Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

On 24 May 2011 I found on Palmdale the following F-16 fuselage:

Does anyone know if this is a real F-16 or a mock-up?
In case it is real, I am interested in its identiy as well.

regards
Dennis Peteri

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its at least a block 25 or high

But it has Block 10 horizontal tails.

Firefighters mockup for training.

Looks almost like a photoshop job. See the line of different ground below the front of the fuselage? Weeds don't usually grow in a strianght line like that.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... in/135609/

"Strange Looking F-16 Airframe In Palmdale

Posted Mon Jun 13 2011 06:02:07 your local time (2 weeks 1 day 14 hours 55 minutes ago) and read 2256 times:"

Now that the inlet can be seen, it looks like the F-16 that was modified to flight test the F-35 diverterless inlet.

Added:

Looks like the whole story here:

http://www.zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=13552

No, it's not photo-shopped...I saw that bird a couple of weeks ago myself but didn't have my camera. Yes, it's the DSI-equipped Viper, or rather what's left of it. Pretty sorry shape. It's about a quarter mile west of the Blackbird park. No idea why it's there.

JetTest wrote:

Weeds don't usually grow in a strianght line like that.

I believe that the straight line you noticed is a plywood crate on the other side of that chainlink fence.

Thanks for all the the replies so far.

It's not a photoshop picture: it is indeed a wooden crate against the fence.
Altough it looks like 83-1120, I pressume it isn't acft 1120, but a static test aircraft. Anybody for this confirmation. When was 83-1120 noted for the last time? Didn;t see it at Edwards on May 24 and many sources have a last note of it in August 2008.

I have a better screen view now and see the crate, and I wasn't really suggesting a lot of Photoshop on the airframe itself. Interesting tailcone they have covering the aft end of the engine bay.

Last edited by LinkF16SimDude on Jun 29, 2011 - 08:00 PM; edited 1 time in total

air-to-air wrote:

Altough it looks like 83-1120, I pressume it isn't acft 1120, but a static test aircraft.

I think you're partly right. It's prolly an airframe mockup (not a flyable airframe) to fit test the DSI inlet. The lack of discernible panel lines on the forward fuselage looked kinda odd. It also appears to have some structural piece in place of the aft transparency (or it may just be painted over).

According to a poster on the board from johnwill's link:

Viper Enforcer wrote:

That was the diverterless Inlet (DSI) mock up and not the fully functional version that was implemented on ACFT 1120; 1120 BTW is still part of our FTC F-16 fleet. This hulk was also a structural mock up test platform for other programs as well. The DSI inlet mod was only tested on 1120 for a few weeks before being demodded and returned to AFMC. It was supposed to be combined with the LON nozzle, but it didn't work out that way. The GE LON nozzle was latter tested on 1120 with its MCID intake.

My guess is that it is a wind tunnel test bed for a different intake. F-35 maybe? Also the lines painted on the fuselage appear to be the outline of a CFT leading me to believe it was for used aerodynamic testing of the CFT's.
Regards, El Guapo

"Jefe, what is a plethora?"

The "tail cone" isn't F-16. Maybe F-15, or even B-1?

Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

Unknown F-16 at Palmdale IAP