King 81 doing a couple of approaches into Palmdale RWY 25.

Zapper 33 doing a couple of approaches into Palmdale.

Edwards assigned B-1B in the pattern at Palmdale's Plant 42

EC-130H from Davis-Monthan working Palmdale's runway 25

I was at the Blackbird Air Park when suddenly this black project hybrid airship took off. It has been secretly built by Skunkworks as a heavy-load carrier. To gain more span to act like a wing, the P-791 is three pressurized lobes joined together. It uses four air cushions as landing gear, located on the outer lobes. It appears to have four propellers-two at the tail and two on the sides. A hybrid airship derives most of its lift by lighter-than-air gas, the rest by its shape and span.

SOFIA - Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

In 2007, Lockheed Martin won the competition to build the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) for the Air Force Research Laboratory (badge on tail). Designated X-55 after first flight, Lockheed modified a Fairchild Dornier 328JET with a new advanced composite fuselage section constructed as a single large component which included the vertical fin replacing the original aft of the entrance door. Oval in section, the aft end was wider to allow cargo loading via a ramp and shortened the length by 14 feet. In 2014, the aircraft was placed on display at Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale, CA.

NASA809, now without the wing pods.

NASA806 returning from a mission over California

This very interesting U-2S is permanently assigned to flight test duties at Palmdale, it carries 'WR' tailcode as USAF's U-2 program management is based at Warner-Robins AFB, GA. Please note the area beneath the wing, when decending from high and cold altitude the freezing cold fuel remaining in the wing tanks creates ice on the underside as the aircraft enters the warmer air close to the ground.

Boe57a returning to Plant 42 during Orange Flag 21-3

NASA809 doing pattern work at Plant 42

Have you ever seen a bare metal U-2? In this clean configuration the usual superpods and the many antennas are missing. Most probably a test flight after some maintenance work at Plant 42.

Xray69 working the pattern

Unit is VQ-3 Ironmen doing a couple of training approaches into Palmdale ILS RWY 25.