West Texas Spanloader

reply to post by Astr0


That's pretty standard really.

reply to post by Stealthbomber


They get grumpy when you're in the wrong place at the right time though.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Nah I meant them withholding the flight paths of their jets, I wouldn't imagine you'd be able to ring up whiteman and ask what time their B-2's are going up and what flight path they're taking.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Oh how I would love to know when the right time was to be in the wrong place.....

reply to post by Stealthbomber


No, but they're usually more polite about it.

reply to post by Zaphod58


If these craft were seen over both Amarillo, TX, and Albuquerque, NM, that lines up almost directly with Edwards, Skunk Works at Plant 42, Vandenburg (unlikely), and not too far off the path from Nellis and Creech. If it were some form of optionally manned drone, Creech could be likely. Otherwise I would be hedging my bets on Nellis.

To me it almost looked like an RQ-170, but if it's estimated to be one-third the size of a B-2 that would be way too small.

reply to post by cmdrkeenkid


The size estimate is wrong. But it's definitely not a Sentinel.

reply to post by cmdrkeenkid


In his blog Steve Douglass speak for a size of 2/3 of a B2 not 1/3.

reply to post by darksidius


That's what I meant. I was going off memory. Read his blog on my phone earlier in the day, posted here from the computer late last night. Thanks for the correction.

reply to post by cmdrkeenkid


That's closer in size to what it is.

reply to post by Zaphod58


What it is , this look inovative design and can make confusion with UFO triangle the people see. If its 2/3 of a B-2 it look a little too small for a stealth transport in my opinion.

reply to post by darksidius


Its not a transport. They're still a few years away from a large scale transport.

reply to post by Zaphod58


So if its not a transport , the other missions can be ISR, STRIKE or a new generation fighter, what it is, it remember me a little when we saw for the first time the F-117 on the tv, it was a new leap in design at this time, I hope we live the same soon.

reply to post by darksidius


It's not a transport.

reply to post by Zaphod58


We must be patient

reply to post by darksidius


I don't want to be patient time for a stupid question. What does spanloader mean, sorry to ask I'm sure if I asked this in person you guys would throttle me

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker
To patient, enjoy the threads on ATS a lot of interesting subject

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker


Spanloader was a Boeing aircraft concept to carry loads in the wings/body as opposed to just in the body. There were many concept iterations of the design but some look like the blended wing body type planform that is seen in the TX photo.

ABSTRACT The design features of an aircraft capable of fulfilling a long haul, high capacity cargo mission are described. This span-loading aircraft, or flying wing, is capable of carrying extremely large payloads and is expected to be in demand to replace the slow-moving cargo ships currently in use. The spanloader seeks to reduce empty weight by eliminating the aircraft fuselage. Disadvantages are the thickness of the cargo-containing wing, and resulting stability and control problems.

reply to post by Sammamishman


Thank you friend so a b-2 is a kind of spanloader

ThePeaceMaker
reply to post by Sammamishman

 

Thank you friend

so a b-2 is a kind of spanloader

Not really, think of using the space in the "wings" as storage space too. But they dont really have wings as the whole aircraft is a wing (so I suppose they do have wings but no fuselage)

So if you draw a triangle and then draw the largest sqare you can inside it, this could be your storage space in a spanloader (in reality it doesnt have to be square). With the B2, you are only drawing a small rectangle in the middle of that triangle which is your bomb bay.

Failing that, google Spanloader!