Aurora Project
 

Apologies if this subject is in the wrong forum (ie pPruNe), but is there any hard evidence the Aurora Project existed? If so, what happened to it?
Also, are there any genuine ufo stories? (by genuine, I mean genuinely unexplainable).
I should say I am a committed skeptic.

ET Thing black triangle UFO etc
 

was not this an ET Type Yank thing flying around a Scottish Airfield so the storys went HYPERSONIC UFO style . GOOGLE has plenty#

Aurora Project Hypersonic Aircraft

and on UTUBE
YouTube - Project Aurora - The Flying Triangle UFO?

One story had an Airfield that disappeared under ground after every
flight NO doubt swept by Nessie near Macrenhenish

so over to the Experts

Tony

Thanks, Tony
 

I am quite happy for the mods to remove this thread if they feel it is inappropriate.
I have see the stuff on youtube.
I was hopng, since this is a more serious forum, that there might be something that is a little more genuine that pilots or spotters had actually seen
Regards,
shark

Serious thing
 

All theses UFO And things on line and in books seem to be more Funny
than serious sorry if sounded sceptical over this one but it was around
for Years not much known about Truth. Something we know is out there
but the Yanks will never Admit it . Where we are FARNBOROUGH many
years ago there were UFO sightings over The RAE and mil areas all
were hushed up until recently but parts of those files were removed
Same i suspect this project there might have been something out there
but the many story's were positively Silly at times . Recent Sightings
of UFO Over UK Very interesting but made look stupid cos it was in
the SUN

Tony

I am no great lover of conspiracy theories but this clip on youtube was interesting.

YouTube - secret aurora plane trail filmed

In what ways are vapour trails that look like that generated?

Gulf - did you mean Machrihanish - or were you being deliberately obtuse?

Just out of interest why is Machrihanish not put to good use now? It has a nice long runway but from what i've heard very little flies in and out of there.

sorry
 

hi

Should have looked the correct spelling for that .Sorry

Tony

Will someone please explain the fuss about these "mystery" contrails" I flown across the pond behind and below other aircraft often enough to see all sorts of funnies, usually caused by a whole host of either meteorological phenomonem, or just interaction with jetwash or vortices.... I've even seen the "pulse jet" contrail much loved by the conspiracy theorists, trouble was it's always attached to something mundane like a 757, 767 or 747, etc etc...and I really can't see why the contrail in the youtube link is regarded as anything out of the ordinary.

As for Aurora concept itself, lets see, I've got keyhole satellites that have got resolution we here can only dream of, and if I really want to do stealthy fixed wing recon I'm sure it's easier to design some sort of recon package that would fit into the weapons bay of a the likes of the F-117 or the B2 than design something that goes booming along at Mach 5 plus.

I do believe in UFOs, in that people do see things they can't explain or identify, I don't I don't believe in Flying saucers, but I do believe in Machrihanish:}

From the horses mouth, so to speak

Ben Rich, former head of Skunk Works and lead designer of the U2, SR-71, F-117........etc

"The funding for the competition [between Lockheed/Rockwell and Northrop/Boeing to build a stealthy, long-range successor to the B-1 bomber] came out of a secret stash in the Air Force budget. A young colonel working in the Air Force "black program" office at the Pentagon, named Buz Carpenter, arbitrarily assigned the funding the codename Aurora. Somehow this name leaked out during congressional appropriations hearings, the media picked up the Aurora item in the budget, and the rumor surfaced that it was a top secret project assigned to the Skunk Works - to build Americas first hypersonic airplane. That story persists to this day even though Aurora was the code name for the B-2 competition funding. Although I expect few in the media to believe me, there is no code name for the hypersonic plane, because it simply does not exist."

And earlier in that chapter;

"....during one very slack period in the mid-1980's, the Reagan administration was ready to sign up the Skunk Works on a three-year feasibility study for developing a hypersonic plane, which, by definition, mean a aircraft capable of flying faster than five times the speed of sound. The Reagan science advisors were proposing an airplane that flew at Mach 12 and offered me a million dollars per Mach number to show how it could be done. The trouble was that I couldn't design such a vehicle if they offered me 12 billion. That project was nothing but a simple-minded boondoggle from start to finish."

