Message posted by Joerg (Webmaster) (Member since 10/17/2000) on September 17, 2024 at 14:54:38 PST:
During his recent Tikaboo expedition our team member Michal managed to get these incredible close-up shots of two jets departing from Area 51. Mind you, at a distance of 26 miles! Earlier that day Michal and his brave apprentice and girlfriend Gabriela observed a US Navy F-35B hovering south of their position and then transitioning to horizontal flight, around 7:30am. The first shot above appears to be the same F-35B launching again from Area 51 at 10:38am. The second jet looks like a Groom F-16D, likely a chase aircraft. There was a mission in the Dreamland airspace that day between 11:30am and 3pm, involving Northrop's EW test bed N805X, better known as SCAN05. Personnel from NAS Point Mugu were flown in for that mission. Again a US Navy connection. The Groom aircraft were refueled by a tanker from Fairchild AFB, WA in a track in the Reveille MOA. I believe this is the first time that a mission launching from Area 51 was documented on video. The attached link is to Michal's video footage of that day. Thank you Michal for sharing your awesome footage with us! A commented video with enhanced close-up footage to follow shortly... stay tuned!
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