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

304

Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 136.

305

Steve Pace, Lockheed Skunk Works (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks, 1992), 179- 82.

306

Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 139, 141, 199.

307

Paul Crickmore, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks, 1986), 31, 32.

308

Paul F. Crickmore, Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed (London: Osprey Aerospace, 1993), 36, 38; and 'Kelly's Way,' videotape.

This included scenes inside the launch control officer's cockpit showing the control panel. There are also shots of the wind-tunnel tests, a D-21/M-21 on the ground, refueling, and two successful D-21 launches from the onboard camera.

309

Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 136, 137; and Crickmore, Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed, 32, 35–38.

310

Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 137, 138.

311

Beswick interview, January 14, 1994.

312

Crickmore, Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed, 38.

313

Beswick interview, January 12, 1994; and 'Kelly's Way,' videotape.

The video contains footage of two D-21/M-21 launches. The second one shown was actually the first launch. It is not identified in the film.

314

Miller, Lockheed, Skunk Works, 138.

315

Beswick interview, January 12, 1994.

316

Crickmore, Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed, 38.

317

Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 138.

318

Ibid., 139, 140. To put the 24,000-pound weight of each D-21B booster rocket in perspective, the Hound Dog missile weighed 10,140 pounds, the MK 15 nuclear weapon weighed 7,600 pounds, the MK 39 and MK 41 nuclear weapons each weighed 10,000 pounds.