Happy Thanksgiving Day, everyone!!! Just thought I'd share these pics that I took when I visited the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance yesterday. The aircraft shown here is none other than the YF-23 Gray Ghost...which was the sole competitor of the YF-22 Lightning II (the prototype to the F-22 Raptor) during the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program more than 25 years ago. With Lockheed Martin (the F-22's main contractor) winning the Pentagon contract to build the USAF's newest air superiority fighter, Northrop Grumman (which constructed the YF-23) was left with turning the two aircraft that it built for the ATF competition into museum artifacts. While the Gray Ghost resides 20-plus miles south of Los Angeles, her sister ship—the Black Widow II—is on display at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Also on display at the Western Museum of Flight is an F-14 Tomcat, a NASA T-38 Talon, an F-5A Freedom Fighter, an A-4A Skyhawk and the YF-17 Cobra (the prototype to the F/A-18 Hornet). I'd post individual photos of these jets in this entry as well, but you know, it's all about the Gray Ghost. Have a great holiday, folks!
LINK: More photos I took of the YF-23 and other aircraft at the Western Museum of Flight
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