Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft

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Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft Page 47

by Curtis Peebles


  369

  Rich and Janos, Skunk Works, 58–61.

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  370

  Ralph Vartabedian, "Now It Can Be Told," Los Angeles Times, September 29, 1989.

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  371

  "Plane Crash Shrouded in Mystery," San Diego Union, undated clipping, May 1978.

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  372

  Miller, Lockheed Skunk Works, 162.

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  373

  Rich and Janos, Skunk Works, 4.

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  374

  Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117, 24, 25.

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  375

  Rich and Janos, Skunk Works, 69.

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  376

  Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117, 24, 25.

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  377

  Pace, Lockheed Skunk Works, 225.

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  378

  Ralph Vartabedian, "Now It Can Be Told," Los Angeles Times, September 29, 1989.

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  379

  "Declassified Photos," 30.

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  380

  Research File Groom Lake (Nevada), Area 51 and Project Red Light, (W. L. Moore Publications, Compiled 1987). The only date on the clipping is 1979, but the mention of a second crash suggests a date in the late summer of 1979. "Red Light" was claimed by a person named "Mike" to be the code name for the flight tests of a captured alien UFO at Groom Lake in the early 1960s. William Moore wrote a book in 1980 called The Roswell Incident in which he claimed that the army air forces had captured a flying saucer in July 1947, which has been covered up ever since. Several "UFOlogists" have claimed that stealth technology was actually developed from captured flying saucers. See the author's book Watch the Skies! for more details on the crashed saucer/stealth/Groom Lake stories.

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  381

  Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117, 25, 26; and Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 18, 19.

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  382

  Richard P. Hallion, Storm Over Iraq (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), 88.

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  383

  Miller, Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter, 6.

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  384

  Melinda Beck, William J. Cook, and John J. Lindsay, "Unveiling a Ghost Airplane," Newsweek (September 15, 1980), 23.

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  385

  Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 19, 20.

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  386

  U.S. Air Force Oral History Interviews, Maj. Gen. Osmond J. Ritland, March 19–21, 1974, vol. 1 (Edwards AFB History Office: Ritland Files), 142.

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  387

  Ed Vogel, "Military reportedly moving in to stake claim on Groom Mountains," Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 10, 1984, sec. B; and Ed Vogel, "Nevadans question Air Force seizure of land," Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 20, 1984, sec. B.

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  388

  Mary O'Driscoll, "Reid backs USAF on land issue, "Las Vegas Sun, July 7, 1984, sec. B.

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  389

  Ed Vogel, "Nevadans question Air Force seizure of land," Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 20, 1984, sec. B.

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  390

  Ibid.

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  391

  "Gov. Bryan fires at Air Force," Las Vegas Sun, August 7, 1984, sec. A.

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  392

  Mary Manning, "Irate Nevadans 'march' on D.C. to protest federal land-grabbing," Las Vegas Sun, August 6, 1984, sec. B.

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  393

  Kathleen Buckley, "Wilderness tradeoff proposed," Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 14, 1984, sec. B; and Chris Chrystal, "2-year limit in Groom Mtn. land grab bill,"Las Vegas Sun, September 14, 1984, sec. C.

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  394

  Kathleen Buckley, "Top secret maneuvers in jeopardy," Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 19, 1984, sec. B.

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  395

  Christopher Bell, "Air Force will seek continued access restriction to secret base," Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 11, 1987, sec. B; and David Koenig, "House panel drops plan for wilderness," Las Vegas Review-Journal, November 19, 1987, sec. C.

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  396

  David Koenig, "Air Force seeks extension of closed area on Groom Mountain," Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 18, 1988, sec. B.

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  397

  David Koenig, "Congress extends fed takeover of Groom area," Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 2, 1988, sec. B.

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  398

  "Group stakes claims during lapse," Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 17, 1988, sec. B.

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  399

  David Koenig, "House separates Groom Mountain pact from wilderness issue," Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 15, 1988, sec. B.

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  400

  Steve Pace, Lockheed Skunk Works (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks, 1992), 227.

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  401

  Robert and Melinda Macy, Destination Baghdad (Las Vegas: M&M Graphics, 1991), 42.

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  402

  "Declassified Photos Show 'Have Blue' F-117A Predecessor," Aviation Week and Space Technology (April 22, 1991), 30.

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  403

  Paul W. Martin, "Development of the F-117 Stealth Fighter," Lockheed Horizons (August 1992), 22.

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  404

  Pace, Lockheed Skunk Works, 227-29. The first five aircraft are sometimes referred to as "YF-117." This is incorrect.

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  405

  Jay Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works: The First Fifty Years (Arlington, Tex.: Aerofax, 1993), 165.

