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Boeing Model 853

The Quiet Bird was a version of the Boeing Model 853 which started out as an Army observation airplane study. A version of the 853 study was used to test materials and shapes that would reduce radar cross sections (RCS). The result was a strangely modern design quite unlike the fasceted design of the much later F-117 stealth fighter. Only recently come to light, their Model 853, aka "Quiet Bird," was a tactical fighter design that incorporated many of the features now common to stealth aircraft. These included:

• A chine-line that separates a smooth, curved bottom from a trapezoid-shaped fuselage.
• Canted tails.
• Low-observable inlets and curved ducts.
• A exhaust designed to shield the infra-red signature from the ground and sides.

The model of Quiet Bird was said to have been tested at Boeing’s Wichita facility in 1962-1963, all of which occurred on a radar range. No actual flight testing of Quiet Bird itself was said to have happened. The tests reportedly achieved excellent results in reduced radar cross section, but it was a bit ahead of its time and did not generate interest from the military.

The lessons learned on Quiet Bird probably did influence the design of the Boeing AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile. Internally Boeing continued to work on the non-metallic structures aspects that were pioneered with Quiet Bird, and that effort eventually lead to the use of increasingly larger and more complex composite structures in Boeing aircraft.