This book is 13 years old but, Ben Rich was a pioneer of building Stealth aircraft, and was largely responsible for the SR-71's staggering performance, described as being 30 years ahead of its time. I doubt such a plane is even possible using conventional means, I guess that's not to say that there aren't new breakthroughs in technology since then...

Great book by the way, tells the mind-blowing story of the development and use of the SR-71, F-117, U2 aircraft, as well as snippets like the test pilot sent into the desert in a Cessna to find a suitable site for testing secret aircraft projects, say a dry-lake bed for instance, where Skunk Works did their test flights, during which all personnel on the airbase were told to go inside their windowless offices as these aircraft were so top-secret at the time.

Amazon.co.uk: Skunk Works: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos: Books

A little more on the Aurora and a lot more on Machrihanish.

RAF Machrihanish

Yes, I made a point today to check out the contrails that got left as we headed toward dusk.. and more than one exhibited this "doughnuts on a rope" effect..

Unless there were lots of Auroras (Aurorae?) flying about :)

The truth is out there.
 

In the early 90’s, I was in Dunbar (Scotland) looking out to the North Sea while on holiday in August. In the bright sunlight I saw a aircraft that looked like the space shuttle flying at low level at some distance.

It had 5 engines mounted in the tail, 1 at the top, 2 in the middle and 3 at the bottom.

I asked my son’s who were with me, if they had also seen it. Alas they all missed it.

During the winter that year, one of the national papers on a Saturday (Daily Mail or Express) had a report of a strange aircraft being sighted by a oil rig worker, who was also a part time member of the Royal Observer Corps. The line drawing that was with the report was 100% what I had seen. I believe that the same drawing was published in Flight International.

I have tried to find a copy of the newspaper , with no luck so far.

If anyone has a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about aircraft from the early 1990’s. Please have a look to see if a you have a copy of the drawing.

Do not publish it on the web, as it may still have copyright on it. Just put a note here, that it has been found.

As they say on the X files. The truth is out there.

I used to work up there at the time the wokka went down and one of our guys had a farmhouse next to the Machrihanish perimeter. He swore that something was going on in there in the 80's and early 90s and that he had often heard an unidentifiable engined plane taking off in the early hours when foggy, but that the noise (which was unlike a normal turbine) was lost in seconds as though it had accelerated out to sea at great speed.

Others up there reported strange activity with navy seals seen on the road off the base , however as the yanks were in and out of there, anything was possible (it even had a bowling alley)
I dont doubt that F117s also went in and out of there pre-public unveiling and were responsible for many UFO reports in the North of scotland
If you wanted a base away form prying eyes with no land to fly across to get to remote parts of North America, the Mull has it.
There were even rumours in the town at the time from local coast guard of American personel on scene at the Wokka before any other services arrived there and they all b!!! off staright away. The base was then mothballed in the next few months with the yanks pulling out.
however it could all be overactive imagination in a very remote but scenic place
who knows

Er, how does that make 5???
Perhaps it was the Space Shuttle and used as a faster way to get US oil workers to and from the rigs??
Do we have any conclusive proof that other known aircraft or airliners leave these donut on a rope contrails, distinctive noise etc??

try google Images
 

hi

very interesting place funny how one name gets mentioned and
Everyone Seems to know about . Did or does something still go
on there we might never know . Found this as well

http://www.geocities.com/yoda448/area51/aurora.gif

Tony

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6...0052cz9.th.jpghttp://img521.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif

Rubbish pic but taken by myself today at about 6pm. I was near Wycombe, so assume it was something flying over the London TMA.

Now it could have been a coincidence and been Aurora.... I'll have to check the heathrow webtrak tomorrow afternoon! :p

Aurora does not exist!
 

I suppose I was rather hoping the Aurora did exist- perhaps a development of something like the X-33:
Lockheed Martin X-33 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also, the space shuttle orbits at 17,000mph,which could point to another high speed craft, but since it slows considerably on re-entry (down to the speed of a conventional airliner I believe), I guess the Aurora is just another myth.
EGLD's quote:That story persists to this day even though Aurora was the code name for the B-2 competition funding. Although I expect few in the media to believe me, there is no code name for the hypersonic plane, because it simply does not exist.", and oversteers observations of "donuts on a rope contrails" with conventional craft, seem pretty conclusive to me.
The aurora does nor exist.
Pity, really.
Thanks for all your replies.
shark

About 10 years ago i was in a nightclub in Swindon talking to a B1 bomber crew, and eventually the conversation got round to the Aurora.

