Mystery Plane

[Aahz]

Excuse my ignorance, especially if this has been discussed here before, but what the heck is this?

I saw it in a satellite image of Davis-Monthan AFB's storage/disposal area. Looks awfully cool and experimental, but I don't recall having ever seen it before.

[Pathfinder]

Really large lawn dart?

[hercules130]

Did you find this in the RIT area? Got coords? F-18/F-32ish?

G

[Aahz]

Did you find this in the RIT area? Got coords? F-18/F-32ish?

No, it's in Area 20 on the West Side, the area where they store articles for the Air Force Museum. However, they store the Museum aircraft on the east half of Area 20, but this item is on the southern part of the west half. It is in a single row of various planes, just south of a double row of T-39s, and just east of a pair of A-4s. Sorry, I don't have the coordinates.

It has some elements that look F-18-ish, but it is too wide, and the leading-edge strakes on an F-18 don't go all the way to the front like they do on this. Plus, it doesn't seem to have a cockpit. Is it a modified F-18 of some sort equipped to be a drone? I know that this area has three other drones on its inventory - a GTD-21B, an MQM-13A, and a BQM-34F. But I've looked at everything on the current inventory, and I can't find anything that resembles this (except for F-18s with their wings removed, and they don't look exactly like this). The AMARC site does say that there may be items on the base that are not on the inventory.

It has a faint F-32 look at the front, but the rest doesn't look right at all.

I know this isn't right, but it sorta reminds me of an X-24B. I also know that NASA had two experiemental variants of the F-18 they used for testing. Neither look like this, but perhaps this is a third one that is supposed to be secret...

[expat]

A mockup of this ???? :-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32#/media/File:Boeing_JSF_X-32_on_tarmac.jpg

[CoastieJohn]

A guess......if those to square things up towards the front are tending towers, could it be some type of lighter than air vehicle? Maybe a tethered, stationary drone or target?

[Aahz]

Since there are also a number of F-18s at Davis-Monthan, I thought I would do a comparison between one of them and the mystery plane:

Both images are from the same satellite photo so the scale is correct. I've aligned the images so that the vertical stabilizers are aligned horizontally. Sorry for the crummy quality - for some reason Google isn't letting me zoom in like it did yesterday. Plus, it is giving me different imagery. These images are from Bing.

It does seem that the mystery plane is based on the F-18 design, if not the actual F-18 platform. The engine exhausts seem longer and more pointed, although they could just be more constricted. Also, the profile of the "ridge" along the top of the fuselage matches pretty closely. But the nose is noticeably shorter, and the strakes are noticeably wider. And, although you can't see it well here, the vertical stabilizers seem to be angled out more on the mystery plane.

I had read of a hypothesized unmanned F-18 drone similar to the unmanned F-16 drones being developed by Boeing, but I don't know if that is true or not. But if it is, perhaps this is a prototype.

One interesting note: I looked at a photo from ArcGIS, and the mystery plane is NOT present. Since the ArcGIS imagery is older, the mystery plane must be a recent addition to the Davis-Monthan collection.

[Russ Matthews]

I suspect whatever it is has been "cocooned" in shrink wrap to protect it further from the desert environment. That would account for the uniform white color, the apparent lack of a cockpit and might also explain why at least some of the form looks slightly "off."

I'm leaning toward Aahz's observations of an F-18 with the wings shorn off as the basis .. and then imagine the whole thing wrapped in white plastic.

Found a pic online of an F-16 that received similar treatment, which helps give an idea of what I'm talking about ...

[hercules130]

Aahz,

I found it, on far West end of RIT area where Blimp gondolas are stored, just of off Road Runner City Road (may very well be Area 20, I always assumed that the RIT area went that far West simply because of the aircraft stored there. When I was stationed at DM the fence line along the road is the area some really neat airframes would appear (for example A-1s in crates!)) Area does seem to contain mainly USNBuAv machines.

Compare the lines of the mystery fuselage with F/A-18E/F. Only thing that would appear wrong is wing attachment and lack of forward fuselage, I do not know how they are attached but this looks odd to me (could be a function of the Spraylat/view). What do you think?


G

PS Coords are 32°09'04.43"N 110°50'36.25" W

[Aahz]

I found it, on far West end of RIT area where Blimp gondolas are stored, just of off Road Runner City Road (may very well be Area 20, I always assumed that the RIT area went that far West simply because of the aircraft stored there. When I was stationed at DM the fence line along the road is the area some really neat airframes would appear (for example A-1s in crates!)) Area does seem to contain mainly USNBuAv machines.

According to the inventory, the other aircraft sitting with this mystery ship are in Area 20. Some, like the F-106 Delta Dart, are unique, so it definitely identifies the location. But also, the inventory lists for both June and July show no new aircraft in Area 20, and neither show any F-18s of any type in that area. In fact, they show no F/A-18E/F aircraft at all on the base, only A, B, and C types (no Ds, even).

Compare the lines of the mystery fuselage with F/A-18E/F. Only thing that would appear wrong is wing attachment and lack of forward fuselage, I do not know how they are attached but this looks odd to me (could be a function of the Spraylat/view). What do you think?

