The Northrop Tacit Blue was often overshadowed by its predecessor, the Lockheed Have Blue stealth demonstrator, but in reality it was one of the most transformational secret aircraft test programs ever developed by the US Air Force.In the early days of the stealth revolution, combat aircraft were reshaped, and engineers started to use a design principle that put function over form when it came to new airframes. The physical appearance of aircraft was then revolutionized. Still, even the Tacit Blue program director, Denny Jarvi, was taken aback, saying: (QUOTE) “I was able to hide that airplane in every way you can imagine, except visually. I couldn’t make it disappear.”The aircraft was eventually nicknamed ‘The Whale’ for its particular rectangular yet slightly-rounded airframe, but some even called it an alien school bus.However, Tacit Blue proved to be much more than that. Conceived to provide a means for real-time reconnaissance of Soviet armor crossing Western Europe, the aircraft known as one of the most unstable airships of all time ultimately never went into combat, but still redefined air warfare.