Boeing Model 853-21 Quiet Bird

The Boeing Model 853-21 Quiet Bird was a US Army reconnaissance plane study that Boeing developed in the early 1960s from its Model 831, and an early example of stealth technology, especially electromagnetic low observability. Development began in 1962 at Boeing Wichita, and only a half-scale prototype was produced, which never flew, although tests showed it had a very low radar cross-section. The specification gives a single crew member, a length of 33 feet, a wingspan of about 33.6 feet, an empty weight of 2,721 kilograms and a gross weight of 3,696 kilograms, with one General Electric CF700 of 4,200 pounds thrust, a range of about 2,150 kilometres and a service ceiling of 47,000 feet.