Might be a 747 carrying a shuttle.

some of you may or may not know that wichita ks is the air capital of the world. we've seen many planes, jets, helicopters and even the 6 year olds can identify most of them. we manufacture these planes. we are not stupid. having said that, i can see how this might look like a bird, if you're trying to see that, but it does not look like a b2 piggy backing anything, as you would notice if you examine the front nose of it. now, i believe this man saw what he said he did, even though the picture is fuzzy and questionable at best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjFWJvjgnaE

I found another high speed plane that's been in development a little while, that actually looks a bit like a pontoon boat which is how Dan described it in one account he gave. That craft is called the Falcon. Lockheed is working on it. It's supposed to do mach 5. Dan should find the concept video Lockheed put out and see if he thinks the craft he photographed is that one, the Falcon.

What this looks like to me is an aircraft that has a central turbine in the middle of the tail. It's kinda tough to make out. Far as it being painted shiny black and moving so fast, it makes me wonder if it's a top secret jet called the Aurora. It's claimed to be able to travel Mach 6. An exhaust stream is on a satellite photo showing travel from Area 51 to beyond Russia at Mach 8. So it might go even faster than mach 6. You can find some stuff on youtube about the Aurora by searching with "Aurora Jet".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-3_Sentry

It looks like a Boeing E-3 to me. The object on the back appears to be a round rotating radar disk attached to the fuselage. I've seen them around McConnell a few times.

The airplane is a GLOBAL HAWK UAV-3
3/4 back View

It's always difficult to identify something that is so out of focus, but in reviewing the photo and after looking at the different descriptions, I would have to agree that it looks like a crow and the image is most definitely in front of the trees. As an ex pro photog, that would be my best guess but... I may be mistaken

Anybody notice how much this object looks like a blurred image of a shuttle on the back of a 747 carrier jet? It's obviously not aerodynamic.

http://map.vbgood.com/B2/b2desert.jpg
I looked at the picture on that link. Sure, it COULD be a match, but if you look at the material between both pictures, the B-2 is dull when the light hits it where this object in the other picture has a shine to it. Personally, I don't know WHAT it is, but I'm not going to sit and try to pick it apart and shame the man who took the photo. He saw what he saw and that's that as far as I'm concerned.

Apparently there has been some misconception as to how many people witnessed this. I was with a group of four other men when we saw it. As many odd aircraft as we see around here I would not doubt it could be a B-2 piggy backing something but to the expert who concluded it is a bird you are sadly mistaken. Another man claimed to have seen this near Howard Kansas a few weeks prior as well. Now it flew along the same lines that are often used by the Chinook helicopters in the area. He assumed it was some sort of new test aircraft as well.

It's too obviously a very out-of-focus Bell Huey UH-1 helicopter. Hueys can appear surprisingly fast at low altitude (as this one seems to be). Go check out photos of Hueys on Google images and you'll see what I mean. There are plenty of those old choppers in civilian ownership, some painted in dark shades as well.

The Wichita, Ks. UFO??? It is interesting that underground nukes with (ICBM's) are in the same area as object was seen. (In the 1980's some of those underground sites in that area were shut down but some might be out there?)

It can't be a B2 spirit because of the position of the propellers. It's been designed to release the exhaust fo the combustion on top of the airplane (part of its stealth technology), so if you put something over it.. it would just burn.
Check the picture on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_Spirit in the Design section.

Gotta agree with the statement about it being a B2 Spirit with some experimental object on it's back. Look at the photo here:

http://map.vbgood.com/B2/b2desert.jpg

Pretty close match, in my humble opinion. Although, the B2 is one LOUD aircraft- it's definitly not stealthy in the audible area.

Could be one of the Black Triangle UFO's, but the only one of those I have ever seen was completely silent, and not aerodynamic whatsoever- it had "stuff" all over the exterior of it like a "Star Wars" model or something, and it was gigantic. Easily the span of a C5 Galaxy or bigger.

Does anyone else think this looks like a star destroyer from star wars? Cuz seriously to me it looks like that. Not saying it's a ufo but perhaps a well done photoshop job.
Anyway all I can say is it's possible that in an ever expanding universe there is the potential for other life forms but can we really eliminate the possibility that there is indeed another Star Wars galaxy somewhere in the vast recesses of space?
Perhaps George Lucas was on to more than he really knew. And perhaps ET wasn't just a myth either.
Everything is possible within our universe.
Including a man fighting aliens in a super suit with a barrett 50 cal.
And if you believe that you're a complete moron.
But I still do believe that intelligent life is out there, man.
Plus if I've read right there were alot of "unknown sources" in some radio signals in world war II and such.
Don't eliminate the possibility. But don't stretch the imagination.

I am a professional freelance photographer with 40 years experience. My interest in UFO's and extraterrestrial life goes back to my father, a radar operator in WWII. Although I have never seen an authentic UFO myself, I retain an open mind.
Given the controversy about this photo, I asked Mr. Vander Ploeg to send me a copy of the original photo, containing the metadata file, which he did. The metadata file includes information recorded by the camera at the time the photo was taken, which enables a more thorough analysis.
The metadata file shows the photo was taken with a 200mm lens, which would be the equivalent of a 300mm (long telephoto) lens on a 35mm. camera. The shutter speed was 1/3200 of a second, almost fast enough to freeze a bullet, and the lens opening was f11.
The trees and clouds are sharp, so the camera was focused at a great distance, which I estimate at 100 feet or more – close to infinity. Referring to published depth-of-field tables, I found that if the camera was focused at 100 feet, the depth of field, or area in focus, was shallow – only 33 feet at best. If the camera was focused on infinity, depth of field would begin at about 600 feet and extend to infinity. Knowing that, it becomes apparent that this is a small object which appears out of focus because it is close to the camera, not a large object at a distance. I therefore conclude it is a backlit, flying crow or raven caught with its wings mid-flap so the pinion feathers disappear against the bird's black body. The crow is carrying something shiny in its beak like a cellophane cigarette wrapper. Crows are known for this unusual behavior. The noise reported by the photographer may have come from another aircraft visible as a small black dot over the trees, or by a jet, several of which can be seen leading contrails.
Comparison with other photos of flying crows available on the internet convinces me my interpretation is correct. There is no shame in being mistaken about a puzzling phenomenon, which this picture certainly is.

The nerve of some of you people to bend and distort this man's sighting and photo, not one of you were there so how dare you presume it's a bird or insect.
Read what his experience was, not the one you're thinking about if you were there. I hope you all re-read what you wrote to see how stupid that is.
You weren't there, try to keep that in mind.

Your site is the best bird watching site ever! But, seriously, that is a great picture of a bird. All you have to do is look closely and you can see it. I'm not sure if it is a crow or what species - sadly my subscription to bird fancy expired several years ago - but definitely a bird. The buzzing and whirling noise was most probably incoming bird droppings as it flew by. Happens to me all the time, and by the time you hear it, it's too late. In case you can't see it ('cause it did take me a moment), the profile of the bird is almost exactly from the side and the object on the top is the wings extended completely upward.