Guided tour of the Northrop Tacit Blue Battlefield Surveillance Aircraft-Experimental (BSAX)

[@anthonyf3647]

This museum was a bucket list item for me for a decade. Finally went a week ago and will never forget it.

[@thelonewrangler1008]

I didn't even know this museum existed but it's now on my bucket list. I've been to several other museums, but none have the lineup I see in the background of this video. I didn't even know there was an intact Valkyrie left in existence, and who wouldn't want to see YF22 in person? Is this a place that can be done in a day or does it require a few to really check it all out?

[@anthonyf3647]

@@thelonewrangler1008 There's a lot to see and a lot of walking, it took me two days. It is free though. Having a production spec F-22 and the YF-23 among others more than makes it worth it though.

[@nicholasuszko]

​@@thelonewrangler1008Been several times, and I from Ohio. If you don't want to be rushed, try and plan 2 days. The museum has 4 large hangers. An outdoor section, and a large memorial square. You can Do it in 1 day, but you may have to hurry. The good news is that it's completely free, and they have a decent size cafeteria. There is a hotel across the street so it makes it easy.

[@Clintondmb]

We have friends in the area and have been twice now. I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.

[@HankyInTheTanky]

@@thelonewrangler1008it’s the best museum, having 3 of the 4 USAF 5th gens, atm only the F-22 and YF-23 are on display but they are currently restoring the X-32 to be put on display next to the YF-23

[@adamoneil7435]

I went to the Dayton museum last year and marveled at this strange plane. I was there thanks to your vids on the XB-70 and YF-23, being a life long mil aviation nerd. Great video here, and thanks for your other stuff.

[@ntdfmaverick]

I did not know this plane still existed, let alone, was on display! Photographs appear so often of it in flight testing. I had no idea it was available to see up close! Thanks for sharing.

[@cupidstunt22]

I am forced to wonder how many supposed UFOs are actually weird looking things like this

[@AtheistOrphan]

I think quite a lot are.

[@billpugh58]

I agree.

[@DCrypt1]

They aren't mutually exclusive. Human engineers building technologies in deep black SAPs doesn't mean no UFO sightings are from NHIs that exist outside this planet. Electrogravitic vehicles are real from what we're slowly learning.

[@bogdanzorila6697]

UFOs don't make jet engine sounds , don't have wings and accelerate very fast. So no, non.

[@GarryCollins-ec8yo]

I enjoyed that video, thanks. Being in the Air Force back then I remember that jet. A side note, the B-2 started arriving in the Air Force in ‘93, not ‘97. I watched a fly over in ‘94 or ‘95 at Langley AFB. Very impressive.

[@Istandby666]

The B-2 is a 1982 design. My biological father worked on that project as well.

[@ginog5037]

Excellent video Paul! The USAF Museum never ever gets old. That beautiful XB-70 in the background, still makes my heart skip a beat❤

[@briancooper2112]

I need to go there again. Last time was 35 years ago.

[@ghost307]

A lot more stuff is indoors now.

[@briancooper2112]

It wasv35 years ago

[@magalengo]

Worth a long trip, you may need 2 days to take it in.

[@briancooper2112]

Because of health issues I won't make trip.

[@williamwilson6499]

The museum was a much different place back when I first visited as a kid…circa 1963.

[@jackpledger8118]

While I was flying FB-111s, it was easy to identify Ford cars and trucks along busy highways...they were the ones being towed trucks by tow trucks which were usually Chevrolets or GMCs.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

😂😂

[@brianthomas7037]

I am fortunate to live close to this museum,.. i really must visit it again!

[@rollertoaster812]

I've seen this in person at the museum myself, and you cannot understate how much it looks like a wooden mock-up when you look closely at the surface! I suppose that is just due to the RAM coating and the strangely featureless skin

[@MM_Legacy]

People on forums point out that the plane was painted with a thick layer of paint before it went on display. That's why you can't see any panels or even the cockpit door on it. An unpleasant sight...

