Strange A/C in Davis Monthan AFB

[llagonne66]

While planning a road trip accross the South-West on Google Maps, I stumbled on Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. Looking at the scores of retired warbirds laying in the desert, I found something really unusual in the triangle between Yuma Street, Picacito Street and South Wilmot Road (I hope the link will work).

davis monthan afb - Google Maps

Could it possibly be two D-21s that were launched from the M-21 (one exotic member of the Blackbird family) ?

Thanks.

[cwatters]

There appears to be another one to the west at the junction of Picacito and Wilmot.

I reckon they may have protective sheets on which is distorting the shape?

[Landroger]

There's another one, next to an O2 and a KC135 at the junction of South Wilmot and Coolidge.

How many of these aeroplanes could be restored to flight?

Roger.

[By George]

No less than 17 Lockheed D-21 drones were delivered to AMARG around 1976 and '77. It would appear that at least two are still there. Interesting ram-jet technology and capable of Mach 3. Intended to be launched from a 'Blackbird' and tested on a B52H.

[llagonne66]

Thanks guys for your feedback.
First time I am seeing a D-21 outside a book !!!

[cwatters]

Google images has some nice pictures.

[acer231]

link didnt work

[sunnybunny]

If you go south down wilmot to where what looks like the fuel tanks are, there's a helicopter caught in mid flight.

I'm staggered by the number of aircraft just lying around.

[zerozero]

If the original poster is interested in more of these places on his tour of the southwest he might stop by Mojave Airport in the California desert, near Edwards AFB.

Home to civilian flight testing (Rutan, et al) and aircraft storage.

Mojave Air and Space Port - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BarbiesBoyfriend]

Illagone66

Get a tour of the Boneyard from the Pima air museum. They also have a D-21 but its in the resto compound.
If you go in there, though, you can walk right up to it.

There's another in Palmdale and another one in Paine field WA, mounted on the M-21. That's worth seeing!

They're actually D-21Bs. the -A model was launched from the M-21. The -B model from the B-52.

[llagonne66]

zerozero, BarbiesBoyfriend,

Thanks for your advice.
Working all year long with civil A/C, I am much more interested by military A/C during my time off !
Cheers

[DALMD-11]

I guess they have chopped up all of the F/RF-101 Voodoos. I looked all over the boneyard and didn't see any.

[SoulInflicted]

sunnybunny



"If you go south down wilmot to where what looks like the fuel tanks are, there's a helicopter caught in mid flight."

I noticed that too. But it just can't be real. The size is wrong. There is no way the camera could pick up the helicopter blades individually as opposed to them being a blur. And there is no trace of a shadow anywhere under the helicopter. I'm calling photoshop on this one!

[archae86]

aerial, not satellite

Originally Posted by SoulInflicted

The size is wrong. There is no way the camera could pick up the helicopter blades individually as opposed to them being a blur. And there is no trace of a shadow anywhere under the helicopter.

It seems to me unlikely that someone (who?) is Photoshopping this sort of insertion into the GoogleMaps images.

An alternate interpretation is that the helicopter was flying at a substantial fraction of the altitude of the platform which took the image, giving the "wrong size", and placing the shadow out of frame to the northeast. If you zoom in all the way you can see a bit of blur. Here is a photo I took at 1/400 second at an air show. Given the large rotor blade diameter and other differences in the Google Maps photo, I'll hazard a guess that an exposure time of roughly 1/1000 second might do. Without knowing how fast the lens and sensor are, I can't justify that as likely, but we should expect the image contractor to be using both lens and sensor much faster than those on your cell phone or point and shoot camera.

[aterpster]

The Pima Air Museum gives bus tours of the boneyard.

[Above The Clouds]

I guess they have chopped up all of the F/RF-101 Voodoos. I looked all over the boneyard and didn't see any.

There is one at the Prima museum, I cannot get the link to work but if zoom in on the google maps it sits just by E Valencia Rd.

[Bushfiva]

If you read the caption bottom right, it shows that the image was modified in Google Mapmaker. If you click through to the original image, the helicopter is not present.

[Chu Chu]

I assume the Google photos are taken by a satellite in low earth orbit. If so, the satellite is moving at about 17,000 MPH. If the camera moving at that velocity can "freeze" ground features, it ought to be able to get a clear picture of a rotor blade in flight. Of course, Photoshop works pretty well too . . .

[Runaway Gun]

Perhaps the shadow of the helo was not captured within the frame of the original photo, and the area it would have fallen on was taken a a different time.

[archae86]

45 degree not satellite

Originally Posted by Chu Chu

I assume the Google photos are taken by a satellite in low earth orbit. If so, the satellite is moving at about 17,000 MPH.

While some of the Google Earth and Google Maps imagery is certainly satellite (for example, where DigitalGlobe is the name supplier), the higher resolution stuff is often taken from vastly lower altitude platforms. The image we are discussing here is part of the "45 degree" Google Maps added material, all of which is non-satellite. To learn more try doing a search on the terms: Google Maps 45 degree.