"Sneeky Pete" Revealed

Jet Disc

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“SNEEKY PETE”

“Sneeky Pete” was an advanced technology demonstrator built by TASK Research Inc. of Santa Paula California in 1982, and was believed to have been built to test early avionics/electronic equipment that could fly a plane remotely (forerunner of today’s advanced UAV’s, RPV’s and UCAV’s). This single pilot manned test-bed was built by Jim Kern (president of TASK) which supplied many composite structures/components for the Rutan designed Long-EZ, Defiant, and Voyager aircraft during the early to mid 1980’s. Task Research Inc., was also involved in many military projects including the Northrop F-20 Tigershark, Lockheed TR-1 program, and supplied materials for U.S. Army helicopter blades. Note: Rutan Aircraft Factory/Scaled Composites was NOT involved in the construction/building process of the Sneeky Pete aircraft
The maiden flight of Sneeky Pete took place at Mojave Airport on July 18th, 1982 with Dick Rutan at the controls (Mike Melvill, along with many others served as test pilots for this aircraft). Sneeky Pete was described as a “Long-EZ knock off”, slightly larger than a standard Long-EZ, with more rounded fuselage sides and a large bulbous two piece canopy. The craft also incorporated an extra long pitot tube in the front. This particular aircraft had a wing span of 28 feet with an overall length of approximately 17 feet. Power was supplied by a single Lycoming O-360 (180 HP) engine turning a variable pitch wood or composite propeller. The aircraft incorporated a retractable nose gear which was powered by an electric motor. The wing root to fuselage joint was blended/contoured and flowed seamlessly into the cockpit. Sneeky Pete was outfitted with various special avionics depending on the specific mission requirement. Eyewitnesses described the exterior of the aircraft as white in color. Only one airframe was ever constructed . The designation “Sneeky Pete” was written along the side of the fuselage.
It’s believed the flight test program for Sneeky Pete took place at the remote test site in Nevada (aka Area 51/AFFTC DET. 3) starting in late 1982 and is still ongoing. The aircraft has been put into seclusion at various times, but has never been officially retired. During its “down time”, Sneeky Pete was most likely stored in a TOP-SECRET facility known as “Dyson’s Dock” at Groom Lake which was also the location of the Northrop “Tacit Blue” technology demonstrator after it was retired in 1985. In its later variants, Sneeky Pete flew under jet power, and may have contributed to today’s advanced UAV’s which include: The Northrop/Grumman Global Hawk, General Atomics Predator, Boeing X-45, Northrop/Grumman X-47 Pegasus. No photographs of “Sneeky Pete” have ever surfaced within the public domain (a bit odd for a vintage piston powered composite canard aircraft). Now that the Lockheed “Senior Trend” (F-117 Nighthawk), Northrop “Tacit Blue”, “Project Senior C J” (Northrop ATB stealth Bomber), and the Boeing Phantom Works “Bird of Prey” have been declassified and now reside at the USAF museum (Dayton Ohio), it’s time for “Sneeky Pete” to come out into the light as declassifying this aircraft no longer poses any threat to the national security of the United States.

Please note that “Sneeky Pete” is NOT to be confused with the well known Rutan Long-EZ, or the German built “Long-EZ look-a-like” Speed Canard.

Please preserve a very important part of our national history by sending any technical information, drawings, sketches, illustrations or photos of the “Sneeky Pete” aircraft to military aerospace historian Michael Schratt below:
Michael Schratt
215 Lake Shore Dr.
Crystal Lake IL, 60014
email: auroracad5@aol.com

Please see YouTube link below for my graphic intensive PowerPoint presentation titled: THAT'S CLASSIFIED......USAF SECRETS REVEALED

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiPpMdkUPX4
 
I always thought "Sneeky Pete" was associated with one of the early ideas for a stealth concept. Subsonic and stealthy. ???
 
Pictures?
Is the youtubevideo only 4.59 minutes long?
It stops just behind the pilot stand before the Bird of Prey..
 
The presentation is 23 segments long, and runs two hours. Just type in "Michael Schratt" in the search box on YouTube to watch the entire fully illustrated lecture.

Michael Schratt
 
I would be interested in seeing the full-rez versions of these (and any other data/drawings that went with 'em). Any chance of this happening?
 

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In my personal opinion, Michael Schratt is a less than ideal source for this kind of "revelation". He's the originator of the "USAF flying disc" fake of several years ago. This story has by now all but disappeared from the web (Mr. Schratt has completely removed his usafflyingsaucers.com site, but some of it can still be seen using the www.archive.org site - e.g. this PDF file), presumably because it has been thoroughly debunked.

