tor91

Gulf War 1991

Italian Air Force Tornado

And A "Black Triangle"

Panavia Tornado

DVDs Now Available At Project P.R.O.V.E.!

In early 1991, a coalition of nations went to war with Iraq in order to throw Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait. The air forces of several nations took part in the bombardment of Iraqi military targets, and in support of coalition ground troops. Amongst these were the RAF, the Italian Air Force, and the USAF.

Recently, this writer was viewing a documentary, on the Discovery Wings (tm) channel, about the history of aviation in Italy. Amongst the subjects covered was Italy's participation in Operation Desert Storm (1991 Gulf War). During a rather impressive segment of an Italian Air Force Tornado in flight, an anomalous object caught my eye. The object was black, and triangular. My first impression was that it could possibly be a USAF F-117 Nighthawk, commonly known as the Stealth Fighter.

Careful observation of the clip over many repetitions, and blow-ups of the object itself have convinced me otherwise. Although the F-117 is roughly triangular in shape, the behavior of the object in question was more than enough to rule out the Stealth, in my opinion. It bounced all about, which is very uncharacteristic of an airplane in flight. It also presented an extremely high angle of attack, which would not fit the flight pattern of an F-117. By turning its "belly to the wind", an F-117 should have stalled, and rapidly lost altitude. This object did none of that. In addition, there was never any hint of the twin tail of the Stealth Fighter, AND the characteristic stubby wing extentions aren't seen at any time in the sequence.

Let us take a closer look, by studying the series of photos and animations presented below, shall we?

This is a still frame taken from the Discovery Wings documentary. All video analysis of this event will be done with frames from this program. Here we see the Italian Tornado in flight. It is painted in the desert camoflage used during Operation Desert Storm. Note the black triangle in the upper right.

This is another frame from the same video clip. The object is pointed out for you.

Next we explore a comparison of the flight attitude of the Tornado, and our anomaly.

Please note the white lines denoting the "angle of attack" for the jet, and the black object. Were the object an F-117 Stealth, I can not believe it would be able to keep up with the speed of the Tornado. In fact, this angle of attack looks dangerously close to a stall for the Stealth Fighter, which is inherently unstable at best. It must be "flown by wire", meaning it needs a computer to keep it under control. Manual flight with the Stealth is nearly impossible. To present its belly at flight speed like this, would slow it to the point that it would literally fall out of the sky. Another point that must be made is that if this were the belly of an F-117, it must be flying almost sideways relative to the direction of the Tornado, and the photo chase plane which took this film. Therefore, I conclude that the triangle cannot be an F-117. Birds and insects are totally out of the question, as there are no known species of either capable of flying at hundreds of miles per hour in order to keep pace with a jet airplane.

This is the first of three blow-ups from the very best frames containing the object. Please study these carefully. I'd like to point out that NONE of the frames, or blow-ups for that matter, show any trace of the tail surfaces which should be visible on an F-117 in flight.

Blow-up #2. Sorry for the fuzziness, but these are taken from still frames of television recorded to VHS tape. All blow-ups are 250% larger than original.

Last of the blow-ups. This object now bears little resemblance to any airplane or other man-made aircraft known to this writer. Please also bear in mind that the number of aircraft types aloft over Iraq at this time would necessarily be limited, as there was a war in progress. So it seems highly likely that only military aircraft would even be permitted over Iraqi airspace during this period.

(USAF Photo)

This is the F-117A for comparison with the object in the film. Two more follow, then we'll have a look at the animated GIF of the event.

(USAF Photo)

This full motion animated GIF is composed of 47 frames, containing the object, and runs at half the speed of normal film or TV. It didn't stay long. I believe that analysis has reasonably established that this black triangle is an unknown. It is also of interest that during this time in history, the world was deluged with sightings of these anomalous black triangles. What it really is, and where it came from, I do not know.

At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.

