A little help needed

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Crumbles

A lot of things vanish over time. There's are several NASA documents that I read years ago, some military, some civil, that are damn near impossible to find now. By the same token, there are some documents that have very interesting things in them that are extremely easy to find.

I still have a printed out document from 1994 which had all the camo dudes names, addresses, hell, I think a few phone numbers too.
It probably wouldn't be too hard to find a 2016 copy of that list. It should still be available to the public.
Old documents, especially ones that are not stored on a hard drive, can be a cornucopia of pieces to the puzzles we try to solve on ATS.
I just now rediscovered my printout of the 1997 classified military spending report from the DOD. That'll be some fun reading. Any code names to look out for?
Things that I've read in these 20(ish) year old documents make even more sense to me today. That's why I snatch almost any aviation book I see for my collection. its amassed to something in the realm of 20 books

a reply to: HomeyKXTA

There's a picture of probably the single most classified portion of a sub that hit the net, probably 15 years ago, that I can find in less than five minutes if I wanted to. It's been online since it went public back then.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The powerplant? I'll find the thread in question let me search. You had a genuine concern

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Jukiodone

The only time they use chase planes is for testing, which wouldn't have taken place over the middle of the Atlantic. If they were moving something that needed a tanker that was smaller than a bomber they'd have two or more of the same type, in case they needed to help with a checklist. You need multiple pilots of the same type for that.

Moving a bomber size platform wouldn't need other aircraft with it, because they have extra crew members for emergency response. The most likely explanation is a case of mistaken identity.

I served with Chris Gibson in the Royal Observer Corps before I joined the RAF. Chris was an expert in aircraft recognition. Although the ROC aircraft recogniton reporting role had long since gone by the 1980s the interest within the Corps was still strong. Trials were conducted in the early 1980s with the RAF Regiment Rapier Teams where ROC members were assigned in support.

Instant recognition was second nature to Chris and the training was conducted on flash trainers where the image would appear for extremely brief periods. Half second and even quicker were used in training. The nearest in shape that Chris could come up with was the Handley Page HP115. It gives you some impression of how much wing sweep Chris estimated that this unidentified aircraft had. Chris did consider the F-111 swept wing theory, but it simply didn't sit right with size. The triangle shape was too long.

Handley Page HP115 Link

That aside there is the possibility that it was mistaken identity as you suggest. Even an experienced aircraft recognition expert can be fooled by something that is unexpected such as a fully swept F-111 in formation with other F-111s. Could it possibly have been a request from a photographer on board the KC-135 to sweep the wings? Did the F-111 pilot drop to a lower level for safety reasons while swept resulting in the F-111 appearing larger from his perspective? When you re-examine the HP115 plan view it certainly could have been a swept F-111 that he misidentified.

HP.115 video.

a reply to: tommyjo

Hell, I can identify aircraft that other people can't even see, and in some cases the airline if it's a commercial aircraft. And I still make mistakes.

It may have been a request for a photo op, or it could have been something as simple as a hydraulic problem preventing the wings coming forward, so he was stuck with them swept. A Vark with the wings swept, seen next to one with them forward is going to look a different size than the others.