[@AvengerII]

@@MM_Legacy They likely stripped off ALL the stealth coating off the Tacit Blue before it ended up at the museum. Who knows what else they removed or altered on the airframe to foil anybody trying to steal secrets from that plane. 1) You don't want to allow a potential enemy to come up and scrape off coating to be sent back home to be analyzed in a lab! 2) For every stealth aircraft I've ever read about, the coatings were highly toxic! It's bad enough that techs have to wear hazmat gear when repainting the F-117. The B-2 has special hangars where robots do all the repaint and resurfacing for the stealth coatings; some of the cost of that plane went into building and refitting B-2 hangars with automated surfacing equipment. Part of they why haven't put nuclear-powered vehicles besides the 1950s submarine Nautilus on display is the cost of removing classified nuclear reactors and making the vehicles safe for public display! All the F-117s on display were sanitized for museums for reasons #1 and #2. Same happened here! It's unfortunate the Tacit Blue was "damaged" but that's the price of keeping some things secret.

[@thewalrus6833]

@@MM_Legacy Aah, there was a cockpit door, I wondered how the pilot got into the aircraft.

[@rollertoaster812]

@thewalrus6833 the cockpit door is located on the bottom, to the right side of the pilot's seat. I can't find any pictures showing it, but in the Air Force Museum's Cockpit 360 view it is clearly visible. For some reason, right now none of the Cockpit 360 views are working. Hopefully just down for maintenance.

[@thewalrus6833]

@@rollertoaster812 Thanks, I found this on Google images - www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/47/47991-a4311e383c60943526267d8d3ebe618f.jpg

[@c1ph3rpunk]

They do such a good job with that museum, and it’s still amazingly free to get in. I grew up just outside Dayton, as a teen we’d drive to Vandalia to a hobby shop then over to WPAFB and park off a street to watch planes land. That would usually be followed up with a trip to the museum and hang out all day.

[@jimfinlaw4537]

Very nice video on Tacit Blue. Thanks for sharing. My uncle was very much involved with the Tacit Blue Project. It was one of his pet projects. My uncle worked for the Northrop Corporation as a chemist. He came up with the radar absorbant material back in the early 1960's. It took him 10 years to convince our government how useful it could be. By 1976, the Tacit Blue Program was born. The aircraft was purpose built as a surveillance aircraft. Its odd shapes was designed to prove how well my uncle's radar absorbant material would work on curved surfaces. It proved to work quite well. His radar absorbant material was adopted for use on the Northrop B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber that is still today classified.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Thanks for the extra information! :)

[@AtheistOrphan]

TACIT Blue, not ‘Tacid’ Blue.

[@luciusvorenus9445]

The fuselage reminds me of a lifting body design. How did the pilot enter this aircraft? Another fantastic, Mr. Stewart!

[@rael5469]

"How did the pilot enter this aircraft?" Good question.

[@rael5469]

8:35 So there you are. The photographer is looking into the cockpit from outside the hatch and it is an upward firing ejection seat.....so that must be how the pilot entered.....from an upper hatch.

[@rifleshooterchannel208]

Teleportation, mostly. The rest is classified. 😅

[@davidbarnsley8486]

Another great airplane museum I will never get to see 😢😢😢 Lucy you Paul I will have to see if you did a tour of this one so I can see all the planes 👍👍🇦🇺

[@heathertruskinger6214]

Thanks Paul. Quite a lot of interesting information in this one ! I certainly doubt envy your task of editing those 100 gigs of video you took. That's quite some "Steer Cred" you are building up to get access to this museum , too ! I think I might not be the only subscriber who might be a little jealous of you touring through all these museums and displays of old aircraft, rockets, bunkers, and other assorted and unique things. Thanks heaps !🎉

[@staralliancefan1245]

Yes it's great watching the channel grow and Paul get access to more and more museums!

[@jumpingjeffflash9946]

went there last year for my vacation, it's beyond awesome. I never got the chance to see an SR-71 fly when i was in the USAF as they ended the program in 1990 when I went operational. I was able to finally see one up close at this museum and touch it, an absolutely fantastic museum to see.

[@nicholasspicer5171]

this looks like a predecessor to a vehicle captured on google earth, passing over a highway in Colorado (ifirc), but using a quadcopter style arrangement of turbines, but almost nearly this stealthy boxy shape.

[@MrSinlock]

Paul, Love you channel. It clear you do a great deal of research for your tours, and not just read placards and Wikipedia. Would love to see you do more tours of helicopters.

[@staralliancefan1245]

yes there are so many channels where they use old footage and read of the wikipaedia article. Sometimes they read it word-for-word of wiki!

[@K4rt80y]

This bird was so elusive. It held the same premise of the Aurora, in that people swear it exists, but there was no hard evidence (at the time) to support it. Yet it did exist.

