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What is the aircraft shown at these coordinates? https://goo.gl/maps/VTc153EacEL2

This is at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field. Per the Ames map it is located north behind building N-127 (Warehouse) and west of the VTOL pad.

It has a dome canopy and a delta wing configuration. It is approximately the size of a fighter aircraft. A very blurry picture of the tail is visible by using Google Streetview from the Moffett golf course and looking west across runway 41R.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Delta-wing aircraft tend to look pretty similar from top-down; do you have any other photos of it from another angle? That might help identify it, either by showing aircraft markings, and/or a better view from the side to pick out more features. $\endgroup$
    – Ralph J ♦
    Dec 18, 2017 at 20:36
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    $\begingroup$ The F-106 seems like a close match and there is one listed in the NASA inventory at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NASA_aircraft $\endgroup$
    – Freiheit
    Dec 18, 2017 at 21:44
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    $\begingroup$ Except the wing planform doesn't match. $\endgroup$
    – user7241
    Dec 18, 2017 at 21:51
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    $\begingroup$ I don't agree with the assessment that the F-106 is similar. The wingtips are pointy for the 106, rounded for the one in the picture. Given the surrounding scraps, it could be a mock-up, rather than an actual aircraft. $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Dec 19, 2017 at 14:57
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    $\begingroup$ Looking at the 3D view in Google maps it very much looks like a F5D with a modified wing. However there were only 4 F5D's built of which two went to NASA. Both are now in musea. The F5D was flow with modified wings by NASA, in a research programme for supersonic transport. Perhaps it is a windtunnel model for studies that we are looking at? $\endgroup$
    – DeltaLima ♦
    Dec 19, 2017 at 17:44

2 Answers 2

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It is a STOVL E-7 Model.. It is not an actual aircraft.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/e-7-stovl-fighter-model-testing-in-ames-40x80ft-wind-tunnel-tom-trower/RQEHhSh_zF3TuQ?ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5%2C%22y%22%3A0.5%2C%22z%22%3A9.425586796493714%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A1.2166568742655705%2C%22height%22%3A1.2375000000000007%7D%7D

enter image description here

The enlarged photo shows the inlet duct covers. It looks like they left the lifting cables just laying on top. This is a model that never flew.

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ It would do a lot to include some text and/or an image from your link. That link could go dead in an internet minute leaving your answer useless. Please feel free to edit something in to bring a little more substance. $\endgroup$
    – FreeMan
    Oct 15, 2020 at 18:09
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    $\begingroup$ I'm not convinced-- the wind tunnel model appears to have sharper front and back corners on the wingtips than the photo in the original post. $\endgroup$
    – quiet flyer
    Oct 15, 2020 at 18:11
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    $\begingroup$ @quietflyer Google messes up photos when they try to create 3D. If you look at just the white wing tips on enlargement, they match the model pretty closely. $\endgroup$
    – Pilothead
    Oct 16, 2020 at 0:01
  • $\begingroup$ This photo would indicate that the aircraft in question is the same size as the Wind Tunnel model. $\endgroup$
    – zymhan
    Oct 16, 2020 at 5:50
  • $\begingroup$ @Pilothead -- ok I see that now.. $\endgroup$
    – quiet flyer
    Oct 16, 2020 at 15:19
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I think @DeltaLima nailed it in comments. I'd happily accept an answer if he/she would care to post one.

From: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/F-5D/F-5D_proj_desc.html

After the Dyna-Soar program was canceled in December 1963 the F5D-1 (708) went to Ames Research Center, installed with a ogee wing for an evaluation for Concorde Supersonic Transport wing study. The F5D-1 (802) stayed on at NASA Flight Research Center contributing to various tests. It became a flight simulator for the M2-F2, and a chase for the lifting bodies until 1970. In May 1970 the Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer (NASA 802) was retired and donated to the Neil A. Armstrong Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, to rest beside the light plane in which Armstrong learned to fly.

This shows that an airframe was at Ames and it had a modified wing. I think it suggests that the airframe never left Ames.

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    $\begingroup$ I found that same text and researched where 708 and 802 are now. Both are, according to the NASA links, in a museum. So it must be something else. $\endgroup$
    – DeltaLima ♦
    Dec 19, 2017 at 18:01
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    $\begingroup$ Definitely not. Look at the NASA report, Figure 2 ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19660003728.pdf $\endgroup$
    – user7241
    Dec 19, 2017 at 18:16
  • $\begingroup$ This is not an F5. The wingtip is much more round, and the modification made by NASA made the wing look like half an infinity symbol, not straight as in your Google photo. youtu.be/zRYZPaHY7rU?t=22 $\endgroup$
    – Pilothead
    Oct 15, 2020 at 23:17

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