So until his presentation (which I haven't watched yet) is backed up by really convincing and verifiable evidence, I'll remain very skeptical about any "extraordinary" claims made.

But as I said, that's my personal opinion only.

Regards
Andreas
 
I suppose that this is a mix of 'Grade 6' sources...as well as 'Grade -6' ones.
 
I listened to about 2/3 of the presentation ... and the same "USAF Flying Disc" photos, which were proven to be fake a long time ago, are presented as fact again :mad: :mad:! Together with a whole lot of other utter nonsense! If there is anything in this presentation, which isn't either well known public fact or old debunked rubbish, please wake me ;).

Anyway, all this should probably go to the "Bar" here ;D!
 
Dowloaded all 24 pieces last night but haven't watched it yet. Did see a screen with Nazi flying saucers on it though. ::)
 
flateric said:
I suppose that this is a mix of 'Grade 6' sources...as well as 'Grade -6' ones.

I recognized some of it as "real stuff." Specifically the Convair Fish stuff, which I have a complete copy of the report on from my trip back in March. The copy I have has "SECRET" stamped all over it, and I've not had a lot of luck in getting it checked for declassification; but if someone is wandering the nation showing classified images to the general public, a good case can be made that it is now in the "public domain" or whatever, and is automatically declassified.

I'll want to check on that before I get my nuts ina bind with the FBI, of course....
 

Michael Schratt Presents That's Classified: Air Force Secrets Revealed

Michael Schratt has lectured across the country on the subject of "Mystery Aircraft", and classified propulsion systems buried deep within the military industrial complex.

A recent guest speaker at the “OSHKOSH” AirVenture 2006/2007 event, (the world’s largest air show), Michael has developed a number of contacts who have had first hand experience dealing with classified “black programs”, including former USAF pilots, retired Naval personnel and aerospace engineers who have maintained a TOP SECRET Q “MAJIC” clearance. A private pilot and military aerospace historian, he currently works as an aerospace draftsman near Chicago.

Price: $20.00
$20.00 DVD
$10.00 Audio CD


...oh, YES...ugh
 
Orionblamblam said:
I would be interested in seeing the full-rez versions of these (and any other data/drawings that went with 'em). Any chance of this happening?

Wait for the Popular Mechanics article that's sure to come from this :)
 
quellish said:
Wait for the Popular Mechanics article that's sure to come from this :)

Please, don't shoot at PM!!
It is one of my favourite SciFi magazine....... ;D
 
Jet Disc said:
“SNEEKY PETE”

“Sneeky Pete” was an advanced technology demonstrator built by TASK Research Inc. of Santa Paula California in 1982, and was believed to have been built to test early avionics/electronic equipment that could fly a plane remotely (forerunner of today’s advanced UAV’s, RPV’s and UCAV’s). This single pilot manned test-bed was built by Jim Kern (president of TASK) which supplied many composite structures/components for the Rutan designed Long-EZ, Defiant, and Voyager aircraft during the early to mid 1980’s. Task Research Inc., was also involved in many military projects including the Northrop F-20 Tigershark, Lockheed TR-1 program, and supplied materials for U.S. Army helicopter blades. Note: Rutan Aircraft Factory/Scaled Composites was NOT involved in the construction/building process of the Sneeky Pete aircraft
The maiden flight of Sneeky Pete took place at Mojave Airport on July 18th, 1982 with Dick Rutan at the controls (Mike Melvill, along with many others served as test pilots for this aircraft). Sneeky Pete was described as a “Long-EZ knock off”, slightly larger than a standard Long-EZ, with more rounded fuselage sides and a large bulbous two piece canopy. The craft also incorporated an extra long pitot tube in the front. This particular aircraft had a wing span of 28 feet with an overall length of approximately 17 feet. Power was supplied by a single Lycoming O-360 (180 HP) engine turning a variable pitch wood or composite propeller. The aircraft incorporated a retractable nose gear which was powered by an electric motor. The wing root to fuselage joint was blended/contoured and flowed seamlessly into the cockpit. Sneeky Pete was outfitted with various special avionics depending on the specific mission requirement. Eyewitnesses described the exterior of the aircraft as white in color. Only one airframe was ever constructed . The designation “Sneeky Pete” was written along the side of the fuselage.
It’s believed the flight test program for Sneeky Pete took place at the remote test site in Nevada (aka Area 51/AFFTC DET. 3) starting in late 1982 and is still ongoing. The aircraft has been put into seclusion at various times, but has never been officially retired. During its “down time”, Sneeky Pete was most likely stored in a TOP-SECRET facility known as “Dyson’s Dock” at Groom Lake which was also the location of the Northrop “Tacit Blue” technology demonstrator after it was retired in 1985. In its later variants, Sneeky Pete flew under jet power, and may have contributed to today’s advanced UAV’s which include: The Northrop/Grumman Global Hawk, General Atomics Predator, Boeing X-45, Northrop/Grumman X-47 Pegasus. No photographs of “Sneeky Pete” have ever surfaced within the public domain (a bit odd for a vintage piston powered composite canard aircraft). Now that the Lockheed “Senior Trend” (F-117 Nighthawk), Northrop “Tacit Blue”, “Project Senior C J” (Northrop ATB stealth Bomber), and the Boeing Phantom Works “Bird of Prey” have been declassified and now reside at the USAF museum (Dayton Ohio), it’s time for “Sneeky Pete” to come out into the light as declassifying this aircraft no longer poses any threat to the national security of the United States.

