(03-23-2023, 06:10 PM)Ninurta Wrote:(03-23-2023, 03:10 PM)Snarl Wrote:(03-23-2023, 02:26 PM)Chiefsmom Wrote: Most of the time, when something was "unusual" and he reported it, he was told "you didn't see that, nobody did, forget it"
I got to tag-along once with a four star and a three star. This is a story well over 30 years old.
We're invited up into a control tower for a VIP show. Everything's pretty much blacked out on the airfield. They've got a call running over the PA system. A pilot says, "We're two minutes inbound." The guy on the scope says, "There's nothing on my radar."
Two minutes later a bird was on the ground. Taxied right into a hanger. Lights came back up and normal operations resumed. I'm intentionally leaving out a lot of details, but I'll leave you with this takeaway: We've got stuff flying through the sky hardly anyone knows anything about.
That story might not have left its impression on me had I not seen the look on the face of the radar guy first-hand.
I had a similar experience at Langley AFB during the runup to the Gulf War. They flew some "stuff" in that was outbound to the Middle East under cover of darkness, rolled it all into hangars before daylight, then rolled it back out and took off eastbound the next night.
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Similar timeframe. I only saw it in silhouette. Pretty big sucker though. Much bigger than say an F-16.