Revised 2005



Gulf War 1991 Italian Air Force Tornado And A "Black Triangle"

	Panavia Tornado
DVDs Now Available At Project P.R.O.V.E.!
In early 1991, a coalition of nations went to war with Iraq in order to throw Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait. The air forces of several nations took part in the bombardment of Iraqi military targets, and in support of coalition ground troops. Amongst these were the RAF, the Italian Air Force, and the USAF. Recently, this writer was viewing a documentary, on the Discovery Wings (tm) channel, about the history of aviation in Italy. Amongst the subjects covered was Italy's participation in Operation Desert Storm (1991 Gulf War). During a rather impressive segment of an Italian Air Force Tornado in flight, an anomalous object caught my eye. The object was black, and triangular. My first impression was that it could possibly be a USAF F-117 Nighthawk, commonly known as the Stealth Fighter. Careful observation of the clip over many repetitions, and blow-ups of the object itself have convinced me otherwise. Although the F-117 is roughly triangular in shape, the behavior of the object in question was more than enough to rule out the Stealth, in my opinion. It bounced all about, which is very uncharacteristic of an airplane in flight. It also presented an extremely high angle of attack, which would not fit the flight pattern of an F-117. By turning its "belly to the wind", an F-117 should have stalled, and rapidly lost altitude. This object did none of that. In addition, there was never any hint of the twin tail of the Stealth Fighter, AND the characteristic stubby wing extentions aren't seen at any time in the sequence. Let us take a closer look, by studying the series of photos and animations presented below, shall we?

© 2004 Jeff Challender This is a still frame taken from the Discovery Wings documentary. All video analysis of this event will be done with frames from this program. Here we see the Italian Tornado in flight. It is painted in the desert camoflage used during Operation Desert Storm. Note the black triangle in the upper right.

© 2004 Jeff Challender This is another frame from the same video clip. The object is pointed out for you. Next we explore a comparison of the flight attitude of the Tornado, and our anomaly.

© 2004 Jeff Challender Please note the white lines denoting the "angle of attack" for the jet, and the black object. Were the object an F-117 Stealth, I can not believe it would be able to keep up with the speed of the Tornado. In fact, this angle of attack looks dangerously close to a stall for the Stealth Fighter, which is inherently unstable at best. It must be "flown by wire", meaning it needs a computer to keep it under control. Manual flight with the Stealth is nearly impossible. To present its belly at flight speed like this, would slow it to the point that it would literally fall out of the sky. Another point that must be made is that if this were the belly of an F-117, it must be flying almost sideways relative to the direction of the Tornado, and the photo chase plane which took this film. Therefore, I conclude that the triangle cannot be an F-117. Birds and insects are totally out of the question, as there are no known species of either capable of flying at hundreds of miles per hour in order to keep pace with a jet airplane.

© 2004 Jeff Challender This is the first of three blow-ups from the very best frames containing the object. Please study these carefully. I'd like to point out that NONE of the frames, or blow-ups for that matter, show any trace of the tail surfaces which should be visible on an F-117 in flight.

© 2004 Jeff Challender Blow-up #2. Sorry for the fuzziness, but these are taken from still frames of television recorded to VHS tape. All blow-ups are 250% larger than original.

© 2004 Jeff Challender Last of the blow-ups. This object now bears little resemblance to any airplane or other man-made aircraft known to this writer. Please also bear in mind that the number of aircraft types aloft over Iraq at this time would necessarily be limited, as there was a war in progress. So it seems highly likely that only military aircraft would even be permitted over Iraqi airspace during this period.

(USAF Photo) This is the F-117A for comparison with the object in the film. Two more follow, then we'll have a look at the animated GIF of the event.

(USAF Photo)

(USAF Photo)

GIF © 2004 Jeff Challender This full motion animated GIF is composed of 47 frames, containing the object, and runs at half the speed of normal film or TV. It didn't stay long. I believe that analysis has reasonably established that this black triangle is an unknown. It is also of interest that during this time in history, the world was deluged with sightings of these anomalous black triangles. What it really is, and where it came from, I do not know. At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions. © 2004 Jeff Challender Revised 2005