747 with an air scoop???

On 2004-07-09, Scott Lowther wrote:
My father drove across northern Nevada yesterday. At one point, a 747 in
USAF markings flew low across the highway coming in for a landing at an
airport (he does not remember exactly where). The 747 had a truncated
cockpit hump... and a large air scoop just behind that. Does this sound
familiar to anyone?

It sounds like photos I've seen of the "flying laser", though the photos
I remember looked a lot more like they had an airscoop than the ones I
can find online. Bah. How mundane.

http://www.de.afrl.af.mil/factsheets/abl.html

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/...ps/02_27c.html

I wonder what I'm remembering.

--
-Andrew Gray

"Andrew Gray" wrote in message
. ..

It sounds like photos I've seen of the "flying laser", though the photos
I remember looked a lot more like they had an airscoop than the ones I
can find online. Bah. How mundane.

http://www.airliners.net/Airliners_n...855&ViD=middle

This is the YAL-1A (Boeing Model 747-4G4F) airborne laser, and we see that
it doesn't seem to match the description. Probably an E-4B then, although
that has "United States of America" titles rather than USAF ones.

Or was it maybe the flying telescope observatory?

it could also be a testbed version of the laser plane, or... is he sure it was
a 747 and not a Cobra Ball , Joint S.T.A.R.S. SAR or ELINT type plane?