[@anothernumber9753]

I like all smooth and rounded rear ends including this one.

[@oisiaa]

NMUSAF is my favorite place in the whole world. It's incredible.

[@josephpiskac2781]

Very neat! I remember isolated images of this plane being discovered and I felt people didn't know what to make of it and did not take it seriously. I did some work around Dayton and definitely should have visited this museum.

[@SaturnCanuck]

Paul, great as usual. This is certainly a unique aircraft and one that demands your video expertise. Two comments. One, “technically” and chronologically, the YF-12A was the fighter development of the A-12, while the SR-71 was the reconnaissance version of the YF-12A. Two, in the background of this video is one of my favourite aircraft, the Republic XF-84H "Thunderscreech". I hope you do a video on this unique, and apparently VERY LOUD aircraft.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Thanks mate. Yes point taken aobut the YF-12. Yes that's the Thunderscreech in the background and while it will be featured in my whole museum video it won't get it's own separate video as I ran out of time. The museum were very kind in supervising me (so that I could jump over the barriers) for 2 hrs. Maybe I'll visit again next year and do a proper video on it :)

[@SM-og9pt]

Thank you for the video. The ATF3 has unque core flow design choices that make it inherently suited for a low thermal signature independentt of the installation design, This demonstrated to great affect on the YQM-98 and some LTO Dassault applications. ATF3 + Tacit Blue combined together to be as cool as a cucumber!

[@jameshisself9324]

Holy moly. Saw the tile, thought 'Oh look, Grady is going to tell us about Tacit Blue.'

[@brandonoh777]

I remember going here when I was probably about 10 years old they had the XB-70 still sitting outside!!! I grew up in Ohio so it was only about 2 hours away

[@janetbruce2430]

Thanks again Paul for some great footage and interesting snippets of information eg.. both engines had to be started at the same same because of the air intake arrangement. Very interesting flying machine is the Tacit Blue!

[@christopherlewis1847]

The museum is a must see. Plan on a long day, as there is a ton of great stuff to see. Special thanks to the bosuns - truly knowledgeable and respectable folks! For a soundtrack, i suggest The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Live at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

[@tollytimepropulsion5252]

I remember when this plane was released and the Air Force insisted it was nothing more than a "test mule" to see if 2nd gen stealth technology worked.

[@Shorts88898]

Hello sir, keep up the good work making your videos. Your fan. From Singapore 🇸🇬

[@johnsark3909]

Love that museum!!! Grew up in the area. Can’t wait to take my boys at some point.

[@PASKEN458]

As former Master Aerial Sergeant Class 1 Enlisted Special Operating Brigadier on detachment to the Majestic 13 Nucleur Security Forces being part of Ghost Team 1, and having fought in the Telemark Raid and Iraqi Freedom 2 campaigns under special Presidential Decree, I can confirm this is a plane.

[@Kpar512]

Another winner, Paul! Many thanks!

[@GatAppTechnologies]

Museum is amazing and highly recommend it. If you go don’t forget to look up since a lot of displays are hung from ceiling Thank you for this video. When I saw this plane at the museum I wanted to know more but found very little on it online and on KZbin. So really happy to get more info. I felt like that about a lot of aircraft in that museum. They have an amazing collection but some of them don’t have that much info on them.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@saltyroe3179]

At Northrop, people who worked on it called it the Whale. Those who worked on it were called Whalers.

[@AtheistOrphan]

My favourite aeroplane that nobody’s ever heard of. (The upside-down bathtub with wings!)

[@Istandby666]

Growing up in the 80's and early 90's around Edwards Air Force Base was a great life. Edwards Dryden NASA did research on our private plane because it was accidently painted with RAM. That happened to be bought from a government auction at Rockwell in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our airplane is also the only private airplane that had clearance to land at Groom Lake aka Area 51.

[@Travelsbydreamer]

Nice one mate! Epic effort getting that much footage so quickly, looking forward to the coming content!

[@thelonewrangler1008]

This museum is now on my list of must see places and you just gained a new sub. Thanks for the vid

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Welcome!

[@Istandby666]

This is one of the aircraft my biological father worked on back in the 80's. I know this plane by Orca. The crew called it Orca due to the blow hole on top (air intake). I found out about Orca around 1990.

[@jselectronics8215]

I saw it when I was working at groom lake. Rumor was it was called The Whale.

