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 48

by Curtis Peebles


  Richard Dietrich, "Design of 'stealth' plane kit a model of intelligence work," San Diego Tribune, September 12, 1986, A-l.

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  454

  Ron Labrecque, "Alone and without Stealth, John Andrews Makes Child's Play of the Pentagon's Most Secret Weapon," People (no date on clipping), 127, 128; and Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 20, 24, 25.

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  455

  Washington Roundup, Aviation Week and Space Technology (September 14, 1987), 21.

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  456

  Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 25. The document control problem occurred because of standard Skunk Works practice. When a document was no longer needed, it was destroyed. When the air force showed up to conduct a classified document audit, they discovered there were no records of their destruction. As there was no record, the documents were ruled "lost." Later, a desk-by-desk audit system was established.

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  457

  Weekly World News, August 2, 1986.

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  458

  Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 25.

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  459

  "Triangle over California," TheAPRO Bulletin (vol. 33, no. 6, 1986), 6.

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  460

  William B. Scott, "F-117A Crash Reports Cite Pilot Fatigue, Disorientation," Aviation Week and Space Technology (May 15, 1989), 22; and Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117A, 81, 82.

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  461

  "Pentagon seals plane crash site," San Diego Union, July 12, 1986, sec. A.

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  462

  "Triangle over California," 6.

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  463

  Eric Malnic and Ralph Vartabedian, " 'Stealth' jet said to crash in California," Boston Globe, July 12, 1986.

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  464

  "Stealth jet fighter fleet is put at 50," San Diego Union, August 22, 1986, sec. A; and Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 26. It has been claimed that the air force dug up a large area around the impact point to recover every scrap of debris, then scattered parts from an F-101 to deceive anyone entering the site. This is incorrect.

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  465

  Scott, "F-117A Crash Reports Cite Pilot Fatigue, Disorientation," 22, 23.

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  466

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 47–49, 51–53.

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  467

  Scott, "F-117A Crash Reports Cite Pilot Fatigue, Disorientation," 22, 23.

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  468

  "AF pilot killed in Nevada crash said to be flying Stealth fighter," San Diego Union, October 16, 1987, sec. A.

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  469

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 50, 51; and Scott, "F-117A Crash Reports Cite Pilot Fatigue, Disorientation," 22.

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  470

  "A-7D Crash Accents Different USAF, Navy Emergency Rules," Aviation Week and Space Technology (November 2, 1987), 31; and Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 51.

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  471

  Benjamin F. Schemmer, "Is Lockheed Building a Super-Stealth Replacement for USAF's Mach 3 SR-71?" Armed Forces Journal (January 1988).

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  472

  Al Frickey [pseud.], "Stealth — and Beyond," Gung-Ho (February 1988), 38.

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  473

  "Do It Your Stealth," Aviation Week and Space Technology (September 14, 1987), 21.

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  474

  Doug Richardson, Stealth (New York: Orion, 1989), 122.

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  475

  Edwards AFB Air Show, October 23, 1988. The invisible "F-19" was not the only stealth prank at the show. Around noon, the announcer came on the public address system and said that the B-2 had just taken off from Palmdale and would soon be arriving at Edwards. A few minutes later, it was announced that the B-2 would be making a flyby. One heard the engine noise, but, again, one did not actually "see" it. The punchline came at the 1993 Edwards Air Show— three B-2s (two in flight, one on the ground), an F-117A formation flyby, and the HALSOL-Pathfinder.

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  476

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 60, 61.

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  477

  John D. Morrocco, "USAF Unveils Stealth Fighter; Black Weapons Probe Likely," Aviation Week and Space Technology, (November 14, 1988), 28.

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  478

  "Air Force lifts veil on Stealth fighter squadron," San Diego Union, November 11, 1988, sec. A.

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  479

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 60.

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  480

  San Diego Union, November 11, 1988, sec. A.

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  481

  Cunningham, "Cracks in the Black Dike," 27.

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  482

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 62. A later report said the whine was no longer being "heard."

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  483

  Mary Enges-Maas, "Stalking the Stealth Fighter," Times-Advocate, Decembers, 1989, sec. C.

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  484

  "We Own the Night," 24, 25; and Sweetman and Goodall, Lockheed F-117A, 89, 90.

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  485

  Sky Soldiers (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1991), 128.

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  486

  David F. Bond, "Six F-117As Flown in Panama Invasion; Air Force Broadens Daytime Operations," Aviation Week and Space Technology (March 5, 1990), 30.

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  487

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 65.

