UFO

[PMC]

Put it this way, if I were a discriminating boy-racer from the Tau Ceti system with my XLR GTI MK6 Saucer deluxe I'd take it for a spin over some of the more densely populated areas on Earth for a laugh before sitting back and watching the resulting furore way down below.  

Once I was done having fun with the natives, I'd start buzzing some airbases to enjoy some drag racing with the local airforces.  

Bet you anything you like, first contact between humanity and an alien culture will take place when one of the burberry clad interstellar chavs reverses his saucer into Mount Rushmore and stops to exchange insurance details.

[PMC]

Local East Anglian legend has it that UFOs have been seen following the main A120 road, which is pretty straight and runs from Colchester to Harwich, on the North Sea coast.  

I found that one out after having driven along that road twice a day for seven and a half years...

Thankfully, I wasn't stopped by tourists from Sirius B asking for directions to the Millenium Dome.  

[PMC]

Try explaining that to USAAF Capt Mantell, who was killed in 1947 when engaging a UFO in his P-51 fighter, or to the two Iranian F-4 Phantom pilots who engaged a UFO over Tehran in the late 1960s and experienced sudden systems shutdown when attempting to get a missle lock on a UFO.  The latter pilots were very lucky, as control of their jets returned once the UFO dodged out of the way.

In the 1970s a Major Schaeffer (USAF) who while on exchange with the RAF was ordered to ditch his Lightning interceptor in the Irish Sea after a classified engagement with an unknown aircraft.  Sadly Major Schaeffer was found dead in his dinghy shortly after due to exposure.

Several eyewitnesses who have reported seeing UFOs at close range have also been recorded as suffering first degree burns consistent with exposure to gamma ray radiation.  

Try explaining that lot away "ball lightning".

[PMC]

In the case I detailed above, where an observer developed radiation burns it was reported that the UFO was being escorted by four US Airforce helicopters flying in loose formation.  It doesn't take much imagination to hypothesise that the craft was of terrestrial origin, given that both the US and Soviets experimented with nuclear powered aircraft.

Certainly there are aircraft being tested right now which are kept hidden from the public - even the cash strapped UK has had more than it's fair share of sightings of unfamiliar shapes in the skies around our airbases and Wharton - British Aerospace's facility.  

Remember that although the F117a was first unveiled in 1988, it had been flying in prototype form for ten years and had been in regular squadron service for five.  

However, there are also some extraordinary reports - ie a Minuteman missile base being overflown by a UFO and subsequently being rendered defenceless as every electronic system on the base shut down and only restarted once the UFO had disappeared.  The Iranian Phantom pilots reported a similar phenomena and certainly aircraft (and pilots) have been lost during UFO encounters.

[PMC]

Perhaps this snippet from the BBC website might shed some light on things:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/5079044.stm

It seems that British authorities are aware of US projects to field a hypersonic craft in service.

In 1994 an aircraft crashed mysteriously on approach to Boscombe Down airfield in the UK.  Boscombe is operated by the DERA (Defence Evaluation and Research Agency)

http://www.militaryairshows.co.uk/unex5.htm

Described as being "twin tailled" (which rules out anything in the UK inventory), the craft was quickly surrounded by British secret service/special forces agents shortly after crashing and the wreckage was flown back to the USA.

Certainly, such a security operation would not normally be mounted to recover an F-15 (the only other twin tailled aircraft flying regularly from and around the UK):

http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/caab/articles/lakenheathcrash.htm

So what crashed?

Well, the USA operates F-15s in the UK (as per the above link), these fly from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.  However the twin tails aren't "inward canted".  This would also rule out the highly unlikely possibility of the aircraft being a USMC/USN F-18 or USN F-14.

Indeed, the only known jets with inward canted fins are the SR-71 (hardly fighter sized) and the F-117 prototype "Have Blue", which was redesigned with outward canted fins shortly after the first prototype flew.

[PMC]

An SR-71 doesn't have a forward hinged canopy.

I'm not suggesting what crashed at Boscombe during 1994 was the mythical Aurora (if it exists at all), but there has long been speculation that an A-12 (as in the cancelled US Navy stealth attacker) derivative was in use during the first Gulf war for identifying targets and vectoring the F-117s in over Baghdad.  An advanced stealth craft being used as a modern day "pathfinder" with the ability to loiter over targets and illuminate targets for low flying attacker's laser guided munitions is a logical development.

Don't forget that the F-117 only carries two bombs in it's internal bay, no cannon or defensive armament is fitted so it's fairly limited in it's flexibility when compared to something like a Strike Eagle/Tornado/F-18E.

[PMC]

Rather than carrying bombs, my theory was that a stealth plane could loiter unseen at altitude over targets and illuminate them with it's laser designator.

That way, the Tornados, Strike Eagles etc flying at low level have something to aim at and are thus capable of making a first pass attack, before the target even knows they are there.

Tigger wrote:
But lets be honest, there isnt a stealth aircraft fielded today that wins a dogfight with an Eagle, in fact theres probably not an aircraft that wins a dogfight with the newest Eagle and an equal pilot.

Saw a few circling over Suffolk prior to landing at Lakenhearh, they're still a damn handsome plane and judging by the tight formation they maintained, the pilots know a thing or two about keeping a plane steady.  Pilots the world over are just show-offs at heart.  

Still, I'm a huge fan of the old BAc Lightning which despite it's age remains the fastest aircraft ever operated by the RAF and could even show an Eagle a thing or two about climbing to altitude from a standing start.