Please note that “Sneeky Pete” is NOT to be confused with the well known Rutan Long-EZ, or the German built “Long-EZ look-a-like” Speed Canard.

Please preserve a very important part of our national history by sending any technical information, drawings, sketches, illustrations or photos of the “Sneeky Pete” aircraft to military aerospace historian Michael Schratt below:
Michael Schratt
215 Lake Shore Dr.
Crystal Lake IL, 60014
email: auroracad5@aol.com

Please see YouTube link below for my graphic intensive PowerPoint presentation titled: THAT'S CLASSIFIED......USAF SECRETS REVEALED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiPpMdkUPX4


Based on the above, I think there is some confusion with a California Microwave project.
 
I have been reading through this thread several times and cannot make anything out of it.
In my country it is time to take out the garbage...coming back in a minute.
 
Hi all,
I am also somewhat puzzled on Sneaky Pete. However, I think there is not a real connection with the California Microwave, Inc project. As far as I know the company was involved in a test program with
Scaled Composite (Mr. Burt Rutan) on their CM-144 derivative of the LongEZ. It seems the CM-144 was first flown around 1987 or 1988 and reportedly had a 210hp t/s Lycoming IO-360 engine. Dimensions given included wingspan 29ft and length 18.5ft. Flight endurance was said to be some 18 hours. The CM-144 was claimed to differ construction wise from the homebuilt LongEZ to enable mass production., but apparently only a single example was built.
I noted that Sneaky Pete's date for first flight was reported as 18 July 1982 and engine (180hp Lycoming O-360) and dimensions (span 28ft, length 17ft) are also slightly different from those of the CM-144.
What both a/c had in common was that they were used on secret test and &D work.
Love to see this puzzle solved, someway, sometime.
Regards, Walter
 
walter said:
Hi all,
I am also somewhat puzzled on Sneaky Pete. However, I think there is not a real connection with the California Microwave, Inc project. As far as I know the company was involved in a test program with
Scaled Composite (Mr. Burt Rutan) on their CM-144 derivative of the LongEZ. It seems the CM-144 was first flown around 1987 or 1988 and reportedly had a 210hp t/s Lycoming IO-360 engine. Dimensions given included wingspan 29ft and length 18.5ft. Flight endurance was said to be some 18 hours. The CM-144 was claimed to differ construction wise from the homebuilt LongEZ to enable mass production., but apparently only a single example was built.
I noted that Sneaky Pete's date for first flight was reported as 18 July 1982 and engine (180hp Lycoming O-360) and dimensions (span 28ft, length 17ft) are also slightly different from those of the CM-144.
What both a/c had in common was that they were used on secret test and &D work.
Love to see this puzzle solved, someway, sometime.
Regards, Walter


There was a CM-44 and later a CM-44A that corrected some (serious) aerodynamic problems. Previous to the CM-44 there were other related projects.
 
Not SNEAKY PETE he talks about. What was GD Sneaky Pete is known for a while. He talks of SNEEKY PETE
 
Orionblamblam said:
And these....

Scott - do you recall what Image11 is supposed to be?
 
quellish said:
Orionblamblam said:
And these....

Scott - do you recall what Image11 is supposed to be?

This:
http://www.rense.com/general57/f19.htm

f19.jpg
 
quellish said:
Orionblamblam said:
Scott - do you recall what Image11 is supposed to be?

This:
http://www.rense.com/general57/f19.htm

Thanks. It's interesting, there are small bits of truth in most of this guy's ramblings. Then he turns on the crazytalk.
 