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  488

  "Stealth error kept under wraps," San Diego Union, April 7, 1990, sec. A. In all the adverse comments following the Panama mission, one aspect has been overlooked. The PDF had three hours warning that an attack was about to begin. Even had the bombs fallen where planned, the United States had already lost the element of surprise.

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  489

  "General didn't report Stealth flaws in Panama," San Diego Tribune, July 2, 1990, sec. A.

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  490

  John D. Morrocco, "F-117A Fighter Used in Combat for First Time in Panama, "Aviation Week and Space Technology (January 1, 1990), 32.

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  491

  Letters, Newsweek (July 16, 1990), 12.

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  492

  Kenneth Freed, "Panama Tries to Bury Rumors of Mass Graves," Los Angeles Times, October 27, 1990, sec. A.

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  493

  "Bombing Run on Congress," Time (January 8, 1990), 43. F-117A pilots have spent considerable time denying the plane was ever called the "Wobbly Goblin." Many have called it the best-handling plane they have ever flown. The fact that the press continued to use the term into 1992 says more about their "accuracy" than that of the plane.

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  494

  "Stealth error kept under wraps," San Diego Union, April 7, 1990, sec. A; and "General didn't report Stealth flaws in Panama," San Diego Tribune, July 2, 1990, sec. A. The final word on the F-117A's first combat mission came from a Newsweek press pool member. The reporter told a Department of Defense public relations officer that he did not think the F-117A attack was that significant, as no one could hear it coming. The officer laughed in the reporter's face.

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  495

  Charles Krauthammer, "Don't Cash the Peace Dividend," Time (March 26, 1990), 88.

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  496

  Bruce Van Voorst, "Who Needs the Marines? From the Halls of Mon-tezuma to the Shores of Redundancy," Time (May 21, 1990), 28; and Bill Turque and Douglas Waller, "Warriors without War," Newsweek (March 19, 19
90), 18–21.

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  497

  "Three early Iraqi incursions are revealed," San Diego Union, October 7, 1990, sec. A.

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  498

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 66–73.

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  499

  Macy, Destination Baghdad, 19, 20; and Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 86.

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  500

  Jolly and Shelton, Team Stealth F-117, 52, 54, 56.

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  501

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 82–84.

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  502

  Hallion, Storm over Iraq, 2, 159, 162. Such press criticism sometimes backfired— a "leading journalist" on a Washington, D.C., news show announced the B-2 would be used in the Gulf, while another commented that it would have to "do better than it did in Panama"!

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  503

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1993), 113.

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  504

  Hallion, Storm over Iraq, 2, 3.

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  505

  Joe Hughes, "500 protest war threat at Balboa Park," San Diego Tribune, December 24, 1990, sec. B.

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  506

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 87.

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  507

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 50, 51, 77–79.

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  508

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 91.

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  509

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. IV, 126, 127; and vol. II, part I, 36.

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  510

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 87–91.

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  511

  Thomas B. Allen, F. Clifton Berry, and Norman Polmar, CNN War in the Gulf (Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1991), 119.

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  512

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 90–96.

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  513

  Hallion, Storm over Iraq, 170.

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  514

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 96, 97.

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  515

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 124, 126-33.

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  516

  Macy, Destination Baghdad, 11, 12.

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  517

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 98, 99.

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  518

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 134.

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  519

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 100.

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  520

  Martin Middlebrook, The Berlin Raids (New York: Viking, 1988).

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  521

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 137, 147, 337, 338. Saddam Hussein responded in the usual manner of dictators to the night of thunder. He claimed over a hundred Coalition aircraft had been shot down, and he had Iraqi Air Force General Muzahim Saab Hassan arrested and executed.

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  522

  Macy, Destination Baghdad, 17.

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  523

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 100, 101; and Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 147, 148.

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  524

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 100, 101; and Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II. part I, 152.

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  525

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 101.

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  526

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 157, 225.

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  527

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 18, 101. Even if the Package Q strike had used LGB, the F-16 force would only have been cut to sixteen aircraft, and the tankers to eleven.

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  528

  132. Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 201, 207, 223.

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  529

  Ibid., 177.

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  530

  Hallion, Storm over Iraq, 194.

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  531

  Private source.

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  532

  Gulf War Air Power Survey, vol. II, part I, 339.

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  533

  Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 102-4.

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  534

  Jolly and Shelton, Team Stealth F-117, 62, 67.

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  535

  Stan Morse, Gulf Air War Debrief (London: Aerospace Publishing, 1991), 84, 85, 106.

 

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