the Quiet Star was a prototype stealth aircraft that saw service during the vietnam war. it didn't rely on radar-deflecting airframe design or composite materials. instead, it was simply and superbly quiet, thanks to an efficient engine muffler and a slow-turning propeller. flown mostly at night, its infrared detection system could locate troop presence and remain undetected, from only a few hundred feet overhead. not as reliant on technology, speed or altitude as the U-2 or the SR-71 Blackbird, the Quiet Star nevertheless was highly effective in its surveillance mission. only fourteen were ever built.
i like the fore-and-aft crew design, and the superb visibility afforded to the pilot, exceed only by those designs in which the cockpit is placed far forward of the wings, most notably in military jet fighters.
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