Orionblamblam said:
flateric said:
I suppose that this is a mix of 'Grade 6' sources...as well as 'Grade -6' ones.

I recognized some of it as "real stuff." Specifically the Convair Fish stuff, which I have a complete copy of the report on from my trip back in March. The copy I have has "SECRET" stamped all over it, and I've not had a lot of luck in getting it checked for declassification; but if someone is wandering the nation showing classified images to the general public, a good case can be made that it is now in the "public domain" or whatever, and is automatically declassified.

I'll want to check on that before I get my nuts ina bind with the FBI, of course....


Agree Scott.

But there is also the possibility that he has a declassified copy.

Might be worth a check.
 
"Sneeky Pete" is described as a Task Venture project.

While researching for my Rutan website, I had the utmost difficulty in documenting one of their joint projects with Scaled called the Task Research "Vantage". From the information I have, it was a Long-EZ "experimentally fitted with a Williams F107 jet engine in 1993. The aircraft still appears on the civil register [N3142B] as being owned by Scaled Composites, but its current whereabouts are unknown.

Could it be that "Sneeky Pete" might have been reconditioned as the Venture once the initial research program was over?
 
Orionblamblam said:
flateric said:
http://www.ufocongressstore.com/servlet/the-689/Michael-Schratt-Presents-That%27s/Detail


TOP SECRET Q “MAJIC” clearance.

That says a lot, right there...

There actually is a Q clearance. It has to do with the DoE, nuke stuff. Never heard of MAJIC in any serious source, but I know for a fact that there is a Q-level clearance.
 
From Schratts website:
 

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At long last!!! Thanks for making my day, Dynoman! Been looking for pics of that bird for 5 years now! Well, it looks like a standard Rutan VariEze type at first glance, doesn't it?
 
Stargazer...it sure does. Schratts three view drawing from the video post also looks accurate. The canopy is larger with a higher pitched faring that blends into the engine cowling. The two tubes (looks like from the shadow a similar arrangement on both wings) are unknown to me. The rest of the configuration is very 'EZ.'
 
Orionblamblam said:
quellish said:
Orionblamblam said:
And these....

Scott - do you recall what Image11 is supposed to be?

This:
http://www.rense.com/general57/f19.htm

f19.jpg

Another pumpkin seed design. So. Which pumpkin seed was it that flew over St. Louis at about 00:20:00 on 01-01-2000? I'm being serious - I saw the thing.
 
Here are the details and the attached image is one of my attempts to recreate what I saw.

For many (too many) years I worked in the Master Control for a cable TV company. One of the regular tasks for the person on the evening shift was to confirm that the tower lights were on then sign off on the verification in the Tower Lights Log. Because of the Y2K scare the tower lights had to be checked twice that night - the second time being after midnight to confirm that Y2K had not knocked them out. (It's an analog photocell that interrupts the circuit during daylight hours so it shouldn't have been on the list but some manager decided that it needed to be checked.) Also. Because of the Y2K scare we had almost as many people there at midnight as we normally had during an average business day.

I waited until about 20 minutes after midnight to check the lights because people in that neighborhood tend to fire guns into the air for New Year's. The Headend Techs were out back taking a smoking break when I checked the lights. My attention was drawn from the tower by what my mind had at first accepted as The Pleiades constellation - it was moving! As I studied it I realized that it was not an average aircraft so I called it to the attention of the others. They had no interest and their general response was "So, it's an airplane."

I heard no sound and saw no visible exhaust or vapor trail. It flew straight line from south to north at an apparent speed that seemed close to the apparent speed of high flying airliners and military aircraft. The bright spots were what caught my attention first then as I studied the thing I could make out the outline of the vehicle. Apart from the bright points, the form was only slightly different in value and color from that of the night sky. Somewhat rusty-brown-grey looking against the deep blue-green of the night sky.

My first attempt to document or recreate what I saw was to try painting it on a small canvas panel but I could not get it to look even close to what I had seen. I took that attempt with me to one of the ASAA Artist Forums and showed it to the Aviation Week editors who were attending. They lost interest as soon as I said that I had no photographs of the thing. For my next attempt I took a night exposure of the sky from where I saw the thing and I've been playing with it in Picture Publisher - trying to get something close to what I saw. My feeling is that this current attempt is still a bit exaggerated in value and contrast.

I'll let you make of this what you will but I know I saw something that night.
 

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The Artist said:
Somewhat rusty-brown-grey looking against the deep blue-green of the night sky.

