28. measurements inside the thermonuclear clouds: Now called Task Group 3.4 and operating out of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida,
these new drones were modified T-33 aircraft, as opposed to the old TF-80s used in earlier tests. The wing fell under the command of Colonel Thomas Gent, who was also in command of the 550th Guided Missile Wing of the Air Proving Ground.
29. crash-landed on a deserted island called Bogallua: AFSC History Staff, History of Air Force Atomic Cloud Sampling, 37.
30. That group included Hervey Stockman: Ibid., 82. Hervey’s name is misspelled as “Harvey.”
31. Stockman, then flew sampling missions: Ibid., 80–85. Interview with Hervey Stockman.
32. “scientists put monkeys in the cockpits”: “Conversations with Colonel Hervey S. Stockman,” edited by Ann Paden and Earl Haney (not published), from a section called “Nuclear testing program.”
33. “not serving as guinea pigs”: AFSC History Staff, History of Air Force Atomic Cloud Sampling, 66.
34. “In those days”: “Conversations with Colonel Hervey S. Stockman,” edited by Ann Paden and Earl Haney (not published), from a section called “Pacific testing ground.”
35. Jimmy P. Robinson was one of the six pilots: The details of Robinson’s story, including where I quote him, can be found in AFSC History Staff, History of Air Force Atomic Cloud Sampling, 69–75. Robinson’s name is redacted from the monograph, the words “privacy act material removed” stamped in their place. In 2009, Mark Wolverton wrote “Into the Mushroom Cloud” for Air and Space magazine and revealed the pilot’s name publicly for the first time. Robinson was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross about a year after his death, but his family had no idea how he actually had died. Wolverton wrote that Robinson’s daughter Rebecca, “a baby when her father died, spent years petitioning the government for more information about his last mission, with only limited access.” Rebecca Robinson says most of the information about her father’s death is “still classified.”
36. Atomic-sampling pilots wore lead-lined vests: AFSC History Staff, History of Air Force Atomic Cloud Sampling, 101.
37. “It was one of the ones that was too big”: Interview with Al O’Donnell.
38. In contrast, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima: Rhodes, Dark Sun, photograph #76, “Mike over Manhattan.” Here, the Ivy Mike fireball is shown in comparison with a Nagasaki-scale atomic bomb. Mike’s stem was 20 miles in diameter and its mushroom cap only began at 50,000 feet, approximately twice as high as commercial airplanes fly. The top of the mushroom cloud extended into the troposphere and was approximately 200 miles wide.
Interviews: Colonel Slater, Dr. Wheelon, Ken Collins, Kenneth Swanson, Frank Murray, Charlie Trapp, Frank Murray, Tony Bevacqua, Dr. Robert B. Abernethy
1. air-conditioned hunting blind: Woods, LBJ, 313. 2. “I’ll be dammed”: Brzezinski, Red Moon Rising, 175. 3. “Soon they will be dropping”: Dickson, Sputnik, 117. 4. not a cause for panic: Korda, Ike, 700.
5. “What most actually saw”: Brzezinski, Red Moon Rising, 176.
6. Johnson sat in the Oval Office with CIA director: CIA Memo, Meeting with the President, Secretary Rusk, Secretary McNamara, Mr. Bundy and DCI. Re: Surfacing the OXCART, 29 November, 1963, 1.
7. it would hold aviation records: T. D. Barnes explained, “Officially, the SR-71 Blackbird still holds the world speed record for sustained flight in an oxygen-breathing plane in horizontal flight but it is common knowledge throughout the Blackbird community that the A-12 flew higher and faster because of the sacrifices the SR-71 made to accommodate a second passenger. The reason the SR-71 holds the ‘records’ is because those of the A-12 were not certified. The A-12 Oxcart didn’t exist when the Air Force was setting records.”
8. outing the Oxcart was a terrific idea: If the public knew about Oxcart, there would no longer be a reason to have the Agency in charge of a program that needed secrecy as a cover. The Air Force knew the CIA had done all the work getting Oxcart up and running; now was the time to push the Agency aside. This echoes what happened with Curtis LeMay’s early summation of the U-2 program in 1955: “We’ll let [the CIA] develop it and then we’ll take it from them,” from Brugioni, Eyeball to Eyeball, 24.
