Does anyone know this aircraft?

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batkc

New Member
I spotted it today on MS Live Maps.

I have attached a .JPEG of the photo. The location is Edwards AFB. The plane in question is the dark one on the left. I tried to get other planes in the capture to help judge size. I think one of th larger ones to the right is a C5 Galaxy, but I could very well be wrong.

The plane in question has a huge wingspan - I'd guess it to be over 100 ft. There aren't too many aircraft that look like this one with such a large wingspan.

Thanks for the help - this is driving me nuts.

btj
 
B

batkc

New Member
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #2
aircraft name - I got it. sorry...

I think it is a B1. The fuseulage looked too big to me originally.

Mods, you can delete this if you want.
 
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rabs

New Member
Although the tail looks a little weird, definitely looks like a swing wing. Based on the size I would probably say a B-1 Lancer, maybe if my perception of size is horrible an F-111
 
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vivtho

New Member
Moving from left to right along the runway, we have:
1st column - The dark aircraft you mentioned this is a B-1B Lancer bomber.
2nd & 3rd column - The aircraft are too small to be recognized.
4th column (from top to bottom) - The white aircraft is a F-111, the one below it seems to be an A-7, and at the very bottom (closest to the runway) is an A-10.
5th Column: The smaller plane immediately to the left of the two large white aircraft is a DC-3/C-47.
6th Column - the two large aircraft are C-135 (upper one) and C-141 (lower).
7th column - too small to make out
8th column - B-57
the tiny aircraft at the very top-right of the image is a T-37.

From the rather eclectic and old collection I'd have to guess that this is some sort of air museum, and sure enough Edwards AFB does have a museum!

Me thinks I should've joined the CIA as a photo interpretor. What do you think?
 
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Rich

Member
My eyes aren't good enough for the smaller aircraft. Viv is right at least with the birds I can see good enough to tell. Without question its a B1b. I dont see a C-5 in there. I concur with the KC-135 and the 141. If theres 4 kinds of aircraft I remember in my sleep its the KC-135, C-5, C-141, and C-130. The F-111 is a good grab but anything smaller I just cant tell.

Yeah, thats definatly a C-47.

Behind the KC refueler "left wing" looks like a F-101 Voodoo.

All in all a good grab.
 
R

Rich

Member
swerve said:
F-101 in front of the B-57s right wing?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the right wing. Thats what it looks like anyhow. Is the white one on the bottom in the last row an F-4? The cockpit looks awfully big and I cant see 1/2 of the bottom wing. I think it is an F-4-ll. The black one right behind the KC-135 has a nose like an SR-71.

The grey one in the last row, the one in the middle, is that an F-14?

I agree that one is an A-7 Corsair.
 
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Rich

Member
I'll tellya the one in back, to the right, of the C-141 is driving me nuts. It looks like a medium size 2 engine bomber but I cant place it.

Is it a B-25? What else could it be? The B-24 had 4 engines. It looks like it has a bubble canopy on the top which means it must be a B-25.
 
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Magoo

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
Rich said:
I'll tellya the one in back, to the right, of the C-141 is driving me nuts. It looks like a medium size 2 engine bomber but I cant place it.

Is it a B-25? What else could it be? The B-24 had 4 engines. It looks like it has a bubble canopy on the top which means it must be a B-25.
Click to expand...
It's a C-7A (DHC-4) Caribou.

The area you are looking at is called Edwards South Base, home of the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC). The big ball-shaped building at the top left is where all the cryogenic gasses for the YAL-1A ABL is kept, and the large hangar above that is where all the Global Hawk test fleet was when I visited there last year.

From front to back, top to bottom, the aircraft are M55 high altitude research aircraft; A-26 Invader (?); F-111A prototype; A-7E; ???; C-47; NKC-135A; C-141A (with extended nose probe); F-100; F-4, C-7A; B-57; A-7E; T-37; F-8; F-4.

It is not a formal museum, but all the aircraft are retired AFFTC platforms. If you zoomed out and moved about 2 miles to the south past the armaments bunkers, you would see a graveyard of older types such as C-119, C-123 and a B-66.

The official museum is inside the Rosamond Gate area of the base, about 5 miles due WNW of south base. It has an SR-71, B-52, F-111A, T-33, O-2, A-7, F-105, F-104, F-101, F-4, T-38, T-39, F-86, F-15A, and CH-53 and S-58 helos.

As you can imagine, I was like a kid in a candy store at Edwards!!!

Cheers

Magoo
 
A

AGRA

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
Last edited:
M

Magoo

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
AGRA said:
Close but the first plane is the Northrop/Scaled Composites AT3 (N133SC) that feed data into the 'Senior Citizen' STOVL special forces transport experimental program.
Click to expand...
Good call - my bad.

Agra said:
Good times!
Click to expand...
That's right, I forgot you were there too. Are you going again this year with BH?
 
R

Raptor.22

New Member
yea its probably a B-1 Lancer. you can tell by the adjustable wings and the long fuelage. the lancer is a great aircraft, one of the top strategic bombers and can go pretty fast (mach 1.25) for its weight (192,000 Ib).:D
 
S

Strydog

New Member
Hi there.

I built a B1-B model about a year ago, I got it down and compared it to the image. The profile is the same, so Im convinced its a B1-B bomber.
 
K

Kosovo=Serbia

Banned Member
I think this thread is suitable for my question. This is old prototype plane and old picture. But if anyone know anything ... please tell.
 
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