[@khancrow7015]

This is a new airframe to me that i never knew existed. Appreciate your content as always

[@billenright2788]

Once the most secret thing on earth. Hard to believe it got off the ground.

[@lambo6012]

Smooth and rounded rear end 😏

[@eefregelneef2956]

Always very nice to watch these video’s, tnx!

[@Razer_-fe9mo]

Never heard of this aircraft before! Looks really odd but it actually flew!

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

WOAH, I wasn't aware this was even on display!

[@nicholasmazzarella2720]

Awesome video. Thanks for all the informative. Keep up the great work.

[@justforsheba]

What a strange but cool looking aircraft! Thanks!!

[@jirihamersky6152]

Thanks for another interesting video. One of the development aircraft on the way to the present. Very nice.

[@Desrtfox71]

FYI, the B-2 was actually revealed to the public in late 1988.

[@kdm_entertainment]

That might be the cutest plane ive ever seen. Ironic that its military

[@NatetheAceOfficial]

I'm lucky enough to live only a couple hours away and visit Wright-Patt a good hand full of times a year. A good day just walking among some of the best engineering humanity has to offer.

[@heatherburger1666]

That was fun to watch. I learned a ton.

[@markoconnell804]

It would have been cool to view the camera entering the craft so we could see what it was like to get into it.

[@bradforward850]

Thanks man! So glad I found you.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Welcome!

[@koh_ling]

I've been waiting for a new upload, great video Paul!!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

More to come!

[@caspercat39]

Fantastic video as always. I'm UK but would love to visit the museum one day

[@elilevine2410]

Hilarious alien school bus , all aboard to Roswell , lol !

[@staralliancefan1245]

A really interesting tour video Paul, as usual. It's a bizarre and extremely unaerodynamic looking aircraft! Surely that nose could have been extended a meter or so to make it more aerodynamic??!

[@spacecat7247]

Was there not also a hav blue plane? Heard it was buried out at groom lake. Nice piece of history. Glad it still exists

[@Xoferif]

I wonder how the heck the pilot gets in and out?

[@Bad_Karma1968]

Paul as usual a superb vlog

[@blurglide]

I heard this was originally supposed to fill the roll of the E-8 JSTARS

[@briancooper2112]

No. It was for stealth concept

[@blurglide]

@@briancooper2112 ...with a giant prototype synthetic aperture radar on the side

[@briancooper2112]

@@blurglide it literally looks like a city bus flying.

[@MS-qx9uw]

It was supposed to demonstrate the JSTARS radar system on a stealth platform

[@mehorto84]

The air force museum is amazing! The Valkyrie behind this plane will certainly be an interesting video to watch. Although I'm really impressed by the amount of information you obtained on this weird quirky little plane, I'm less impressed by your statement on Ford vs Chevy. Everyone knows Chevy is the superior manufacturer, hence LS the world... 😂

[@MRxMADHATTER]

It's not a spy plane. It was never used as one. It was a tech demonstrator for tech used in the B-2 bomber and E8-C Joint STARS aircraft.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

It secretly monitors the enemy. That’s the definition of a spy. Remember that some of this remains classified

[@rifleshooterchannel208]

True or not, I was under the impression it was designed to linger over a battlefield and monitor positions of enemy fortifications, tanks, and troop movements. Wasn’t it also called BSAX?

[@JinKee]

What's the radar return of a wright flier? It steered not with surfaces that hinge but by warping the whole wing

[@CaymanIslandsCatWalks]

Been waiting for an upload!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

This is just the first of many from this current visit to the USA :)

[@workhardtravelharder9313]

The 'Alien school bus' haha

[@petera4476]

Wow that thing had full span flaperons

[@petr-podrouzek]

Amazing, Paul !! 🙂

[@bdh985]

I'm just curious as to the story behind what looks like the 6 star dragonball in the cockpit. lol 🤣😂

[@baddestmofoalive]

Glad I’m not the only one lol

[@richierich2534]

Another great video 👍

[@nolanohana]

This is a great one Paul, super rare bird

[@rossdillon17]

B-2 was not revealed in 1996 or 1997 (he said both during the video). It was rolled out in November 1988 but "revealed" to the press many months before that. In fact the existence of the program was never classified, only the details. Tacit Blue on the other hand was completely black until it was revealed in 1996.

