GoogleEarth aircraft at Palmdale

34d 37'08" 118 05'03 What the hell is that?


Around the time I this photo was probably taken I was at the Blackbird Park
(you'll see 2 SR-71s and a U2) and they wouldn't let us near the airport
'cause, as we found out at Edwards the next day, they'd just rolled out the
X-32 at Palmdale and were flying it to Edwards the next morning. (Saw it
there. This isn't it. You can use the Blackbirds and the B2 for
perspective of the mystery aircraft, which is a white triangle.)

If you poke around with GoogleEarth you'll also see an F-117 and a B-2 at
Palmdale.

For more fun, find Area51. The main runway is X'ed out, but they have
runway grids built out across Groom Lake. Strange this is that the L and R
parallel runways touch each other, but there are similar at Edwards. (And
an awesome compass rose in the lakebed) Scan west-southwest of Groom Lake
and you'll see a pretty awesome crater field.

There are two more Blackbirds (pause for reverence) parked at the north end
of the Edwards tarmac in the NASA section. One of those birds is now at
McMinnville under the right wing of the Spruce Goose. There are a couple of
other odd aircraft on the tarmac just north of them. At the little airstrip
to the south there's a collection of planes outside including an A-10 and a
C-47 (must be a museum or collection) but on the flight line itself there
are three B-1s.



-c