Photo: Dean Muskett
It’s been a while since we’ve heard reports of strange aircraft flying over the deserts of the Southwest but some photos posted by a couple of skywatchers earlier this month have tongues wagging in the defense world. The photos were snapped on a clear day over Amarillo, Texas, and show a generally triangular planform with a concave rear side, black in color with what looks like a pair of contrails. The size of the aircraft relative to the contrails suggests something approaching the size of a small-to-medium airliner, although that’s open to interpretation.
Bill Sweetman, the former Jane’s editor who now heads up Aviation Week’s defense department, posted the pictures on his blog and said he and a few others around the AvWeek water cooler agree the images show “something real.” Just what is another question although their speculation is that it’s a stealth bomber or electronic attack aircraft of some sort.Sweetman said radio chatter heard by one of the photographers suggest it’s manned.Just why a super secret aircraft would be flying over a good-sized city on a clear day wasn’t part of that speculation, however.