"Sir, i don't know what your talking about" drunken burp and slur....

"But that thing goes so fast it takes 3 US states to turn 180 degrees in"

My maths
 

Sorry, not good at maths. It should have been six engines.

If anyone can remember the newspaper item and drawing, let us all know.

Well here is my two penneth.....we live in an age where most mobile phones have a camera on them, most households have a camera and i am sure that quiet a few have digital capability, we have lenses that can photograph a fly on a cows backside from a mile away. But nobody has ever taken a picture that proves without doubt that UFO's/Secret aircraft actually exist, i have read with great interest this thread but every picture is slightly blurred/distorted ???

There are groups of people who sit outside the likes of area 51 on the lookiout for goverment cover-ups, but not one of them has ever taken a picture to prove without doubt they exsist ???

Very strange, I've just clicked on this thread, and a black helicopter has landed in the car park. There's a couple of burly chaps getting out of it and they appear to be

Gulf4uk

The image posted reminded me of the "theory" surrounding a two stage launch vehicle (a-la space ship one and white knight) using a derivative of the XB-70 Valkyrie as the carrier.

JAS

Evidence
 

Hey Sharksandwich...

I have talked to a few people whom have seen and viewed the Aurora Project up close. Two from one of the planes subcontractors, another from a Base official and another individual, whom was a ranger stationed at Groom Lake AFB who viewed the plane. So there is ample evidence that the plane still exists.

Pinpoint

<<I have talked to a few people whom have seen and viewed the Aurora Project up close. >>

More hearsay. Just about every book on UFOs is based on 2nd, 3rd, 4th hand stuff but there is no conclusive evidence (and I'm a "believer"!). Let's have some pictures.......

The film of the contrail shows a perfecty normal contrail, whilst the remark in the 'RAF Macrihanish' link says 'brown structure function unknown' - it's the station water tower fer chrissakes!!

Whilst governments still build stuff and people take an interest there will be UFO reports. Just take a look at the 'X' designations and see how many there are. Was the SR-71 'normal' for it's time? If you saw it today would you not think 'What the hell is that?' My brother once saw it at (as I understand it) one of its very limited UK appearences and it was still glowing orange/red on approach.

An AV enthusiast or pilot/crew might look at a B2 and see the general evolution involved, but what about joe average? I was stunned by it and I've been a spotter since I was knee high to the family dog.

I generally disregard anything that involves LGM or the various 'abduction' scenarios as complete tosh. Anything that's accompanied by half the worlds special forces and a fleet of helicopters is, er, not exactly discreet.

But in many cases I think there is a grain of truth at the core of many UFO sightings. I just don't happen to think that the truth is 'out there', it's far more likely to be sitting in a wildly expensive shed somewhere with boffins crawling all over it.

Skyfan said in part
"My brother once saw it at (as I understand it) one of its very limited UK appearences and it was still glowing orange/red on approach."


Aviate 1138 doubts the veracity of that statement.
What was your brother smoking? SR 71's don't glow red hot approaching any airfield!!!!!
Was it near sunset? SR71's made a number of flights from the UK. Upper Heyford, Macrihanish, Mildenhall, Sculthorpe even afaik. For many years.

If the human race is cursed, it is cursed with having a brain that must find a solution to every problem. Hence religion, chemtrails, Area 51, ghosts, global warming etc.

Glad to see the pics back from the moon showing various Apollo leftovers. Better res pics due to hopefully shut up the fake moon landing conspiracy theorists once and for all/ever.

<<it was still glowing orange/red on approach>>

Well, that has to be the funniest thing yet on here!!

However, let's keep the pot boiling... An ex-RAF controller who, sadly, is no long with us, was talking to an RAF Nimrod one night over western Scotland. The crew asked if there was any other known traffic as they believed they had something close underneath them. Nothing was known to ATC..... until the target of the Nimrod "split" and the second one shot off out to sea at incredible speed. The controller who told me this was a reliable, decent person who was as curious as the Nimrod crew. Think what you like....

