U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jensen Stidham
- Two US Air Force F-35s conducted air-to-air combat training against four more stealth fighters this week, and in the process accidentally left behind contrails in the shape of a phallis.
- Luke Air Force Base has concluded that the fighters from the 56th Fighter Wing did nothing "nefarious or inappropriate."
- Military pilots have left behind a number of penis drawings in the sky, most of which seem to be intentional.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
US Air Force F-35s accidentally left behind phallic contrails in the sky after air-to-air combat training this week.
Two of the fifth-generation stealth fighters went head-to-head with four additional F-35s during a simulated dogfight, Luke Air Force Base told Business Insider.
In the wake of the mock air battle, the contrails looked decidedly like a penis. Media observers out in Arizona said it "vaguely resembles the male anatomy."
But unlike a rash of prior sky penis sightings, the base has concluded that this was not an intentional act. "We’ve seen the photos that have been circulating online from Tuesday afternoon," Maj. Rebecca Heyse, chief of public affairs for the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke, told Air Force Times in an emailed statement.
"56th Fighter Wing senior leadership reviewed the training tapes from the flight and confirmed that F-35s conducting standard fighter training maneuvers Tuesday afternoon in the Gladden and Bagdad military operating airspace resulted in the creation of the contrails."
"There was no nefarious or inappropriate behavior during the training flight," the base explained.
There have been numerous sky penis incidents in recent years, with the most famous involving a pair of Navy pilots created a phallic drawing in the air with an EA-18G Growler. The 2017 display was the work of two junior officers with Electronic Attack Squadron 130, according to Navy Times’ moment-by-moment account of the sky drawing.
Last year, an Air Force pilot with the 52nd Fighter Wing was suspected of getting creative with his aircraft, as some observers believed the contrails left behind were intentionally phallic. The flight patterns, according to Air Force Times, were standard though.
The latest incident is the first time a fighter as advanced as the F-35 has left behind this type of sky art.
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Source: Business Insider – rpickrell@businessinsider.com (Ryan Pickrell)