Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft
Page 52
Curtis Peebles, Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994).
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756
Betsy Woodford, "Phantom of the air tracked by Caltech's seismo-graphic network," Caltech News (April 1992), 9. The author understands it is a common practice at some air force and navy bases to deny any knowledge when a sonic boom complaint comes in.
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757
Edmund Newton, "Secret Is Out on 'Quakes': It's a Spy Plane," Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1992, sec. B.
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758
NBC Nightly News, "In the 90s," KNSD Channel 39, April 20, 1992.
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759
Russ Britt, "New Dawn for Aurora?" Daily News, May 17, 1992, Business sec.
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760
Bill Sweetman, "Mystery contact may be Aurora," Jane's Defence Weekly (February 29, 1992), 333.
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761
Christy Campbell, "Secret US spy plane is Kintyre's dark visitor," Sunday Telegraph, July 26, 1992. Infrared radar?
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762
Bill Sweetman, "Clues hint of phantom spy plane," Antelope Valley Press, March 6, 1992, sec. B.
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763
Editorial: "Aurora may be going 'boom' in the night," Antelope Valley Press, March 12, 1992.
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764
Janice Castro, "Grapevine — R.A.F. to U.S.A.F.: Gotcha!" Time (May 25, 1992), 15.
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765
"Possible 'Black' Aircraft Seen Flying in Formation with F-117s, KC-135s," Aviation Week and Space Technology (March 9, 1992), 66, 67.
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766
William B. Scott, "New Evidence Bolsters Reports of Secret, High-Speed Aircraft," Aviation Week and Space Technology (May 11, 1992), 63.
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767
Ibid., 62.
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768
Private source.
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769
Computer Message, Subject: Contrails, From: Steve 1957, America Online, 93-09-19, 17:39:11 EOT.
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770
Industry Observer, "Combined Cycle Powerplant," Aviation Week and Space Technology (July 20, 1992), 13. "Impulse Motor" as in "Give me full impulse, Scotty!"
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771
Scott, "New Evidence Bolsters Reports of Secret, High-Speed Aircraft," 62, 63.
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772
Letters, Flight International (December 22, 1993/January 4, 1994), 39; and (January 26-February 1, 1994), 47.
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773
William B. Scott, "Recent Sightings of XB-70-Like Aircraft Reinforce 1990 Reports from Edwards Area," Aviation Week and Space Technology (August 24, 1992), 23, 24.
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774
William B. Scott, "Secret Aircraft Encompasses Qualities Of High-Speed Launcher for Spacecraft," Aviation Week and Space Technology (August 24, 1992), 25.
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775
Peter W. Merlin, "Dreamland — the Air Force's remote test site," Aerotech News and Review (April 1, 1994), 9.
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776
"Groom Lake's secret revealed?" International Defense Review (September 1993), 706. The new hangar is reportedly known as "Hangar 18." This is an inside joke; "Hangar 18" is the supposed name of the facility at Wright-Patterson AFB where the Air Force keeps its captured flying saucers and dead aliens.
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777
Michael A. Dornheim, "United 747 Crew Reports Near-Collision with Mysterious Supersonic Aircraft," Aviation Week and Space Technology (August 24, 1992), 24.
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778
Steve Douglass, "Project Black: The hunt for secret stealth aircraft," Intercept Newsletter (December 1992/January 1993), 5.
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779
Nigel Moll, "Logbook: Aurora's Secret," Flying (March 1993), 100.
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780
William B. Scott, "High Demand Stretches NRO Intelligence Assets" Aviation Week and Space Technology (February 1, 1993), 52. The NRO itself was founded in August 1960, but its existence was not officially acknowledged until the fall of 1992.
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781
Steve Douglass, "Federal File: Aurora Doesn't Exist.," Monitoring Times (March 1993), 42. The claim that a sonic boom cannot be heard at long range is incorrect. On several occasions in 1985 the author heard the double sonic boom of the space shuttle over Edwards AFB from Long Beach, California. This was 100 miles or more away.
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782
Steven Aftergood and John E. Pike, "The High Cost of Secrecy," Air and Space (October/November 1992), 46, 47.
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783
Russ Britt, "New Dawn for Aurora?" Daily News, May 17, 1992, Business sec.
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784
Douglass, "Project Black," 5.
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785
Moll, "Aurora's Secret," 100, 101.
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786
Bill Sweetman, Aurora: The Pentagon's Secret Hypersonic Spyplane (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks, 1993), 12–15, 88, 89.
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787
Bill Sweetman, "Hypersonic Aurora: A secret dawning?" Jane's Defence Weekly (December 12, 1992), 14.
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788
Bill Sweetman, "Out of the Black: Secret Mach 6 Spy Plane," Popular Science (March 1993), 56–63, 98, 100, 101. A January 13, 1993, article in Aerospace Daily indicated that the Skunk Works had studied a Mach 4–5 replacement for the SR-71 during the 1980s, but abandoned it about 1986 as impractical. Only drawings and small models were produced. The aircraft would have been about the size of the B-1B, with a long, tapered fuselage, and would have had an intercontinental range. Believers in Aurora dismissed the story as government "disinformation." One said, "This article was a classic 'debunking' of a hypersonic Aurora in the complete spirit of UFO debunking from the 50's on."
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789
Douglass, "Project Black," 3, 4.
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790
Douglass, "Aurora Doesn't Exist.," 42, 43.