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  406

  Pace, Lockheed Skunk Works, 227.

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  407

  William Scott, "F-117A Design Presented Avionics Challenges,'Mv/ation Week and Space Technology (February 8, 1993), 43.

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  408

  Harold C. Farley Jr. and Richard Abrams, "F-117A Flight Test Program," Society of Experimental Test Pilots 1990 Report to the Aerospace Profession, 144, 145.

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  409

  Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos, Skunk Works (New York: Little, Brown, 1994), 83–85.

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  410

  "We Own the Night," Lockheed Horizons (May 1992), 8, 9, 14, 15; and Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 166.

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  411

  "We Own the Night," 10–11.

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  412

  Farley and Abrams, "F-117A Flight Test Program," 147, 148.

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  413

  "We Own the Night," 6, 12, 13, 61.

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  414

  Bill Sweetman and James Goodall, Lockheed F-117 A (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks, 1990), 27.

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  415

  "We Own the Night," 13. Ben Rich, who preferred gray, explained that, "The Skunk Works plays by the Golden Rule: he who has the gold sets the rules! If the General had wanted pink, we'd have painted them pink."

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  416

  Farley and Abrams, "F-117A Flight Test Program," 148, 149.

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  417

  Ibid., 150, 151.

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  418

  Ibid., 153, 154.

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  419

  Scott, "F-117A Design Presented Avionics Challenges," 43, 44.

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  420

  Macy, Destination Baghdad, 27, 50, 53–55; and Robert Shelton Jr. and Randy Jolly, Team Stealth F-117 (Stillwater, Minn.: Specialty Press, 1993), 29, 31.

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  421

  "We Own the Night," 18, 19, 24.

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  422

  Jim Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, (Carrollton, Tex.: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1991), 16.

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  423

  Pace, Lockheed Skunk Works, 233; and Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117 A, 29,30.

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  424

  "We Own the Night," 15, 60, 61. "Bandit" was the radio call sign for the F-117 during flight tests. All the operational air force pilots received numbers counting from 150. The Lockheed and air force test pilots had numbers in the 100 range. Hal Farley, the first man to fly the plane, was given the special number "117."

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  425

  D. M. Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks, 1993), 34, 35.

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  426

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 31–39.

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  427

  Macy, Destination Baghdad, 28.

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  428

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 31–33.

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  429

  Macy, Destination Baghdad, 27, 67.

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  430

  Interview with Capt. John Hesterman and Lt. Col. Bob Maher, Edwards AFB Air Show, October 9, 1990.

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  431

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 29.

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  432

  "We Own the Night," 20, 21.

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  433

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 35. The effect of the phase of the moon on F-117A operations is not unique. During World War II, RAF bomber squadrons stood down during the "moon period" because it made the night sky too bright.

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  434

  Michael A. Dornheim, "F-117A Provides New Freedom in Attacking Ground Tragets," Aviation Week and Space Technology (May 14, 1990), 106.

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  435

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 19–21, 30.

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  436

  Richard P. Hallion, Storm over Iraq (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), 99.

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  437

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 42.

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  438

  "We Own the Night," 60.

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  439

  Electronic Spies (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1991), chap. 1.

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  440

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 19, 42. This book contains two interviews with Steve Paulson, one of the original 4450th Tactical Group members. He stated, "Yes, let's just say we were within hours of going on two different occasions." He would not elaborate.

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  441

  "We Own the Night," 14.

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  442

  This information was obtained from a framed set of F-117A development patches shown at the Edwards AFB Air Show as part of the F-117 display.

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  443

  James C. Goodall, "Research Data: Lockheed's F-117A Stealth Fighter," FineScale Modeler (July 1990), 48.

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  444

  "We Own the Night," 24.

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  445

  Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117 A, 78, 79.

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  446

  F-117A development patches.

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  447

  Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action, 23.

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  448

  Jim Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike: Secrecy, the Media, and the F-117A," Airpower Journal (Fall 1991), 22, 23.

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  449

  Washington Roundup, Aviation Week and Space Technology (October 12, 1981), 17.

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  450

  Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117 A, 28. Accounts differed as to why there was no "F-19." One version has it that Northrop wanted "F-20" to symbolize a new generation of fighter. Another was that it was to avoid confusion with the MiG 19. This was not the only skipped F-number. There is no "F-13."

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  451

  Benjamin F. Schemmer, "Stealth Goes Public," Armed Forces Journal International (October 1983), 23, 24.

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  452

  Richard Barnard, "AF Abandons Stealth Reconnaissance Plane; Deploys Fighter Units," Defense Week (November 21, 1983), 1, 6.

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  453

 

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