Before personnel were allowed access to the flight line, they underwent an electronic palm print scan.[432] During training flights, security also had to be maintained. On off-range flights, the pilots talked to the air traffic controllers as if they were in an A-7. Each plane also carried a transponder that indicated to radar operators that it was an A-7. Even though the planes flew only at night, special care was taken to avoid sightings. The routes avoided big cities. If a plane flew under a high overcast, the reflected city lights would silhouette it against the clouds. The phase of the moon also affected flight operations. Several routes were not flown if the moon was more than 50 percent full.[433]
The Senior Trend aircraft represented a complete break with past attack aircraft and, accordingly, needed a whole new set of tactics. Conventional tactics were intended to prevent the plane from being shot down — the attack was secondary. The plane would hug the ground to escape radar detection.
When the target was reached, the plane would have to pop up to a higher altitude to release the bombs. Such low-altitude, high-speed attack profiles made LGB drops difficult.
The Senior Trend, on the other hand, could go in at high altitude. This allowed the pilot to concentrate on the attack, rather than on avoiding hitting the ground. The high-altitude flight also permitted the target to be picked up at much longer ranges. In addition, the drop was made while flying straight and level. This meant the bomb would hit the target vertically, improving accuracy and penetration.[434]
The pilots talked tactics every day. In a sense, they were trying to define the role of the airplane. A new technology had been developed and they had to discover how best to use it, much as airpower theorists had done in the 1920s and 1930s.
Originally, the air force envisioned only a single squadron of eighteen Senior Trend aircraft. These would be used for Delta-Force-type missions.
One or two planes could attack a single, high-value target without being detected. The early success of the program, however, convinced the air force and Congress that a full wing was needed. This involved three eighteen- plane squadrons. Orders were placed with Lockheed for a total of fifty-nine production aircraft. The first of these added squadrons, the I-Unit 'Nightstalkers,' was activated in July 1983, followed in October 1985 by the Z-Unit 'Grim Reapers' (later redesignated the 4450th Test Squadron and the 4453d Test and Evaluation Squadron respectively).
The pilots doubted that there was a role for even a two-squadron unit: this was considered too large a force for limited clandestine missions, and participation in any general war scenarios was not foreseen. Part of the problem was the planes' extreme secrecy. A plan for using the full wing could not be developed when even the senior air force commanders in Europe and the Pacific had not been told about the aircraft. Nor was it possible to use the plane in Red Flag exercises.[435]
A year after Whitley's first flight, the Senior Trend was prepared to go to war.
On October 23, 1983, terrorists launched a truck-bomb attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 and wounding 100 others.[436]
Five days later, the 4450th Tactical Group was declared to have achieved an initial operational capability. Reportedly, orders were also received to prepare for attacks on PLO camps in southern Lebanon, in retaliation for the Beirut bombing. The unit was alerted and five to seven aircraft were armed.
According to these reports, the aircraft flew from TTR to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The planes were placed in hangars, and the pilots rested for forty-eight hours. The pilots then began their final preparations before takeoff. They would fly nonstop to southern Lebanon and strike terrorist targets.
Only forty-five minutes before takeoff, they received word that Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger had canceled the strike.[437] Over two years would pass before Senior Trend again went to the brink.
In the years following the aborted attack, the 4450th Tactical Group saw changes in command. Colonel Allen was replaced by Col. Howell M. Estes III on June 15, 1984. Colonel Estes led the unit through its first operational readiness inspection, earning a rating of excellent. On December 6, 1985, Col. Michael W. Harris was named commander. He oversaw the expansion to three squadrons and was the first operational pilot to reach three hundred hours in the Senior Trend.[438]
Soon after, the unit was reportedly alerted for a second possible combat mission. The erratic leader of Libya, Col. Mu'ammar al-Gadhafi, had long been suspected of backing terrorist attacks. Proof was lacking, however.
During the evening of April 4, 1986, a message from the Libyan embassy in East Berlin was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence saying a bombing was about to take place and that American soldiers would be hit.
Just before 2:00 A.M. on April 5, a bomb exploded in the La Bella Disco-theque, killing two GIs and a Turkish woman. Minutes later, the Libyan embassy sent a coded message that the operation had succeeded and could not be traced to them. These decoded messages were the 'smoking gun' of Libyan involvement. Approval was given four days later to attack Libya.[439]
Libyan air defenses were more numerous than those of North Vietnam more than a decade before. Indeed, only three targets in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries were better defended than Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya. The Senior Trend aircraft was judged ideal for such a mission and was reportedly included in the attack plan. It has been stated that less than an hour before takeoff, Weinberger again canceled their participation, on the grounds that the targets were not worth risking the planes.
The rest of the attack, code-named 'Operation El Dorado Canyon,' went forward on April 15, 1986, using F- llls from England and A-6s, A-7s, and F/A-18s from two carriers. All five target areas were hit, with the loss of one F-111.[440] It would be another three years before the Senior Trend would see action.
Secret symbols have long been associated with the Dark Eagles, but the tradition reached new heights with the Senior Trend program. 'Senior Trend' was a computer-generated code name with no meaning or style. It cried out for a nickname.
The plane's first one came during the flight-test program. After finding a 'huge' scorpion in their office area, the test team adopted this as their symbol. The FSD aircraft were dubbed Scorpion 1 through 5.[441] The scorpion symbol also found its way onto patches. One showed a black scorpion and the words 'Baja Scorpions' (a reference to their location in 'Baja' [southern] Groom Lake). Another showed a scorpion and a black T-38 trainer and 'Scorpion FTE' (flight test and evaluation). The FSD 4 aircraft had its own patch — a red delta shape with the number '4' and a black scorpion super-imposed over it. The shape was based on the wing of the plane.
The 'Pete's Dragon' aircraft also had its own patch — a black shield with a green dragon and 'Pete's Dragon' in red. Another patch showed a green dragon and 'Dragon Test Team.' Such patches were not seen as a security problem. None of them showed the aircraft, and one had to be part of the program to understand the symbolism.[442]
Other than the 'Pete's Dragon' design, artwork on the FSD aircraft was limited. The most spectacular exception occurred in 1984, when Weinberger went to Groom Lake. As part of the display of Black airplane activities, a Senior Trend made a flyby. The plane approached the reviewing stand from the south and banked to show its top surface. As it reached the center of the crowd, the plane banked again and showed a flag design painted on its underside. The crowd went wild.[443]
The 4450th Tactical Group had its own names and patches. Upon seeing the odd-looking plane for the first time, the air force pilots dubbed it the
'Cockroach.' Later, reflecting its role as a nocturnal predator, the air force pilots dubbed the plane the 'Nighthawk.' It was also called 'the Black Jet,' to differentiate it from the camouflaged A-7.[444]
Squadron patches had been an air force tradition dating from World War I. This continued with the 4450th Tactical Group. The patch for the Q-Unit showed an A-7 chasing a goat and the words 'Goat Suckers.' (As any bird watcher would know, the North American Nighthawk is also called the Goatsucker.) The I-Unit patch showed a hawk swooping out of the night sky and the word 'Nightstalkers.' The Z-Unit patch showed a hooded figure pointing a bony hand at the viewer and the title 'Grim Reapers.'[445]
