Message posted by willy nammer on June 08, 2002 at 8:52:22 PST:
For the Forum: Senior Trend Bandit # Pilot 117 Hal Farley Note the missing "116" ? Chronological Check Order for Test Pilots On Senior Trend "117" 1. Hal Farley - Bandit 117 Question: Why does NASA sport the "844" tail number? And, why would a Blackbird have any significance to the crash of the MiG-23 that Gen. Bond was flying? And, someone on the forum want to know some Groom Base commanders: Well from the 70s and 80s (current and recent past are classified). 1. USAF Col. Larry McClain - 1977/79 Wolfbane
Test Pilots - Air Force & Skunk Works
Numbers assigned 100 thru 149.
Call Sign "Bandit"
Note: Bandit numbers had dual use in MiGs and Stealth
testing.
"84" Skip Anderson
100 Roger Moseley
Don Cornell
Bob Chedister
101 Tom Morgenfeld
102 Jon Beesley
Steven A. Green
103 Tom Darner
David Imig
104 Skip Holm
105 Dave Furguson
106 Paul Watson
107 William Aten
Jim Thomas
108 Craig Dunn
109 Dale Irving
110 Pete Barnes
111 Tom Abel
Ken Grubbs
112 Ken Linn
113 Jim Dunn
114 Paul Tackabury
Denny Mangum
115 Chris Seat
118 Bill Gray
119 Jim Brown
120 C.R. Davis
Next Bandit number up would be "121."
Both MiG and Stealth test used same numbers.
Sometimes, more than one person used same number.
No set pattern how number are assigned.
When flying these aircraft, the unofficial "YF" prefix is listed on the pilot's log.
These numbers are not reserved as official aircraft designations. And to illustrate that they are not chronologically assigned:
2. Skip Anderson - Bandit 84
3. Dave Furguson - Bandit 105
4. Tom Morgenfeld - Bandit 101
5. Roger Moseley - Bandit 100
6. Pete Barnes - Bandit 110
7. Tom Abel - Bandit 111
8. Denny Mangum - Bandit 114
9. Dale Irving - Bandit 109
10. Jon Beesley - Bandit 102
11. Paul Tackabury - Bandit 114
12. Paul Riedenauer - Bandit 103
Note now that the Bandit numbers are not in sequence*
And, that Denny Mangum and Paul Tackabury used the same number.
Well, the answer is simple. The crash date of the MiG-23 Flogger flown by Bond (Bandit 116) was the exact date (1962 of course) that a Blackbird first flew - April 26, 1962. Very significant.
2. Lt. Col. Dave Furguson , Commander of 6513th Test Squadron (MiGs then at Groom), 1977.
3. Col. Charles P. (Pete) Barnes - 1980/82
4. Lt. Gen. George Muellner - 1982/83
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