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The Mysterious Case of the Wing Bulges on the F-22 Raptor ! Options
Silent_Running
#1 Posted : 01 December 2014 05:36:56

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Dear All,

While surfing the internet as I sometimes do at this time of night, I stumbled on this. Here are three different photgraphs of the F-22 Raptor.
Nothing strange about that of course except when you look closer at the the wings? The top photo shows wing bulges on both wings in exactly the same place.
The second photo shows a different F-22 aircraft at the same attitude and speed...No bulges on the wings, although there is a slight bulge on the fusealage.
The third picture shows two F-22's in formation and at crusing speed, and again no wing bulges.

Ok! So what can be the cause of this?

1. Could it be something to do with the stealth capability of the aircraft?
2. Is it some new top secret equipment hidden inside the aircraft and added or taken away depending on the mission?
3. Could it be that the Raptor's skin is micro thin and flexes and stiffens depending on the forces exerted on it?

All I would say about the third point is that picture two doesn't have the same bulges and the plane is at the same
inclination and at the same speed.

So! What do you guy's think?

P.S: Sorry about the picture size issue, I couldn't reduce or crop them, so you will have to scroll a bit.

Regards
BigGrin
Tanasius
#2 Posted : 01 December 2014 10:32:25

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You have PM

I think its just airflow over the wing.
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Taz
#3 Posted : 01 December 2014 11:08:16

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Hi
I think Tanasius is right, I can see what looks like shadows just below the airflow's on either wing.
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Plymouth57
#4 Posted : 01 December 2014 18:29:32

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Hi Silent!

I think Tan and Taz are correct, the 'bulges' are caused by water vapour in the air condensing over the wing as the leading edge compresses the air beyond its condensation level (the same effect as the contrails behind airliners but on a much smaller scale)
The vapour production depends on many factors, including humidity, temperature and air pressure so two identical photo angles could have, or have not depending on the atmospherics at the time.
(Actually they're cloaked shield generators with a slightly out of phase cloaking system - but don't tell anyone!!BigGrin )

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#5 Posted : 01 December 2014 18:54:56

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No its where the pilot keeps his keys and walletLaugh
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