > > >Sitz added that, "the X-43A flight project engages the best of what >flight research stands for and the upcoming first flight of an >integrated-airframe scramjet is an aerospace milestone all of us can be >proud of." > > >The Hyper-X program is aimed at flight-validating airframe-integrated, >air-breathing propulsion system designs, which so far have only been >tested in ground facilities, such as wind tunnels. A major goal of the >program is the demonstration of a scramjet engine. > > >A ramjet operates by subsonic combustion of fuel in a stream of air >compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft itself, as opposed to a >jet engine where fan blades compress the air. The scramjet is a ramjet >engine in which the airflow through the whole engine remains >supersonic. The fuel for the X-43A is hydrogen. > > >Unlike a rocket that must carry its own oxygen for combustion, an >air-breathing aircraft scoops air from the atmosphere. An air-breathing >vehicle can carry more payload than a rocket-powered propulsion >vehicle. The X-43 will use the body of the aircraft to form critical >elements of the engine with the forebody acting as the intake for the >airflow and using the aft section as the nozzle. > > >The X-43A is a 12-foot, unpiloted research vehicle manufactured by >MicroCraft Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn. A captive-carry flight, where the >B-52 and X-43A "stack" remain mated to test flight systems and practice >procedures, will precede a free flight set for early summer. The >booster accelerates until the X-43A separates at a predetermined >altitude and velocity to fly a pre-programmed trajectory. Three >research flights are planned--two flights at Mach 7 and one at Mach 10. >The X-43A will conduct aerodynamic and propulsion experiments until it >impacts into the Pacific Ocean. > > >NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., has overall management of >the program and leads the technology effort. Dryden is the lead for >the flight tests. Dryden engineers are working closely with their >colleagues from Langley and industry. > > >NOTE TO EDITORS: > >Still photos are available from the Dryden Public Affairs Office to >support this release. Check for availability of video. For photo >prints or video dubs, please call (661) 276-3449. Photos are also >available on the Internet under NASA Dryden Flight Research Center >Aircraft Photo Gallery, URL: > > >http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo > ------------------------------ End of skunk-works-digest V10 #3 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe in the body of a message to "majordomo@netwrx1.com". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe in the body. Administrative requests, problems, and other non-list mail can be sent to georgek@netwrx1.com. A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "skunk-works-digest" in the commands above with "skunk-works". Back issues are available for viewing by a www interface located at: http://www.netwrx1.com/skunk-works/ If you have any questions or problems please contact me at: georgek@netwrx1.com Thanks, George R. Kasica Listowner