Unidentified Plane - Can anyone Identify???

A friend of mine and I were out in the Smokey Mountains and we heard this jet. We knew we were in the supersonic corridor established for the Raptors being tested out of Dobbins AFB in Georgia, and we both know what a Raptor and an F-16 (the typical chase plane of the Raptors) look like from ground as they fly over.

This aircraft was neither, it was black, it was fast and it was VERY LOUD!!! I really want to know what thing was. We saw it coming over a mountain top and it was headed directly towards us, then my friend hit the button of the carmera right before it went behind some trees and it was good timing because we got this shot.

Sorry it's so blurred, it's the best we could do with what we had and how fast the thing was going.

Thanks to anyone who can offer an idea as to what it was.\

Your description doesn't seem to match the images, it appears to be just coming out from behind a tree.

Unless the wide end was the front?

What are you talking about? This was a cheap digital camera (Sony Cybershot) and there is a slight delay when you push the button.

So as the plane was going behind the trees my friend pushed the button - perfect timing as it got the plane as it came out from behind the trees.

reply to post by bios

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Ah ok I get what you mean now.

No worries.

There is cloud cover and obviously the 'plane is below it. It would be helpful to know how high was the cloud cover in your area at the time. The blurring in the picture is a bit confusing since you don't say exactly in which direction the 'plane was going.

Looks like the Aurora aircraft, but who knows what the government is toying with.

Even though it's blurry, I flagged your thread

reply to post by smurfy

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Its pretty obvious that if it's an aircraft that it's going in the direction the pointed nose is going. Which in this case is probably horizontal or close to it, the camera was not on a tripod, it was not a professional camera and we did the best we could with what we had to work with.

Check out this link. Could be a new type of UAV.
netfiles.uiuc.edu...

reply to post by bios

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Can you upload a non cropped version of the picture for us?

Here ya go...

reply to post by bios

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It is simply a stealth fighter....................KMG

Judging by the shape I would venture to guess that it was either an

F-117 stealth fighter



Or a B-2 stealth bomber



It looks to me more like an f-117 stealth fighter to me...

[edit on 10-10-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

Stealth fighters are not flying anymore - they are retired.
This picture was taken 2 weeks ago in the Smokey mountians.

well its obviously a delta wing design. What did it sound like. Must have been REALLY loud being that close to the ground.

reply to post by bios

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I was thinking your mystery craft might be one of these.

Falcon HTV-3X?

YouTube Link

reply to post by Chadwickus

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I was thinking that as well I just couldn't remember what it was called good call, maybe some kind of variant?

reply to post by bios

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There's nothing really obvious at all since I was on the same tack as Chad when I posted, thinking It was coming out of the trees while you had said it was going into the trees, look at our posting times. I take it that the blurring is not caused by the motion of the 'plane.



[edit on 11-10-2009 by smurfy]

I feel a bit awful for posting this, But is it possible the pic was taken from inside a vehicle and the object is just a moth type insect on the window ?


There is a straight structure in the top right hand corner which could be a window/door frame.

The trees are close to being in focus so i would have thought a low flying plane would have been also been close to being in more focus than shown, However a moth on the window so close would be way out of focus.

Also i'm not sure the object is showing 100% symmetry as a plane would.

Apologies if i'm wrong but i have seen fraudulent pics on this site, So i always air with caution.

reply to post by ken10

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I really wondered if posting this pic on ATS was even the right thing to do. While critical thought is always a good thing and I suppose that some amount of "it's a fake" is inevitable, but it still does not satisfy my curiosity as to what in the world it was that overflew us.

We were at a pavilion, sort of a covered place with picnic tables under the roof, hence the bar across one corner of the pic.

I assure you that I am sincere in my inquiry here - admittedly these questions you ask are quite valid but i get a little sensitive when my integrity is questioned even if I am here somewhat anonymously.

I really only want to know what the darn thing was, surely this is not some top secret thing, and surely it is not a moth. LOL


[edit on 10/11/2009 by bios]