[@danielversion1.035]

Is that a Saab 29 hanging in the background at around 6 minutes? Such a cool little jet, (if it is.) I love these videos Paul, so much av-geek eye candy 😍😍 ... OH MY GOSH... THERE'S A THUNDERSCREECH TOO!!!!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Keep an eye out as I have a video coming where i tour around the whole museum :)

[@AstrogatorX]

Great job sir. Keep it going 👍

[@centaur1a]

The plane was also known as the “Flying Bathtub” too. The plane did make news when in San Fernando, California it flew over to take photos of the damages caused by the great Northridge Quake in 1994. A book came out about a week later called “4:01” which was the time of the Quake. The photos were said to be taken by the plane. One more thing is that a pilot was interviewed saying the plane was unstable. If the computer didn’t helped. The plane would not fly.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Er not quite. The aircraft, being solely constructed for aerodynamic research, never carried any cameras, and made it’s last flight in 1985, being placed into storage that year, before being revealed to the public in 1996.

[@oliverdawe]

what a great channel ,,,,,,

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Thanks!

[@newflyer6837]

Another very interesting video. I definitely need to visit Dayton and check out this museum (I said this after your last series of videos filmed there... but this time I will... i promise haha!)

[@PaulStewartAviation]

You should!

[@Wolfmots]

I expected this to be housed in Dysons Dock instead of a public museum.

[@lorenzonoelnadayag298]

I can't believe this thing actually flies.

[@Bellthorian]

Fords don't smoke because when you are pushing it home from the engine dying it is hard to spot from the air.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

😂

[@Bellthorian]

@@PaulStewartAviation I just bought a 2024 Ford Edge, it has a heated tailgate so it keeps my hands warm in the winter when I am pushing it home!

[@davidicke2415]

If this is what they're willing to show off, imagine the absolutely WILD sci-fi era tech in use today.

[@1Gaumer]

What’s the significance of the dragon ball placard in the cockpit at 8:42?

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Good question! hopefully someone might be able to answer your question

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

those stealthy storm shadow and other cruise missiles being used in Ukraine (Sevastopol, Crimea) shows their stealth shape and technology easily defeats Russias best air defenses

[@oddball_the_blue]

I thought the SR-71 had intentional panel gaps since air friction would heat the plane up enough to seal the panel gaps - It's why it used to take off with the minimal fuel load and then refuel once airborne at speed. I mean there's footage of one on a runway just leaking fuel all over the place whilst it was taxing. A tad worrying but I suppose they knew what they were doing.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

That's correct. I explained that in my SR-71 tour video and the reason why the fuel wouldn't ignite even though it was leaking through the fuselage

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

The museums would be one of the only reasons I would ever visit the US. But, i dont want to have any bullet holes put in my body.

[@pdmark311]

it looks like a landing ship from the 1980s TV show V

[@cujimmy1366]

Does the fuselage also create lift,it looks wing shaped.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yes it would and the chines helped with that.

[@Radionut]

Did you see where they took the DARPA off it

[@PaulStewartAviation]

I'm afraid not??

[@tinto278]

UK and Australia must be building a B-21 class type of aircraft. Why else would Paul Stewart reference it? I've been seeing posts in the media about Avro Lancaster from defense personal in the UK and Australia.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Ah ok 🤷‍♂️

[@zoperxplex]

Oh my God! I have been waiting for this for so long. Thank you for providing us a fascinating look at one of the weirdest looking plane to come out of the stealth airplane era.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@moefuggerr2970]

Jet engines do not use electricity to start. No electric starter. They use compressed air. That probably used a huffer to start.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

They can use a whole array of different starting means, including electric.

[@SM-og9pt]

Large bypass ratio engines use ATS primarily but smaller applications have flexibility.

[@AnAmericanPatriot1555]

How do they get in?

[@anandmorris]

Are we just skipping over the fact an owl landed on the aircraft and skewiffed the radar detection results?

[@Istandby666]

Sounds like you're videos are on some of the Above Top Secret Government Black Programs my biological father worked on.

[@beachboardfan9544]

Technically isnt that a pelican tail not a "V" tail?

[@PaulStewartAviation]

You’re probably correct

[@michaelguerin56]

Millennium 7* has stated that the F117 has straight lines and flat panels because … it was designed on a punch card computer.

[@ip4pwn1]

The fact that this is on display makes me wonder what Area 51 is testing these days

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Agreed! Very cool stuff that we won’t see for another 20 years.