# The American Stealth Program and the UFO Phenomena.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-stealth-program-and-the-ufo-phenomena/133227>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 21, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-stealth-program-and-the-ufo-phenomena/133227 "2002-10-21T14:07:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-stealth-program-and-the-ufo-phenomena/133227/21 "2002-10-24T17:36:16Z")

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Hey, no hard feelings there, **Milton De La Warre**. Take a look [here](http://aerostories.free.fr/constructeurs/horten/page2.html):

[QUOTE]  
We must note in passing that the Horten brothers had developed a special revetment for their Ho IX, made of glue, soot, and charcoal powder, making this already furtive machine practically undetectable with radar.

As you know from examining the Horten at the Garber Facility (I think it might be [this one](http://aerostories.free.fr/constructeurs/horten/ho9US.jpg), the Horten’s wings are removed (or were never attached to begin with), which allows viewers to see a cross-section of the body’s construction. You can see that the “fuselage” of the plane is made of some sort of a plywood or laminate. Sandwiched in between the plywood layers is a dusty black layer which I think is the substance in question.

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**Author:** ![culture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@culture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/culture)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-stealth-program-and-the-ufo-phenomena/133227/22 "2002-10-24T17:49:07Z")

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The B-49 photo artifact looks like a SAM site to me (center area is perhaps too large). Might be their protect the airbase against aliens.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-stealth-program-and-the-ufo-phenomena/133227/23 "2002-10-24T17:51:23Z")

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Here are some much better [photographs](http://www.hotel.wineasy.se/ipms/stuff_eng_detail_hoix.htm), but unfortunately none are detailed enough to show the laminate. It’s located just below the outer skin on the fuselage.

I think that earlier wingless photo I linked might be a different plane, because somehow the Smithsonian got hold of a set of wings as well.

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