The coloration indicates that what you were seeing was the city lights below being reflected off of a low-flying aircraft, not an aircraft at airliner altitudes. Something at most a few thousand feet up. Could have just as easily been the Goodyear Blimp. Which might explain the rows of lights you indicate; not full-fledged messages on the , but perhaps just a few "pixels" lit up as running lights.

Determining the speed and altitude of an aircraft is essentially *impossible* without proper scale references. And a vaguely visible aircraft of undiscernable configuration at night with nothing near it to indicate size? It could be a thousand feet up flying at 50 knots, or 50,000 feet up flying at 2,500 knots.

dsc00117.png


Imagine this with the main message shut off, just a few lights on to avoid collisions, cruising around 2,000 feet up. Not a chance in hell you'd hear it over city traffic.

e6581Lightsign-replace.jpg


EGADS! Flying Hummers!
 
Ok, I'm sure someone will correct me on this but isn't the "deltoid/pumpkin-seed" design less than stable? By the illustration it (not your's Artist :) ) I don't see how the "control-surfaces" would give much control authority as they would tend to be shadowed at higher speeds. (And personally I'm not seeing HOW you get "high-speed" from "B-17-like" verticals so it may be beside the point entirely on that design) Thrust-vectoring might be possible I suppose.

I am of course MORE than a bit skeptical when someone links "Pulsed" propulsion systems with the "donuts-on-a-rope" effect since it immediatly shows a total lack of knowledge on HOW pulsed anything actually operates :) (Having had personal experiance with seeing a duel-contrail become a "donuts-on-a-rope" {Ok, anyone else ever have problems with that and write "soap-on-a-rope" instead?} contrail I've haven't been able to take anyone seriously who still believes they are "evidence" of some advanced propulsion system)

Dynoman? At first glance those pods under the wings of the Vantage aircraft struck me as simply twin 2.75-inch rocket pod-look alikes, for a movie or TV show maybe? But they also could easily be smoke generators. I recall Rutan's "Veri-Viggen" had a role in the original "Deathrace:2000" as an attack aircraft with a pod fitted to the fuselage :) I suppose that's of little help though...

Not sure what the idea of building a highly modified Long-EZ was for 'testing' especially since Long-EZ's are being fitted with jets, rockets, pulse-detonation engines, and even ducted-fan propulsion so what was the purpose of the "Vantage" and "Sneaky-Pete" in the first place?

Randy
 
For the Artist...there is a lot that the picture does not show, for example: How close are you to an airport/air base? Where was the sighting, in the city, suburbs, outskirts, etc.? How long did you track it? Did you wait around to hear any sound after the object passed overhead? As Orionblamblam says, it "could have easily been the Goodyear Blimp," considering it was New Years. In these cases it's usually best to eliminate the 'most likely suspects,' before considering the unlikely.

My interest is in the lights on the vehicle. The shape at night can be confusing, however the light pattern does not look like a landing light configuration, anti-collision, nav, etc. There are stealth technologies that rely on diffused lighting systems (USAF has used a blue light diffusion systems in the past) that could explain the light pattern.

The basic shape is similar to the Strela below. So the configuration is not impossible.
 

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RanulfC said:
Not sure what the idea of building a highly modified Long-EZ was for 'testing' especially since Long-EZ's are being fitted with jets, rockets, pulse-detonation engines, and even ducted-fan propulsion so what was the purpose of the "Vantage" and "Sneaky-Pete" in the first place?

The TASK Vantage was built in 1982 by Jim Kern's TASK Research as c/n 1 and received the FAA registration N3142B. It is not to be confused with the eponymous prototype developed by Scaled Composites for VisionAire a few years later. The TASK company was a subcontractor for the military and for many aircraft companies such as Lockheed, Northrop and many more; they also built parts for Rutan—notably for the Voyager, of which they were one of the eight original sponsors. In this case the subcontracting work was apparently done on behalf of Northrop.

The TASK Vantage is not properly documented yet, due to its classified lease and evaluation by the military. I do not know what the initial research program was about, but what I can say is what the Vantage became after that. In 1993, it was experimentally fitted with a Williams F107 jet engine, a small turbofan engine made by the Williams International company. It was derived from the Williams WR19 and designed to power cruise missiles and was used as the powerplant for the AGM-86 ALCM, BGM-109 Tomahawk, and AGM-129 ACM, as well as the experimental Williams X-Jet flying platform. Of course the exact purpose of that research program is not known.

An interesting point is that the TASK Vantage appears on the civil register as being owned by none other than Scaled Composites... but it's apparently not in Mojave, and its current whereabouts are unknown.
 

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