RAF F-117 pilots
Incident at TTR, 90/91, RAF trio
Toppo,
When I was member of 104 ATC City of Camb back in late 91, we had a presentation the F-117 by Sqn Ldr (ex Phantom backseater) who was teaching EW at CRanwell. Him and his staff, one Flt Sgt and a Flt lt. They had visited TTR earlier that year and examined the 117 for the purposes of briefing the whole RAF.
Anyhow he passed around samples of the stealth paint (which felt heavy in a little tube)and some of the composite material.for the 117.
Interesting enough he said on one particular day when they were doing photos, that a B-52H with what he described had a tail mod and his Flt Sgt inadvertently thought it would be interesting to take a pic of the Buff and promptly the whole team had been 'manhandled' by the Security Forces Sqn and their films ripped and destroyed all because of someone decided to take a pic of the modified B52. Therefore they had to start again the photo session of the 117 again which was an inconvenience.
DO you know if this incident?
Rgds
Chopper2004
When I was member of 104 ATC City of Camb back in late 91, we had a presentation the F-117 by Sqn Ldr (ex Phantom backseater) who was teaching EW at CRanwell. Him and his staff, one Flt Sgt and a Flt lt. They had visited TTR earlier that year and examined the 117 for the purposes of briefing the whole RAF.
Anyhow he passed around samples of the stealth paint (which felt heavy in a little tube)and some of the composite material.for the 117.
Interesting enough he said on one particular day when they were doing photos, that a B-52H with what he described had a tail mod and his Flt Sgt inadvertently thought it would be interesting to take a pic of the Buff and promptly the whole team had been 'manhandled' by the Security Forces Sqn and their films ripped and destroyed all because of someone decided to take a pic of the modified B52. Therefore they had to start again the photo session of the 117 again which was an inconvenience.
DO you know if this incident?
Rgds
Chopper2004
chopper2004,
Oh come on! He gave out "samples of the stealth paint" to Air Cadets? in 1991?
.............and why on earth would he have been "briefing the whole RAF"?
Methinks something not quite right there!
Oh come on! He gave out "samples of the stealth paint" to Air Cadets? in 1991?
.............and why on earth would he have been "briefing the whole RAF"?
Methinks something not quite right there!
No, Chris, they were the ones in which the 'Big Tamale' was stored - and its late flight crew preserved in gloop.
I did have a little fun before the F-117 was declassified by making up some spoof 'zaps' using cut, paste, snopake and xerox. These showed a picture of the alleged 'F-19', a Lockheed logo and '???th TFW, Tonopah AFB' written on them. I made quite a few (just photocopied them) and distributed them covertly around various places, such as stuck under the perspex of the nav planning section at Andrews AFB, inside the Dash One of the U-2 at Patrick AFB, hidden in various USAF planning documents at other US bases etc etc. You could also have fun with those USAF self-carboning flight plans by pressing the aircraft type 'F-19' (and later 'Aurora') through the top copy....
Later heard that this had caused consternation in some quarters! But the zaps kept re-appearing; someone told me they'd seen on on the cockpit door of Concorde!
I did have a little fun before the F-117 was declassified by making up some spoof 'zaps' using cut, paste, snopake and xerox. These showed a picture of the alleged 'F-19', a Lockheed logo and '???th TFW, Tonopah AFB' written on them. I made quite a few (just photocopied them) and distributed them covertly around various places, such as stuck under the perspex of the nav planning section at Andrews AFB, inside the Dash One of the U-2 at Patrick AFB, hidden in various USAF planning documents at other US bases etc etc. You could also have fun with those USAF self-carboning flight plans by pressing the aircraft type 'F-19' (and later 'Aurora') through the top copy....
Later heard that this had caused consternation in some quarters! But the zaps kept re-appearing; someone told me they'd seen on on the cockpit door of Concorde!
pr00ne
My assumptions at the time 17 years ago, was that the 3 man team went to TTR specifically to analyse the 117 and to brief various bodies in the RAF about stealth irst hand.
Of course the Exchange officer along with the previous exchange officer and the two ETPS guys plus probably higher up in staff knew the ins and outs of the 117 anyhow
My assumptions at the time 17 years ago, was that the 3 man team went to TTR specifically to analyse the 117 and to brief various bodies in the RAF about stealth irst hand.
Of course the Exchange officer along with the previous exchange officer and the two ETPS guys plus probably higher up in staff knew the ins and outs of the 117 anyhow
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Never got to meet any other Brits - actually any "foreigners" at all - while I was at Tonopah; an RAF aircraft diverted in during Red Flag while I was on leave, but apart from that it was me and a whole bunch of americans. Even senior officers were denied permission to visit until we had made the move to Holloman. I very much doubt the tale of the heavy paint, as all evaluation had been done by that time. Even in 1993 we had armed guards when we did static air shows to ensure that no unauthorised people touched the aircraft, so lugging a lump of authentic Black Jet on a tour around the UK in 1991 sounds like merely a great way to catch the audiences' attention to me!
Tonopah was amazingly secure. Ronnie, the (civilian) Aircrew Driver for our squadron, had been at Tonopah for many years by the time I arrived. Her final task each day was to deliver the first wave of pilots to the hangars, dropping each one individually outside his shelter. She then had to drive out beyond the security gates. The hangar doors were only opened once all those who didn't "need to know" had been logged out.
When the aircraft was unveiled to the public at Nellis in mid-'90, she drove the 5 hours from Tonopah town down to Nellis AFB just to get her first look at the aircraft!! All those years and never even a glimpse .....
Tonopah was amazingly secure. Ronnie, the (civilian) Aircrew Driver for our squadron, had been at Tonopah for many years by the time I arrived. Her final task each day was to deliver the first wave of pilots to the hangars, dropping each one individually outside his shelter. She then had to drive out beyond the security gates. The hangar doors were only opened once all those who didn't "need to know" had been logged out.
When the aircraft was unveiled to the public at Nellis in mid-'90, she drove the 5 hours from Tonopah town down to Nellis AFB just to get her first look at the aircraft!! All those years and never even a glimpse .....
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The Cold War types are being real spoil sports about releasing the juicy bits about cold war intel, etc.....
I wonder when the Soviets knew about various aspects of stealth (general shape, coatings details, etc....). I'm sure both sides know, but they won't tell the public.
Seems strange. We knew an awful lot of WW2 secrets 20 years after it ended.
.
I wonder when the Soviets knew about various aspects of stealth (general shape, coatings details, etc....). I'm sure both sides know, but they won't tell the public.
Seems strange. We knew an awful lot of WW2 secrets 20 years after it ended.
.
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Stealth Fighter
I'm not sure if anyone is still looking at this thread ... but:
One of the F-117 pilots - Lt. Col. William O'Connor (Yukon, aka Bandit 545) who was active in the Kosovo/Serbia "strikes" in 1998-99 has just released a book called "Stealth Fighter". It's an almost day-by-day account of his year-long deployment at Holloman AFB and later at Aviano, Italy.
BTW, Sqn Ldr Al Monkman is identified by the c/s "Reverend" in the book. Which, although written by an American, is actually rather good.
One of the F-117 pilots - Lt. Col. William O'Connor (Yukon, aka Bandit 545) who was active in the Kosovo/Serbia "strikes" in 1998-99 has just released a book called "Stealth Fighter". It's an almost day-by-day account of his year-long deployment at Holloman AFB and later at Aviano, Italy.
BTW, Sqn Ldr Al Monkman is identified by the c/s "Reverend" in the book. Which, although written by an American, is actually rather good.
