Message posted by Peter Merlin on August 27, 2010 at 9:53:20 PST:

It's confusing because the YF-113G is called a classified prototype but the Red Hats call all of their test airplanes "classified prototypes" in which they conduct experimental and developmental flight testing.

Because Sager was the first Air Force pilot to fly the YF-113G, I thought that meant the manufacturer's test pilot made the maiden flight just as Lockheed's test pilot was the first to fly the YF-117A. On the other hand, the foreign materiel evaluation programs are a joint service effort so the wording in Sager's bio could simply mean that a Navy pilot made the first flight in the YF-113G.

Still the words "from design to first flight" suggest something new like the "advanced technology demonstration prototype" flown by Frank Birk in 1983. He was an Air Force pilot who reportedly made the first flight (not merely the first Air Force flight) and he was never a Red Hat.

In Reply to: Re: I raised the wall posted by Brian Liddicoat on August 27, 2010 at 8:33:17 PST:

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