altitudes — a few hundred feet above the ground. The Mach 3 XB-70 was canceled, while the B-58's service life was cut short.
The A-12 was the last of its line. The Oxcart was so much faster, flew so much higher, and had a reduced radar return. The combination of these factors resulted in an airplane that was unstoppable. For so critical a mission, it was possible to justify so expensive and specialized an aircraft.
But there were other trends in Black reconnaissance aircraft.
CHAPTER 4
Alone, Unarmed, Unafraid, and Unmanned
The Model 147 Lightning Bug
Probe him and learn where his strength is abundant and where deficient.
Black reconnaissance aircraft, such as the U-2 or A-12, faced two basic problems. The first was technical — to build an aircraft with altitude and speed performance superior to enemy air defenses. The second proved more difficult — to convince the president that the risks of a plane being lost and the pilot being captured were acceptable. Reconnaissance pilots said they flew their missions, 'Alone, Unarmed, Unafraid.' During the 1960s and early 1970s, a series of Dark Eagles added 'Unmanned' to this motto.
These drones were used to cover targets that were too heavily defended, or too politically sensitive, to risk a manned reconnaissance aircraft.
As with the U-2, the effort began small. In September 1959, Col. Harold L. Wood, chief of the Reconnaissance Division at Air Force Headquarters, and his deputy, Lt. Col. Lloyd M. Ryan, met with Raymond A. Ballweg Jr., vice- president of Hycon Manufacturing Company, which made the U-2s'
cameras. The conversation came around to the risk of manned reconnaissance. Ballweg responded, 'Hell, Lloyd, why don't you have us install a camera in a jet target drone? No reason it can't be programmed to do the recon job for you and bring back pictures.' Colonels Wood and Ryan asked,
'What drone?' Ballweg explained that Ryan Aeronautical Company built the Q-2C Firebee jet-powered target drone, which might be usable.
Several weeks later, Lieutenant Colonel Ryan made a call to Ryan Aeronautical to suggest a meeting. At first there seemed little interest in a photo reconnaissance Firebee; finally, an agreement was reached for Ryan Aero-83 nautical and Hycon to do a joint study. As with other Black airplane projects, a small group would conduct the effort. On January 21, 1960, Robert R. Schwanhausser was named to head the reconnaissance drone group. He was told to take six or eight people and get started. Schwanhausser was reluctant, saying, 'I don't see much future in the reconnaissance drone stuff.'
Setting to work, he estimated the Firebee's range could be extended to allow it to make overflights from the Barents Sea, across the Soviet Union, to a recovery in Turkey. With longer wings, the drone could reach altitudes above that of the regular Firebee. The drone would also have a reduced radar return, making it virtually undetectable. Launch would be from either a C-130 transport plane or a ground launcher.[201]
In mid-April 1960, the Reconnaissance Panel of the air staff was briefed on the project. Two weeks later, Powers's U-2 was lost. On July 1, 1960, an RB-47 on an ELINT flight over international waters was shot down — only two of the six-man crew survived, and they were captured.
On July 8, the air force issued a $200,000 contract. Ryan Aeronautical made reflective measurements of one- fourth and one-eighth scale models of the Firebee. These showed the radar return could be reduced by putting a wire screen over the intake, painting the nose with nonconductive paint, and placing radar-absorbing blankets on the sides of the drone.
This was confirmed by the flight-test program, which was conducted between September 16 and October 12, 1960, at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The tests showed the radar return of a drone at 50,000 feet could be reduced without causing aerodynamic problems. A cover story was also created should one of the modified drones come down outside the Holloman test range: the drone was a 'Q-2D,' a 'ground-controlled target' used to test SAM missiles at altitudes of 60,000 feet. This would conceal its true reconnaissance role.
The test data was to be used for Ryan's proposed Model 136 reconnaissance drone. It used long, straight wings, a horizontal stabilizer with inward-tilted rudders at their tips, and a jet engine mounted on top of the airframe to reduce the radar and infrared signatures. Both the test flights and the Model 136 were code-named 'Red Wagon.' (A Boeing design was called 'Blue Scooter.')
As with Bell and Lockheed, Ryan set up its own Black production facility for the reconnaissance drone program, in a warehouse on Frontier Street in San Diego, California. The people needed for the effort were recruited without being told what they would be doing. Only after arriving at the warehouse did they learn the project dealt with drone reconnaissance.
Behind the scenes, there was considerable debate over the future of reconnaissance programs. The end of Red Wagon came on election day 1960.
President John F. Kennedy and the Democrats would have their own ideas about reconnaissance, so any new projects were put on hold.
Despite this, interest remained in drone reconnaissance. Ryan Aeronautical proposed a new system called 'Lucy Lee' (also 'L Squared'). It was to undertake photo and ELINT missions outside Soviet airspace. Lucy Lee would use a modified Firebee rear fuselage, long straight wings, and a new forward fuselage with an intake above the nose. It would fly at altitudes between 65,000 and 72,000 feet, and the radar return of Lucy Lee would be reduced. Ryan Aeronautical also proposed that $500,000 be used to modify a standard Firebee drone to a reconnaissance configuration.
By mid-summer 1961, it seemed Lucy Lee would succeed. Then, despite support at nearly every level, the project was canceled in January 1962.
Work at the warehouse ground to a halt; it was down to 'one light bulb, one engineer, one secretary, and a guard.' Finally, Ryan Aeronautical management issued orders to close down the warehouse.[202]
A half hour later, the air force called.
147A FIRE FLY
The air force had accepted the Ryan Aeronautical proposal for a modified Firebee reconnaissance drone. Rather than an expensive, all-new drone, and the unknown this involved, the proven Firebee would be used. The money came from a program called 'Big Safari,' which had been established in the early 1950s as a means to modify existing aircraft for reconnaissance missions in a very short time. On February 2, 1962, a $1.1 million contract was issued to Ryan to modify four Firebee target drones as 'special purpose aircraft.' Code-named 'Fire Fly,' the Model 147A drones were to have a 1,200-mile range, a cruising altitude over 55,000 feet, and a photo resolution of two feet. They were to be ready by May 15.
The first 147A drone was to be a standard Firebee with a simple guidance system — a timer-programmer and an MA-1 gyro compass. (A telephone step-per switch was used which cost $17.) The other three 147As were 'stretched' with a thirty-five-inch plug added to the fuselage. This carried an additional sixty-eight gallons of fuel. The nose was also modified to carry a camera.
Again to speed things up, the optics from a U-2 were borrowed, and mounted in a homebuilt frame. Due to security reasons, it was not called a camera but rather a 'scorer.' The test program would use two of the drones —147A-l would test the navigation systems, while the stretched 147A-2 would check out the camera and other modifications. Once the system was proven, the other two 147A drones would be placed on alert for deployment in a crisis.
The first flights of 147A-1 were made from Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, in April. In its first off- range flight, the drone flew from Holloman to the Wendover Air Force Range, Utah, and then back to the White