I don't know why I didn't consider the E/F. It is larger that the A/B/C/D variants, both in length and in width. Plus, the leading-edge strakes are fatter and don't have the double curve. The mystery ship does look more like an F/A-18E/F, and the plastic wrap could be smoothing out the wing attachment area behind the strakes (assuming that is plastic wrap, which is a fair assumption). But it is still shorter than the F-18 shown in the picture, whereas the E/F would be longer. If it is an F/A-18E/f, then its nose has been lopped off right around the front of the canopy. Even that, though, would make the front end flat, not pointed. I'm still leaning toward an experimental drone variant.

With all this in mind, I've created an image using the original photo I posted with the outline drawing of an F/A-18E/F superimposed on it:

Amazing how well stuff lines up now. The leading-edge strakes match, the vertical stabilizers match (mostly), the wing roots match the end of the strakes, and even a pair of vents over the engines match up with those on the drawing. (the vents are visible? Maybe it's not wrapped in plastic after all) But the engine exhausts are still oddly pointed and longer, while the nose is very much shorter. One other thing: even if it was wrapped in plastic, the canopy would cast a shadow with the sun at that angle. But there is no canopy shadow, just a smooth shadow line from the nose following the fuselage ridge back.

Finally, why isn't it on the inventory? Hmmmmm...

Coords are 32°09'04.43"N 110°50'36.25" W

I meant to post those earlier today, but I had a problem come up that took me away from my fun...

[Aahz]

Then there's this:
F/A-18F crashes into Persian Gulf

That was two months ago. Think maybe the plane was recovered as part of the investigation? Might explain a few things, but the fuselage seems kinda intact for a crashed vehicle. The crew did eject, which would explain no canopy, but the plastic would conform to the empty cockpit, making an irregular shadow instead of a smooth one. And an impact hard enough to snap off the nose would do quite a bit of damage to the rest of the plane. Yes, the wings and horizontal stabilizers are missing, but they appear to have been taken off cleanly, not as a result of an impact.

Thoughts?

[hercules130]

Searched the inventory too, nothing. Machine appears for the first time in Oct 13. Not saying theory is wrong, but a structural mod to that extreme for a drone conv would be without precedence to my knowledge and would it be airworthy? Perhaps forward fuselage was changed to allow for drone mod? Nothing on Bauer page, but I suppose she could have damage and donated her forward section to another machine? Again in no way arguing (I just don't know), but I don't see it as the canopy being removed. The vents don't have the typical plywood vent built up around them that is common on many aircraft - could it be a mock up and in fact complete?
.
Anybody familiar with MQM-13A? Brain dumping and failing to find info on inter webs. Latest inventory list one in Area 20, present too long to be our machine if accurate, but it also list the tail as 79-0041; which is an Eagle.

G

[Aahz]

Machine appears for the first time in Oct 13.

Really? That early? I guess the ArcGIS imagery is really out of date, which is not what I would expect from a company that handles geographic information systems. Does it come and go, or has it been there since Oct 2013?

Not saying theory is wrong, but a structural mod to that extreme for a drone conv would be without precedence to my knowledge and would it be airworthy? Perhaps forward fuselage was changed to allow for drone mod? Nothing on Bauer page, but I suppose she could have damage and donated her forward section to another machine? Again in no way arguing (I just don't know), but I don't see it as the canopy being removed. The vents don't have the typical plywood vent built up around them that is common on many aircraft - could it be a mock up and in fact complete?

The drone idea is just that - an idea. But an aircraft with a missing nose is not likely going to come to a nice point on the front. It looks as though the nose was removed and replaced with a much shorter nose for whatever reason. That would affect its performance, especially in the supersonic region, so who knows if that's what happened. One thing nice about the F-18 - the forward strakes help keep the shock wave out in front of the air intakes, so even with a shorter nose the engine performance should remain the same.

The thing that gets me is the white wrapping. That suggests the airplane is in "type 1000" storage. This means a "near flyaway" condition, and is not to be used as a donor for spare parts or whatever. No other F-18 at Davis-Monthan is preserved like this. What's so special about this one? The F/A-18E/F program is still ongoing, with new aircraft (and spare parts) being produced currently, so there is no need to store just one F/A-18E/F in type 1000 storage. Unless there is something very important or special about this one. And why has it been missing from the inventory since Oct 2013? Is it classified?

Anybody familiar with MQM-13A? Brain dumping and failing to find info on inter webs. Latest inventory list one in Area 20, present too long to be our machine if accurate, but it also list the tail as 79-0041; which is an Eagle.

Martin MQM-13A Mace - definitely not an Eagle ... or a Super Hornet.

[hercules130]

Mace of course- feel silly- thanks. Appears on all imagery on Google Earth from 13 10 to the most current, three snaps I think.

I sent you a PM, but cannot get it out of outbox.

G

[Aahz]

It could be one of the Super Bugs that were bailed to NASA I know a few have come back to DM

Maybe. But the HARV and the X-53 variants were based on the F-18, not the Super Hornet. Geometry is different. But maybe this is a NASA test article based on the Super that is not yet unclassified. A testbed aircraft would be worth preserving.