*Two curved, butterfly tails graced the aft end of the Tacit Blue prototype, resembling whale flukes. That likeness gave rise to the aircraft’s unofficial nickname of “Whale” with the people who worked on the program starting to call themselves “Whalers.”*
secondarycontrol
[The Northrop Tacit Blue was a technology demonstrator aircraft created to demonstrate that a low-observable stealth surveillance aircraft with a low probability of intercept radar and other sensors could operate close to the forward line of battle with a high degree of survivability.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Tacit_Blue)
>The aircraft made its first successful flight on February 5, 1982, in Area 51, at Groom Lake, Nevada and subsequently logged 135 flights over a three-year period. The aircraft often flew three to four flights weekly and several times flew more than once a day. After reaching about 250 flight hours, the aircraft was placed in storage in 1985. In 1996, after Tacit Blue was declassified, it was placed on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio and has been on display in the new fourth hangar at the museum since June 2016.[2]
Viewed from the side it could be mistaken as a flying saucer.
lfgbrd
“You’re talking about an aircraft that at the time was arguably the most unstable aircraft man had ever flown,” Northrop engineer John Cashen said in 1996. The flight envelop was so unstable that Northrop had to incorporate a quadruple-redundant, digital fly-by-wire system to keep the plane from twisting and spinning out of control as it flew.
ATAKAcMAPCA
Area 51 is the best UFO monetization ever
sokratesz
(How) is this related to Have Blue, one of the prototypes for the F-117?
jaykirsch
From Northrup-Grumman:
*Two curved, butterfly tails graced the aft end of the Tacit Blue prototype, resembling whale flukes. That likeness gave rise to the aircraft’s unofficial nickname of “Whale” with the people who worked on the program starting to call themselves “Whalers.”*
secondarycontrol
[The Northrop Tacit Blue was a technology demonstrator aircraft created to demonstrate that a low-observable stealth surveillance aircraft with a low probability of intercept radar and other sensors could operate close to the forward line of battle with a high degree of survivability.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Tacit_Blue)
>The aircraft made its first successful flight on February 5, 1982, in Area 51, at Groom Lake, Nevada and subsequently logged 135 flights over a three-year period. The aircraft often flew three to four flights weekly and several times flew more than once a day. After reaching about 250 flight hours, the aircraft was placed in storage in 1985. In 1996, after Tacit Blue was declassified, it was placed on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio and has been on display in the new fourth hangar at the museum since June 2016.[2]
bsurfn2day
Pretty cool looking aircraft. Another view https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Northrop_Tacit_Blue_Whale.jpg
Mitochondria420
Viewed from the side it could be mistaken as a flying saucer.
lfgbrd
“You’re talking about an aircraft that at the time was arguably the most unstable aircraft man had ever flown,” Northrop engineer John Cashen said in 1996. The flight envelop was so unstable that Northrop had to incorporate a quadruple-redundant, digital fly-by-wire system to keep the plane from twisting and spinning out of control as it flew.
ATAKAcMAPCA
Area 51 is the best UFO monetization ever
sokratesz
(How) is this related to Have Blue, one of the prototypes for the F-117?
Xenophore
It reminds me of the [Seaview](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USOS_Seaview).
227_anon833991124
That looks like something you’d do lots of cocaine on, wearing white.