Do you not have anything better to do than criticise every detail of everyone elses posts (and PM them into the bargain, just to make sure they get the point - HEATHROW DIRECTOR)

Did I claim to have seen it myself - please read it again. Do I claim to be an expert in any form of aviation - er, no because I'm not.

The incident in question occured at an airshow ( I BELIEVE sometime in the early to mid 70's just after I was born, sadly I didn't make a note of the details) when the aircraft in question was not due to appear but in fact diverted from other business to give people a bit of a show.

It had APPARENTLY come from some distance at one hell of a rate of knots en-route and passed over the airfield, thus the 'approach' I refer to was not an approach to the airfield but an approach to the show, before exiting very soon after (very convenient, yes, but also true). I ommited absolute specifics as it was purely an illustration of some of the stranger aspects of aviation and the potential for 'mythology' therein, NOT a claim to have witnessed the event.

Skyfan.. What on earth are you talking about? I looked at my PMs OUT box and it reveals, in recent weeks, one PM to you about scanners, one to someone about their medical query, one in response to someone who thanked me for some input, one about FISO work and 2 to a friend who had offered me a ride in his aeroplane. I also offered in-forum what I thought was a helpful response to you about aircraft possibly doing crew-training.

As for the red-hot SR-71.... it was a joke, right? Aviate1138 seems to agree with me. Did I say anything suggesting that YOU had seen it? Please read my post again.... and who said anything about you being or not being an expert?

HEATHROW DIRECTOR,

Yes, the PM I refered to is the one about scanners and not related to this thread. Perhaps I misread your intent and if so I apologise, but as my first post on these forums I felt the PM was a little heavy handed. This may have led me to overreact to the above comment re 'the funniest thing yet' - I was simply recounting part of a tale that I was once told.

I'm a born sceptic when it comes to unidentifed craft and all the mubo jumbo often associated with them, perhaps I should apply the same rigour to unverified reports :ok:

There's an old chestnut which is attributed to someone who was very senior at the Skunk Works, which goes that whatever is in the public domain is actually fifty years or so behind what they are actually doing in their highest security research facilities.

The US military budget is so vast that money can easily be shunted into corners for this stuff. I'm sort of excited that there are amazing things out there in the "black" that represent the sort of advances that will keep aviation progressing, rather than the boring tube-and-two stuff the civil airframers are cranking out.

I think that there is little doubt that the US have been building something but there is a lot of mis-information about exactly what.

From what I've read, the best evidence was that collected by the USGS which showed something creating massive sonic booms across the US.

Apparently the only known thing which could create booms like them was the space shuttle after re-entry and it wasn't flying on those occasions...

UFOs The truth
 

Hi all,

If you want all the MOD info on UFOs you will find it here;

Fascinating reading !


Ministry of Defence | Freedom of Information | Publication Scheme | Search Publication Scheme | Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in the UK Air Defence Region - Result of Internal Review

Here is the summary of the report, note the MOD says UFOs (UAPs) definately exist.
http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/7D2B1...mary_dec00.pdf

The second page and no mention of the 'Boscombe Down Incident' yet!

Oh yes.... what really happened at Boscombe?

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1259/dsc3522.pngNewly Newly signed up to pprune and just noticed this conversation as I spend most of my time on the military and private flying forums. Anyways it jogged my memory of a photo ive got taken by someone else granted, but it is interesting, and still got the file. I used to frequent this other military aviation forum (cant remember now, but i think its a deadlink now) and a newly signed up guy with supposedly no interest or background in aviation, posted a photo he took on his digital camera that he wanted identifying. Taken in the states somewhere, cant remember exactly now but on the western side. This inevitably led to some saying it could be Aurora and wot not. Not sure if im convinced something like that exists but it is an interesting looking thing. Anyway will attach a scaled down photo as the original file is far too big to even send via email, dont know if this will work as you need to zoom in and its the first time ive uploaded images so bear with me. The original is better quality. If anyone wonts a better version pm me.

Looks like an A330, or similar, with the sun glinting off it's engines!

Could be but the tail configuration is hard to explain. I thought maybe a mig 25, I hear theyve been flown out of test ranges in America.