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791
Peter Roberson, "Mystery plane: Model depicts spy plane, but Air Force denies it exists," The Bakersfleld Californian, November 29, 1993, sec. A; and Michael Sweeney, "If you want to see the SR-75, you must settle for the model," General Aviation News and Flyer, 1 November 1993, A-30.
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792
Transcript of CBS Evening News, CBS Network (November 11, 1993).
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793
Gary A. Warner, "Model maker's latest guessing game involves Air Force, secret spy planes," San Diego Union-Tribune, December 25, 1993, sec. A.
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794
Sweetman, Aurora, 94.
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795
Shawn Pogatchnik, "Magazine says U.S. is flying new spy plane," Las Vegas Review-Journal, Decembers, 1993.
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796
Fred Abatemarco, "Editor's Note," Popular Science (March 1994), 4.
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797
Stuart F. Brown, "Searching for the Secrets of Groom Lake," Popular Science (March 1994), 54.
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798
Sweetman, Aurora, 94.
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799
The Gospel According to Bob, Book V: The Ultimate UFO Seminar, May 1, 1993, trans, by Glenn Campbell (Rachel, Nev.: Psycho Spy Productions, 1993), 13.
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800
Bill Hamilton, "Aliens in Dreamland," UFO Universe (July 1990), 9, 10; and Grant R. Cameron, T. Scott Grain,
and Chris Rutkowski, "In the land of dreams," International UFO Review (September/October 1990), 5, 6.
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801
Private source.
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802
Computer Message, Subject: AUFOrora, From: JoelC23358, America Online, 93-09-11, 17:13:21 EDT.
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803
Private source; and Computer Message, Subject: UFOs at Groom, From: Stealth C, America Online, 93-08-13, 23:08:22 EDT. The complete message reads: "Some UFOlogists theorize that the debris from an alien spacecraft that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 is what they are working on at Area 51 (Unit S-4). Supposedly the USAF (in 1947 the AAF) recovered the debris and the bodies of aliens near Corona, New Mexico, in July 1947. It is possible that the USAF are trying to 'reverse engineer' the Roswell spacecraft and what people are seeing are examples of man-made copies of alien craft. However it is also possible what they are seeing is conventional (unconventional looking) secret stealth prototype aircrafts of earthly origin. Any comments?"
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804
Private source. The author had received copies of this person's saucer designs long before they were published.
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805
Saucer Smear, private newsletter (December 5, 1992), 6.
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806
Statement released by John Lear, December 29, 1987, 2–4.
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807
APOA's Aviation USA (Frederick, Md.: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, 1993), 78.
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808
Private source.
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809
"Beale's New Black Birds," Air Combat (December 1993), 42.
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810
Private source.
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811
Letters, Flight International (January 26-February 1, 1994), 47.
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812
Al Frickey [pseud.], "Stealth — and Beyond," Gung-Ho (February 1988), 43.
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813
Betsy Woodford, "Phantom of the air tracked by Caltech's seismo-graph network," Caltech News (April 1992), 9.
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814
Micheal G. Crunch, "Project Aurora: The Evidence So Far," Aviation News (October 9-22, 1992), 496.
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815
Glenn Campbell, "Area 51" Viewer's Guide, Edition 2.0 (Rachel, Nev.: Psycho Spy Productions, September 8, 1993), 98, 99.
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816
"UFO Spacecraft," Testers New Model Releases, November 1, 1993.
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817
Author's printout of computer messages, America Online, June 26 to October 15, 1993. There was quite a controversy over whether it was a good idea to discuss Black projects, like Aurora, in so public a forum. Rereading the printout indicates the material came from published accounts and Black buff rumors. One example of this was a September 19 message that claimed people at the site wear "foggles" to prevent them from seeing anything other than the project they are working on. Foggles are standard safety goggles with the plastic scratched so you can see only your feet. An escort leads you around. One doubts the KGB or GRU would care.
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818
Computer Message, Subject: "Alien" Craft at Area 51, From: BlackSky, America Online, 93-06-29, 00:43:30 EOT.
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819
Computer Message, Subject: Good Idea, From: DougBewar, America Online, 93-08-15, 15:55:09 EDT. The author should note that the vast majority of Aurora sightings (like the vast majority of UFO sightings) were made in good faith. I have talked personally with four people who heard the "Aurora roar," and I have no doubt they are honestly describing what they experienced. The problem, as with UFOs, is that the sky has an infinite number of tricks of light and shadow. (The author's "XB-70" sighting, for example.) It is ironic that in 1983, as the super-high-speed airplane stories were spreading, the real Black airplane was the HALSOL — a plane made of clear plastic and styrofoam, that could be outrun by an electric golf cart.
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820
Private source.
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821
Otto Billib, Flying Saucers: Magic in the Skies (Cambridge Mass.: Schenkmann Publishing, 1982).
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822
C. G. Jung, Preface to the English edition, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959).
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823
Tim Weiner, "Spy Plane That Came In from Cold Just Will Not Go Away in the Senate," New York Times, July 4, 1994, 8.
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824
86. Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos, Skunk Works (New York: Little, Brown, 1994), 309-11.
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825
Stuart F. Brown and Steve Douglass, "Swing Wing Stealth Attack Plane," Popular Science (January 1995), 54–56, 86.
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826
Statement by Col. Warren Bennett, Commander 554th Range Squadron, Caliente Land Withdrawal Hearing, January 31, 1994.
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827
Campbell, "Area 51" Viewer's Guide, 42, 43, 61–64, 88.
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