Northrop / McDonnell Douglas ATF - YF-23 and EMD F-23

Wooahha! Current state of YF-23A PAV-1 as of May 2008. Magic weapons' bay doors are open
Pity that instead of taking at least good digital camera, guy had only damn communicator crappy stuff with him.

Anyone is nearby Dayton, ah?
 

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I live in Beavercreek, Ohio which is near the Museum. It looks like it is not yet on display. I'll try to get some pics .
 
It's in restoration shop...they offer Behind the Scenes Tours there...

Behind the Scenes Tours are regularly scheduled, free guided tours of the museum's restoration area. The museum shuttle bus transports participants to the restoration hangars, located on the historic Wright Field flight line in Area B of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, about one mile from the main museum complex.

Behind the Scenes Tours are offered every Friday (some exceptions) at 12:15 p.m. Advanced registration is required, and registrations are currently being taken for tours through August 2008. Sign up early as tours may fill up quickly! Registration closes the Wednesday before the tour; however, a limited number of "walk-in" registrations are available on the day of the tour. No group reservations are accepted.

Participants must be at least 12 years old, and an adult must accompany those between 12 and 18. A current government-issued photo ID (i.e. driver's license) is required of all individuals 18 and over. Foreign visitors must present an original passport. For security reasons, all bags are subject to search, and backpacks, packages and large camera cases are not permitted on the shuttle bus.

To register, please call (937) 255-3286. Note: Individuals requiring handicapped accessibility should advise museum staff when registering.

Elider, I think that several thousands of YF-23 nuts will ask you for favor, with me being your field photographer for the Monino museum and all the MAKS shows for the next decade.
 
You have more info on tours than I do. That info wilol be helpful. I'll try to get a tour soon. I may have to email the pics to someone for resizing.
 
You can upload original pics zipped to fileshare service like zShare.Net or Mediafire. If you can ask stuff to allow you shoot weapons bay inside (pretty sure that it's pristine empty of classified stuff now), it would be great.
 
I don't know enough about the net to upload pics on host sites.
I went to museum this AM and went on standby Two hours later I found I was the next to last person to make the tour list.
Alas, the YF-23 weapons bay door was closed and could not be opened since some required support equipment was not available.
I was told it had been open the day before. Maybe they close on tour days for safety reasons--I don't know. Anyway, I will
try to attach a pic.
 
First try at pic.
 

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It was really fast reaction, Elider=) Oh damn, they have closed the doors... :(
 
flateric said:
It's in restoration shop...they offer Behind the Scenes Tours there...

Behind the Scenes Tours are regularly scheduled, free guided tours of the museum's restoration area. The museum shuttle bus transports participants to the restoration hangars, located on the historic Wright Field flight line in Area B of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, about one mile from the main museum complex.

Behind the Scenes Tours are offered every Friday (some exceptions) at 12:15 p.m. Advanced registration is required, and registrations are currently being taken for tours through August 2008. Sign up early as tours may fill up quickly! Registration closes the Wednesday before the tour; however, a limited number of "walk-in" registrations are available on the day of the tour. No group reservations are accepted.

Participants must be at least 12 years old, and an adult must accompany those between 12 and 18. A current government-issued photo ID (i.e. driver's license) is required of all individuals 18 and over. Foreign visitors must present an original passport. For security reasons, all bags are subject to search, and backpacks, packages and large camera cases are not permitted on the shuttle bus.

To register, please call (937) 255-3286. Note: Individuals requiring handicapped accessibility should advise museum staff when registering.

Elider, I think that several thousands of YF-23 nuts will ask you for favor, with me being your field photographer for the Monino museum and all the MAKS shows for the next decade.


I believe PAV-2 may be on display at the Hawthorne airport here in Los Angeles, the next time I'm in the area I'll see if it's outside.
When I first moved here years ago I was in the area on an errand, imagine how surprised I was to see those tails peeking from behind a fence.
 
No, it's taken from Western museum of flight by Northrop already and now parked at NG facility territory.
 
When it goes on display maybe the doors will be open and I'll try again. Meanwhile, two more pics.
 

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Oops! Only one showed.
 

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Oh my! Thank you for these! Didn't they allow to shoot the cockpit from the ladder? Any more pics?
 
Sorry! I didn't even think to ask about using the maintenance stand to get pics of the cockpit. I'm almost certain it would not have been instructive since it appeared to be gutted. Sorry about the picture quality also. That's the best I could do with a Cannon Sureshot A520. Anyway more pics.
 

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elider said:
Sorry! I didn't even think to ask about using the maintenance stand to get pics of the cockpit. I'm almost certain it would not have been instructive since it appeared to be gutted.

