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

version of the Shamu story held that it was a Northrop design for a one-of-a-kind electronic warfare aircraft. The aircraft was large and has been described as 'conventional' — one source likened it to the Boeing Stratocruiser airliner of the 1950s.

Shamu's fuselage was now described as rounded and bulbous. Like the Stratocruiser, the cockpit windows wrapped around the front of the fuselage. The side of the fuselage was described as flat and covered with antennae for the jamming equipment. It also had a very small vertical fin. This gave it the whalelike appearance. The wings were said to be slightly swept and were set low on the fuselage. The plane's four jet engines were buried within the wings (similar to the Comet airliner). According to another (allegedly) 'reliable source,' Shamu looked funny. People actually laughed when they saw it for the first time. It was likened to an unnamed cartoon character. (Security prevented saying which one.) The timescale of the project also changed. It now was reported to have been under way in 1977-79. This was the same time as the Have Blue flight tests.[735]

TACIT BLUE — THE TALE OF THE LONELY WHALE

In the months that followed the hardcover publication of this book, 'Shamu' was still believed to be a flying wing. By the spring of 1996, there was even a description — a small flying wing with a transparent windshield in the leading edge for the pilot and two inwardly curved fins, code-named 'Tacit Blue.' By late April, reports began to circulate that the air force would soon unveil a 'fighter-sized' Black airplane. On April 30, Tacit Blue was finally unveiled. To the surprise of all but the author, it was 'funny looking.'

Tacit Blue began in 1978, when DARPA asked Northrop to develop a stealth reconnaissance aircraft. It would have to operate behind front lines and carry radar able to detect armored units. The data would be relayed in real time to a ground command post.

The plane's designers, John Cashen (who later designed the B-2) and Steve Smith faced a difficult task. The F-117A was designed to have a minimum radar return from the front and back. This was because it flew towards and away from a target. The Tacit Blue would fly in circles, and thus be exposed to radar signals from all directions. This required 'all-aspect' stealth. They also had to fit a large radar inside an airframe that was about the same size as an F-15.

The design that emerged was a slope-sided box with straight wings, two angled square fins, and a shovel-like chine on the nose. The pilot's windshield wrapped around the front like that on the Stratocruiser airliner. (The unnamed cartoon character it resembled was Howard the Duck.) The plane was 55.8 feet long, had a wingspan of 48.2 feet, and weighed 30,000 pounds. As with the Have Blue, the Tacit Blue made use of existing components — F-5E landing gear, an F-15 ejector seat, and two Garrett ATF3-6 high-bypass turbofan jet engines from the Falcon 20 business jet. The engines were supplied with air from a flush inlet atop the fuselage, while a slot exhaust was between the fins.

As with the other stealth aircraft, the Tacit Blue was highly unstable. If allowed to 'weathervane' in a wind tunnel, a model would actually fly backwards. A nose up or down attitude would cause it to roll over. A General Electric digital quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire control system was needed to make Tacit Blue controllable.

Northrop test pilot Dick Thomas was selected to make the first flight. Thomas, Cashen, and the rest of the team were keyed up the night before. When two beers didn't help to relax them, Thomas and Cashen played a one-on-one basketball game until they both dropped. The next day, February 5,1982, Thomas made a successful flight.[736]

The Tacit Blue proved to have limited performance — an operating altitude of 25,000 to 33,000 feet, a speed of 250 knots, and an approach speed of 120 knots.

The Hughes radar performed well. At first glance, use of radar violated a basic tenet of stealth — remain silent. It was designed, however, to use low power and techniques which made the signals seem to be only background noise. Flight test showed the inlet worked well, but crosswinds on the ground caused stalls during engine startups. The cockpit was also too wide for a single-seat plane — the pilot had to lean in different directions to see.[737]

Despite the success, it was soon clear the Tacit Blue would never enter production. It would have had to operate over the lines. Although invisible to radar, it could still be seen during daylight. In all, 135 flights were made; the last on February 14, 1985. Five pilots flew the plane — Dick Thomas, Lieutenant Colonels Ken Dyson, Russ Easter, and Don Cornell, and Maj. Dan Vanderhorst. The primary accomplishment of the program was to develop all-aspect stealth, later used on the B-2 and F-22/23 programs.[738]

As with other Black airplanes, Tacit Blue had its secret symbols. The walls at Northrop were adorned with pictures of whales, reflecting the secret plane's secret nickname of 'The Whale.'

While 'Shamu' was real, the other triangular planes were not. The 'TR-3A' sightings were of F-117As (which are delta-shaped). The 'F-121' was described as taking off vertically with an anti-gravity engine.

The unveiling of Tacit Blue was a source of personal satisfaction. On Saturday, May 4, 1996,1 was told that an individual found it suspicious that I had become interested in Black airplanes and UFOs, that my previous book, Watch the Skies! had been published by Smithsonian Institution Press, that Dr. Carl Sagan had liked the book, and that I had been right about Tacit Blue. He concluded I was spreading government disinformation. It was my birthday, and this was the best gift I had ever received.[739]

At the Tacit Blue press conference, the name of another Black airplane came up. It is rumored to be the most remarkable flying machine ever built.

It is called 'Aurora.'

CHAPTER 12 Tales of Darkness and Shadows The Illusive Aurora

We listen carefully for distant sounds and screw up our eyes to see clearly.

Sun Tzu ca. 400 B.C.

For the past several years, strange sounds have been heard coming from the skies above the western United States. These sounds are described as a 'rumbling,' akin to a small earthquake or like the sky is being ripped open.

The source of these sounds is claimed to be the 'Aurora' — a Mach 6 Black aircraft developed and flown in secrecy. The Aurora's speed is such that it could, according to the stories, fly from Washington, D.C., to Baghdad in ninety minutes. With its claimed top speed of 4,500 mph (six times the speed of sound, or 1.25 miles per second), the Aurora is seen as the epitome of a century of aerospace development. It is described as embody-ing an otherworldly technology.

These tales of darkness and shadows have been told in the technical press, weekly news magazines, and television news and entertainment programs. The air force has repeatedly denied the existence of the Aurora, yet the stories have continued to spread and grow. Ever more details have been added to the stories: what it looks like, what it smells like, and how its propulsion system works. The stories have also spread worldwide — sightings and 'hearings' have been reported from a remote field in Scotland and on a small island in the Pacific. Aurora has also been used to raise questions about the development of such Black aircraft, and the role and necessity of such advanced weapons in a post-Cold War, one-superpower world.

There is just one little problem…

PRESENT AT THE CREATION

In August of 1976, the author was attending a convention of the Western Amateur Astronomers at Palomar Junior College. While there, a Caltech graduate student told the author that he had heard that Lockheed was developing a high-speed, high-altitude replacement for the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. That was the start.

In 1979, Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine published an article describing high-speed aircraft studies undertaken at the Skunk Works.