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Article/Document:

Flying Triangles Explained?

Brian P James, BUFORA

original source |  fair use notice

Summary: Those of you who scan the aircraft magazines in newsagents, might have been surprised by the cover of the March issue of Aircraft Illustrated – namely with revelations of a delta-planform aircraft seen flown out of Groom Lake (Area 51) by aviation enthusiasts.



Those of you who scan the aircraft magazines in newsagents, might have been surprised by the cover of the March issue of Aircraft Illustrated – namely with revelations of a delta-planform aircraft seen flown out of Groom Lake (Area 51) by aviation enthusiasts. It has to be said that this is not the obvious magazine that would feature such revelations about black projects, since it usually concerns itself with commercial aspects of aviation.

The article was mainly composed of a curious account of three ‘watchers’ based on Tikaboo Peak, who made little effort to conceal their presence from the security ‘camo-dudes’, by lighting a campfire at night to cook food! It would have been very evident to the authorities that either UFO or aviation enthusiasts were watching, yet apparently, they chose to fly out a hitherto unknown aircraft in broad daylight. The description was of a fairly large (30m length) dense black delta-planform aircraft, with no visible cockpit, nor visible engine intakes. When a rear view was afforded to the observers, the engines were not in the wings like the SR-71, but were in the central fuselage – and were two large rectangular exhaust nozzles, which suggested thrust-vectoring capability. These exhausts were glowing white, as if on reheat, but the observer’s didn’t report the loud engine roar, as might have been expected for an aircraft of this size.

The accompanying artists impression was perhaps more of a hybrid of the observed vehicle, and the reputed A-17 ‘Switchblade’ – effectively a swing wing variant off the stealth aircraft programme, although many observers question where such an aircraft would fit into the USAF’S inventory. Interestingly, retired aerospace engineer Roy Dutton was not overly impressed by the artists impression, as part of his work had been to analyze reports and photos of ‘secret’ aircraft to evaluate their potential flight performance. As Roy points out – none of these reported secret aircraft, or artists impressions, are remotely similar to the ‘real FT UFOs’ seen for the past 20-odd years around the world, and do not demonstrate the flight characteristics or envelope of ‘FTs’. For instance, the various claims for ‘Aurora’, and indeed Groom Lake suggests the need for a 5km runway and take-off run – this doesn’t in itself indicate a high performance aircraft for its size, and certainly doesn’t fit with reports of FT’s in vertical flight!

The April issue of Aircraft Illustrated has further coverage of the black projects of Groom Lake, and other bases, and is well worth a read for background into the speculation of black project types, based on sporadic sightings by various witnesses. It will also be worthwhile to re-visit some UFO reports where ‘non-silent’ deltas have been reported.

There is much speculation in the aviation world that a ‘black project’ is about to be made known to the media and public, much as the F-117 and B-2 were a few years ago. However, it should not be forgotten that both of these types had been operational for many years before they were ‘made public’, and by then the next-generation of black projects was well under way – resulting in types such as the claimed A17, TR-3A, F121 – also known as the Black Manta, Switchblade, Aurora etc etc. If any of these are to be made public, then you can bet that 3rd , 4th and 5th generation black projects are in development! At a conservative estimate, it will take black projects between 10 and 15 years to be revealed into the ‘white world’.

After viewing the ‘evidence’ presented in Aircraft Illustrated, I would agree with Roy Dutton that it doesn’t come close to explaining the reports of delta-aircraft that defy our ‘laws’ of aerospace and physics – such as silent hovering, instantaneous supersonic flight, right-angle turns and shape-changing to name but a few!

Case not closed…

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Black Triangles