Northrop Tacit Blue

Tacit Blue
Role	Stealth demonstrator Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation
First flight	February 5, 1982
Retired	1985
Status	Retired
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	1

The Northrop Tacit Blue was a

Development

Unveiled by the U.S. Air Force on 30 April 1996, the Tacit Blue Technology Demonstration Program was designed to prove that such an aircraft could continuously monitor the ground situation deep behind the battlefield and provide

Tacit Blue was given the cover designation of "YF-117D" by the Air Force.[3]^[4]

Design

Tacit Blue, nicknamed "the whale" (and sometimes also called an "alien school bus" for its only slightly rounded-off rectangular shape),

The aircraft made its first successful flight on February 5, 1982, in

Another Tacit Blue test pilot, Ken Dyson, told CNN in 2014 that Northrop had manufactured additional major components for the jet, which amounted to half of a second plane. "If we lost one, we could have a second one up and flying in short order," Dyson said.[10]

After reaching about 250 flight hours, the aircraft was placed in storage in 1985. In 1996, after Tacit Blue was declassified, it was placed on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio and has been on display in the new fourth hangar at the museum since June 2016.^[11]

Specifications

Data from ^{[citation needed]}

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 55 ft 10 in (17.02 m)
• Wingspan: 48 ft 2 in (14.68 m)
• Height: 10 ft 7 in (3.23 m)
• Clark Y mod.^[12]
• Gross weight: 30,000 lb (13,608 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 ×
  Garrett ATF3-6 turbofan
  engines, 5,440 lbf (24.2 kN) thrust each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 250 kn (290 mph, 460 km/h)
• Service ceiling: 25,000–30,000 ft (7,600–9,100 m) operating altitude
• Thrust/weight: 0.36

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Lockheed Have Blue

Related lists

• List of experimental aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of stealth aircraft

References

1. ^ Assault Breaker Program Analysis.
2. Flight Global
   .
3. ISBN 978-3319029009
   .
4. ^ "Cover Designations for Classified USAF Aircraft". www.designation-systems.net. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
5. ^ Vartabedian, Ralph (26 February 1993). "Job Stress Catches Up With 'Dr. Stealth' of Aerospace : Science: Eccentric genius John Cashen's departure for Australia has many questioning the technology's future". L A Times. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
6. ^ "Tacit Blue". CNet News. Photos: A brief history of stealth aircraft. November 23, 2007. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
7. ^ ^{a b} Grier, Peter (August 1996). "The (Tacit) Blue Whale". Air Force Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
8. ^ Rogoway, Tyler (March 1, 2014). "Lockheed's Senior Peg: The Forgotten Stealth Bomber". Jalopnik.
9. ISBN 978-0738576206
   .
10. ^ Patterson, Thom (February 2014). "Area 51 Spy Plane and Other Aviation Tales". CNN. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
11. ^ National Museum of the USAF Fact Sheet
12. ^ Lednicer, David. "The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage". m-selig.ae.illinois.edu. Retrieved 16 April 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northrop Tacit Blue.

• Tacit Blue at National Museum of USAF
• Tacit Blue: The Creation of Stealth