View Full Version : Where's the YF-23?
Squawk7777
27th Jun 2002, 03:14
Last I heard the plane was on display somewhere in the L.A. basin after McD-Douglas lost the race to Lockheed-Martin. I'll have a three day layover in LAX next week and since I got nothing better to do (haven't found a second wife there yet...). If anybody knows where I can find it, please let me know. :p
7 7 7 7
West Coast
27th Jun 2002, 05:24
I am reasonably sure it is at the Hawthorne airport. Hawthorne is just a few flying miles from LAX. If on final for the 25/24 complexes, it lies south of the finals for the runways, about 2 to 3 miles on final. Easy cab ride from most airport area hotels. Good luck.
willbav8r
27th Jun 2002, 16:32
Always thought it was by far the most futuristic looking piece of kit. Far more "Star Warsy" than the wobblin goblin, B2 etc.
I'll make a point of visiting next time I make it down that way. Did they only build one?
Squawk7777
11th Jul 2002, 01:47
Thanks WC
What a sad sight! It's on the field at Hawthorne, parked in a corner and rotting in the hazy LA sun. I thought that for the $100+mil investment they would have put it on display or something. You can't even see it from the outside without getting onto the field. The only thing I could spot was the tail.
How depressing :(
West Coast
12th Jul 2002, 04:43
I always found it odd that it sits where it does. It may have lost the competition, but it is still a pretty advanced machine. I would have figured it would be under wraps someplace or destroyed not in the hood. I have only seen it from the air, was it gutted out?
'%MAC'
12th Jul 2002, 04:49
The YF-23 is futuristic looking, my understanding is that it is undergoing long range UV weathering tests of composits. Just by leaving it outside. Hate to say this, but somewhat typical of corporate waste. There were two built (I think).
Just to stir it. The YF-23 was, supposedly, a smaller brother of a black program recce (perhaps the aurora). hence the final performance figures being classified (the top speed being, reportedly, well in excess of that of the F-22). Hence the airframe is not of much interest as it is only a derated version of those, supposedly, already in service elsewhere. It does, however, serve as an excellent airframe for observing the delamination and degradation of the composite structure as a test model for those "operational" airframes which cannot be left exposed to the elements.
I leave the rest to the the paranoia merchants. :D
'%MAC'
12th Jul 2002, 08:18
Ahhhh, very interesting theory..... and this may explain why LM got the project, to spread the wealth. If they didn't they certainly would have been in dire-straits prior to the JSF contract. It always struck me as strange, why they would want to test the composites by just letting them sit out in the sunny California weather.
Squawk7777
13th Jul 2002, 17:15
WC, sorry I can't tell you anything about it. I only saw the tail, I couldn't get close to it. The whole airport is just very depressing, on the east side of the airport you got a huge Northrop hangar which is for sale. I don't like the sight of empty airports and its buildings.
ORAC wouldn't it make it more sense if they'd ferried the 23 to the mojave desert? I was actually impressed by the number of research facilities located there. BAE seems to have a large number of buildings there, but I couldn't find out what exactly is being done there.
7 7 7 7
RadarContact
15th Jul 2002, 12:20
BAE seems to have a large number of buildings there, but I couldn't find out what exactly is being done there.
Lucky for you! They'd probably have to kill you if you did... :eek:
Bigears
15th Jul 2002, 17:51
Not the whole story I'm sure, but you can always email the guy........ BAE Systems (http://www.baesystems-fsi.com/about_us.htm)
To get us back onto the original topic, look here.....YF-23 Info (http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/YF-23/) , which expains that it is on loan to the Western Museum of Flight at Hawthorne.
http://www.wmof.com/YF-23static.JPG
Museum of Flight (http://www.wmof.com/yf23a.htm)
arcniz
17th Jul 2002, 18:17
Hawthorne is also the birthplace of the Northrup Flying Wing - another advanced design that died from a bad case of 'my pull is bigger than your pull'.
As for using it as a weathering site, the open air near LAX probably represents a sort of worst-case environment for just about any surface: combination of humid salt air, sand, dust, lots of smog, jet excreta and NO2, NO3, with ample lose O3.... So. Calif. living at its best.