The Quiet Bird was a version of the Boeing Model 853 which started out as an Army observation airplane study, this version of the 853 study was used to test materials and shapes that would reduce radar cross sections (RCS). The model was built and tested in 1962- 1963 at Boeing Wichita, these test were on a radar range and no actual flight testing was done. 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.