Do you know how much YF-23 cockpit pics exist? Answer: you can count them with fingers on one hand (and there will be reserve yet).
 
A great shot from the USAFM media gallery
 

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Matej said:
After reading, you can rename the thread ;)

These triangular edges on the intake were considered?,in my opinion would not be a good idea, at medium velocity and at some angle of attack would not send vortexs and turbulence to the engine?

I think that is the reason i never have seen these intakes on a operative aircraft
 
Spring said:
These triangular edges on the intake were considered?

Yes.

Spring said:
I think that is the reason i never have seen these intakes on a operative aircraft

Guess one at least
8a8e132bee60.jpg
 
PAV-1 restoration is finished and is supposedly now on display at the AF Museum.
 

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...missing the HUD, but still a beauty she is..
 
...
 

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flateric said:
I suppose that I probably won't will allow that, because copyright issues. This is Japanese version of West Coast Images Web of Secrecy: YF-23 Black Widow II Declassified documentary - money from sales of this DVD go directly to Northrop veterans who did this enormous effort of digging ATF-23 archives. So piracy in this case will directly affect their wish to continue research. Moreower, I know these people, so it just won't be polite. Publishing couple of promotional screen captures is OK, but posting video is no-no.

IMPORTANT NOTE
DVD is discontinued, WCI Productions web-site is RIP. So grab your copy before it's gone! Some e-shops still has it to offer.
No. It's not the Web of Secrecy video. It's a tv program documentation of modern military planes in general. Geography, I believe. The vid features the rafale, then the typhoon, then the yf-23.
Edit: and beside, I wouldn't be that stupid. Some folk did that a while ago on youtube and got account deleted :D
 
flateric said:

Who made that image?
I know for a fact that it is a fake.
Mainly because I used the same background image ( of the hangar)
It is quite easy to find the original image on the internet.
 
This is the tread abuot my favorite aircraft and in the last 7 post there is not a single mention of the word YF-23.
Those kind of replies are better of as PM in my opinion.

I jump on every alert of a new post to this tread only to find talk about Trojans. Very upsetting to the quality of the forums
 
lantinian said:
This is the tread abuot my favorite aircraft and in the last 7 post there is not a single mention of the word YF-23.
Those kind of replies are better of as PM in my opinion.

I jump on every alert of a new post to this tread only to find talk about Trojans. Very upsetting to the quality of the forums
My apology, mate!

Here's the video I said with a scene where the yf-23 opened its weapon bay inflight for anyone who's interested (I contested the youtube copy right search engine for the music I used and I really don't know about the future of this video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkOSxc6nmKM&fmt=18
 
Removed some recent off-topic posts.

YF-23 was certainly a beauty.
 

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Sorry for my ignorance, but does anyone know why it has 2 variable nozzle flaps on top? How do they work?
 

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Read first something of how nozzle works in common.
Then look at the picture of F-15SMTD PW nozzle and keep in mind that this was a derect predecessor of F119 nozzle installed on YF-23A PAV-1. Look here as well http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,212.0.html
This should answer a question why it has 'two flaps'.
 

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flateric said:
Read first something of how nozzle works in common.
Then look at the picture of F-15SMTD PW nozzle and keep in mind that this was a derect predecessor of F119 nozzle installed on YF-23A PAV-1. Look here as well http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,212.0.html
This should answer a question why it has 'two flaps'.
Thanks alot for answering question, man! So the 2 flaps were some sort of convergent/divergent nozzles for speed handling?
 
they were convergent/divergent nozzle itself
 
flateric said:
they were convergent/divergent nozzle itself
I don't understand the point of this post. Is it just to correct my choice of phrasing words, or is it trying to show some significant difference in "sort a convergent/divergent nozzles" and "convergent/divergent nozzles itself?" Please explain if there is a difference!
 
in a few words, you got the idea right=)
 
Actually, the bottom flap wrt to the rest of the nozzle is what would have made the convergent divergent section of the nozzle. I'll have to look at the images in the other thread when I get home, I can't see the images at work, but the separated area between the two nozzle flaps is most likely where bypass air exited to "cool/shield" the heat signature from above.
 
Indeed, only the bottom flat produces the performance effect, while the top flap produces the stealth effect ;)
 
Anybody know why the F119 had those flaps but the F120 didn't? ???
 
They both had flaps - check the photos carefully. On the pic is PAV-1 with F119 near it at USAFM restoration facility.
F120 is still pretty much classified to lay this way.
 
flateric: Page 3 of this thread has a pic of the weapons bay. First time I noticed. It may provide some useful info concerning the bay if you haven't already seen it.
 

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