helicopters are flown out of Fort Bliss and Fort Polk and are used for training. The pilots were particularly impressed with the Ka 32, due to its lifting power. Although their existence is not a secret, some things remain classified. A photographer was not allowed to go inside the helicopters, as this would indicate the country of origin.[714]
According to one account, MiG operations are conducted under the name 'Special Evaluation Program.' During the early 1990s, this was budgeted at only a few million dollars per year. In 1993, this jumped to $336 million.
The budget in 1993 for 'Foreign Material Acquisition' was $500 million.
This, however, covered all such activities, not just purchasing the MiGs. [715]
In reconstructing the history of Black airplane programs that are still secret, such as the MiG operations, where reports are many, but the confirmed facts are few, one must take care not to be led astray. One observer noted, 'Those who need to know, know; the trouble is that those who don't know are the ones doing the talking.'[716] One need only recall the confusion over the D-21 and F-19 to understand the truth of this statement.
One such cautionary tale is the report of a MiG crash that occurred near the town of Rachel, Nevada. In 1994, an article on Groom Lake was published in the
The possibility that debris from a crashed MiG was in someone's backyard attracted attention. An individual went to Rachel and was able to track down the crash site. It was located next to a dirt road and near a trailer.
When he asked the owner how she knew what type of plane it was, she said that 'the word around town was that it was a MiG.' On this note, he looked at the impact point. It had been cleaned up very well; the only visible debris was tiny bits of aluminum. He got out his rake and started 'farming aluminum.' The rake was soon pulling up compressor blades, hose clamps, and a data plate. These had part numbers, contract numbers, and inspection stamps. The way the debris was spread out was also consistent with a plane crash.
All this proved conclusively that the 'MiG' had been built at General Dynamics Fort Worth. It was an F-16!
Later, he found a person in Rachel who had kept a scrapbook of newspaper articles about the town. The crash had occurred on July 10, 1986, (the day before the loss of Maj. Ross E. Mulhare's F-117A). A Royal Norwegian Air Force never confirms
Air Force F-16 at a Red Flag exercise clipped another plane, and the pilot was forced to eject. Several people in town saw the collision. The F-16 impacted about seventy-five yards from two different trailers and three hundred yards from the town's gas station. The Norwegian pilot landed safely by parachute and was picked up by one of the townspeople.
The local sheriff's office was called and told of the accident and that the pilot was safe. (The wingman's plane was not badly damaged, and he was able to return to Nellis.) No property on the ground was damaged, and the fire was allowed to burn itself out. The sheriff, his deputies, the paramedics from Alamo, and the Lincoln County SWAT team all showed up. Helicopters brought in an air force recovery crew. Because of the possibility of toxic fumes from the burning metal, it was decided that people living in the immediate area should go to the Stage Stop Saloon.
The next day, the locals set up a picnic for the air force recovery crew. A Major Flynn talked to the townspeople about the crash. Channel 8 from Las Vegas came out to film the crash site, and the
Over the subsequent years, the story had gotten 'better.' The facts had been forgotten, and the myth started to grow. The F-16 was transformed into a 'MiG.' Then the myth was printed, and the myth became 'fact.'
Beware.
Despite the secrecy that still surrounds MiG operations, there is no doubt that the United States has owned and flown MiGs. The public displays and photos of the MiGs in flight are proof enough. But stories are also told of another Black airplane. There are no photos of this Dark Eagle, no confirmation of its existence. There are only vague stories of a plane whose shape seems to change with every telling.
It is called 'Shamu.'
CHAPTER 11
Still Black
The Enigmatic Shamu
In such a case I must be deep and subtle. Then I can assess the truth or falsity of the… statements and discriminate between what is substantial and what is not.
By the mid-1980s, with stories of the stealth fighter increasing in frequency, suspicions began to grow that there were other Black airplanes. A small technology demonstrator like the Have Blue could be built at low cost and in a short time. Speculation grew that there was a kind of Black X-plane program, where different stealth configurations could be tested — one- or two-of-a-kind prototypes or aircraft with a very limited production run.
Reports, stories, and sightings of still-secret Dark Eagles began to appear.
Many of these dealt with the enigmatic 'Shamu.'
The story of Shamu began with the June 1, 1981, issue of
Northrop had lost the competition to build the Have Blue, but interest in stealth aircraft was not limited to attack aircraft. A stealth strategic bomber could render the huge Soviet air-defense network useless. As support for a 'stealth bomber' grew in 1980-81, Northrop soon emerged as the leading contender. In the 1940s, John K. Northrop had designed the XB-35 and YB-49 flying wings. Perhaps the most graceful bombers ever flown, they were beset with a number of problems that prevented them from entering service.
The XB-35's propeller system was redesigned several times but never proved reliable. With the emergence of jets, a propeller-driven bomber was considered obsolete. The YB-49 was an all-jet conversion, but it suffered from short range and instability. The second prototype crashed during a stall check, killing the crew (including Capt. Glen Edwards, for whom Edwards Air Force Base is named).
Before the program ended, the YB-49 made several flights against a coastal radar site at Half Moon Bay, California. The aircraft proved hard to detect.[720] Even given the primitive state of radar technology in the late 1940s, it was clear that a large flying wing had good stealth properties. With RAM and the proper shape, a flying-wing stealth bomber could be as hard to detect as the Have Blue.
Such an aircraft would use a different design philosophy. Both the Lockheed and Northrop Have Blue designs used faceting, in order to make RCS calculations easier. The Northrop stealth bomber would use 'smooth' stealth. Given the limitations of computers in the late 1970s, this would be much harder to design.
It was therefore
