It was a very good day for planespotting.
First, a four-engine airliner type in white “nothing to see here” paint.
Then, another four-engine airliner type in red-and-white Virgin livery, with something long and red on the left wing inboard of engines. Googling brought me to Cosmic Girl, a repurposed Jumbo converted to air-launch a purpose-designed small orbital rocket. Branson’s toe in the water of the orbital billionaires’ club.
This but minus rocket. They are possibly getting ready for an imminent launch.
Then I lucked onto an F-16 climbing to a station off a two-engine airliner type. I couldn’t see or exclude a refueling boom.
Then, a contrail (keep in mind that the usual parade of airliners was not generating even transient contrails in the very blue sky, so higher than that) had this at its head. It probably came out of Palmdale and was past the steep-climb phase of ascent. Course was due north.
In this instance, the white says something else, “not military”. This one did not have the two wing sausages.
Finally something I mistook for an airliner, but the oversized T-tail, the high wings with much taper (and no winglets), and the stout fuselage pointed me to a Cretaceous survivor, a Galaxy in the midst of flight test Mecca.