9. they could take over Oxcart: Letter, General Bernard Schriever
to Eugene M. Zuckert, July 11, 1963, Top Secret.
10. McCone tried a different approach: CIA Memo, Meeting with the President, Re: Surfacing the OXCART, 29 November, 1963, 1. “The development of the CIA and Air Force reconnaissance planes (15 in number) would cost about $700 million, of which about $400 million have now been spent.” This figure does not include the aircraft’s “extraordinary engines,” made by Pratt and Whitney. Regarding those costs, Lockheed Skunk Works chief (from 1975–1991) Ben Rich wrote, “The CIA unhappily swallowed the enormous development costs of $600 million.”
11. the fictitious name A-11: Parangosky, The Oxcart Story, 4: “The President’s reference to the ‘A-11’ was of course deliberate. ‘A11’ had been the original design designation for the all-metal aircraft first proposed by Lockheed; subsequently it became the design designation for the Air Force YF-12A interceptor which differed from its parent mainly in that it carried a second man for launching air-to-air missiles. To preserve the distinction between the A-11 and the A-12 Security had briefed practically all participating personnel in government and industry on the impending announcement. OXCART secrecy continued in effect. There was considerable speculation about an Agency role in the A-11 development, but it was never acknowledged by the government.”
12. “The world record for aircraft speed”: Public Papers of Presidents of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963–1964, 1:322-23.
13. the aircraft were still dripping wet: Interview with Colonel Slater.
14. “without the specific knowledge of the President”: Summary of Meeting with Secretary McNamara and Secretary Gilpatric, General Carter and Mr. McCone on 5 July 1962. DCI Records dated 6 July 1962.
15. approved the Oxcart for Operation Skylark: Carter Memorandum to Wheelon, “SKYLARK,” 22 Aug. 1964.
16. according to Ken Collins: Interview with Ken Collins.
17. specially designed J-58 turbojet engines: Interview with Dr. Robert Abernethy. Robarge, Archangel, 12– 13.
18. two men working there were crushed to death: Rich, Skunk Works, 221.
19. tiny black dots began to appear: Ibid., 223, from a story told by Norm Nelson, the CIA-Lockheed Skunk Works liaison during Oxcart.
20. nearly knocking him unconscious: Interview with Ken Collins. 21. he always sat patiently with the project pilots: Ibid. 22. “Fix it,” Park said: Rich, Skunk Works, 221. This story was also
clarified for me by Ken Collins, who provided additional details.
23. “‘Get me out of here!’” Rich later recalled: Rich, Skunk Works, 227.
24. Project Kempster-Lacroix: Interview with Ed Lovick; Pedlow and Welzenbach, Central Intelligence Agency, 42.
25. the government had exploded 286 nuclear bombs: Through Operation Hardtack there were 119 aboveground tests. Testing resumed on September 15, 1961. From then through the end of 1964, there were 167 underground tests at NTS, including 4 at Nellis Air Force Range.
26. “The first jamming system was called Red Dog”: Interview with Kenneth Swanson.
27. Trapp thought it sounded interesting: Interview with Charlie Trapp.
28. General Ledford, the head of the Office of Special Activities: My portrait of General Ledford is based on my interviews with men who knew him well, including Dr. Wheelon, Colonel Slater, and Frank Murray, in addition to his U.S. Air Force biographical information.
29. it was not in Frank Murray’s character: Interview with Colonel Slater.
30. In 2005 NSA admitted: Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, 276-80.
31. Robert McNamara performing an about-face regarding Oxcart: Robarge, Archangel, 31.
32. supplying surface-to-air missile systems: Helms Memorandum to the 303 Committee, OXCART Reconnaissance of North Vietnam, with Attachment, 15 May 1967.
33. set up around Hanoi: Interview with Tony Bevacqua; photographs from Bevacqua’s personal collection.
Interviews: Ken Collins, Colonel Slater, Frank Murray, Fred White, Charlie Trapp, William “Bill” Weaver, Brigadier General Raymond L. Haupt
1. shaken from their beds: Interview with Ken Collins. A moratorium on testing meant that the Titania bomb,
