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

This was the first time that a search warrant had been served.[840]

Accounts of the seizure were carried in local newspapers and by Aviation Week and Space Technology.[841] The equipment and tapes were returned six days later, and the report was aired on April 19. It included shots of the crew being questioned, a Russian satellite photo of the base on the XR-7 instruction sheet, and 'sound bites' of enraged citizens at the public hearings. Other than the satellite photo, there were no shots of the Groom Lake facility itself. (It was accusations that the crew had filmed the site that had led to the search warrants being issued.)[842]

This situation continued for another year. Then, during the weekend of April 8–9, 1995, the warning signs were put up. White Sides and Freedom Ridge were closed off. Groom Lake, and its secrets, were again hidden.

RACHEL, NEVADA

The center of the Aurora (and UFO) watching is Rachel, Nevada. A wide spot in the road, its population is about 100 people. The town consists of a Quik Pik gas station, RV park, thrift store, and the world famous 'Little A-Le-Inn' (Little Alien) bar/meeting place/restaurant/hotel/UFO research center. Originally called the Rachel Bar and Grill, the name was changed in 1990 when the UFO watchers started showing up. Inside, the walls are lined with photos of UFOs and personalities. UFO books, T-shirts, bumper stickers, and souvenirs are for sale. An extensive UFO reference library contains numerous books, magazines, maps, and videotapes. The food is described as excellent.[843]

On the surface, Rachel resembles the small towns (and their eccentric inhabitants) of fiction. But it is not another Lake Wobegon, it is more akin to Twin Peaks. Like the Black projects conducted at Groom Lake, Rachel has its 'dark side.'[844]

Although the sign says 'Earthlings Welcome,' this does not extend to liberals. This political category is defined rather broadly in Rachel. During the standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, during early 1993, opinion in the town was solidly behind David Koresh. President Clinton and the federal government are vehemently cursed and despised. (Local federal employees [and their money], however, are 'loved.')[845] During the Los Angeles riots, one person was heard to say, 'If those damn [rioters] come near here we'll be ready.'[846] The town's inhabitants think environmentalists taste as good cooked as roast spotted owl.'[847]

Rachel was also the site for annual UFO conferences. These had 'a no-holds-barred Bible-thumping and conspiracy' slant. There was talk about 'Frankenstein experiments' being done to humans at the secret alien underground bases.

In 1993, the audience of about two hundred met in an old tent. One observer thought this was appropriate, likening the atmosphere to an 'evan-gelical flying saucer camp meeting' where the speakers' 'every utterance is taken as the gospel truth.' John Lear talked about the secret bases, the exchange program, the eighty alien races visiting the earth, and some forty UFO crashes over the years.

Robert Lazar also appeared and was mobbed by the faithful everywhere he went. Lazar spent two and a half hours answering questions from the eager audience. These covered such areas as how the saucers worked, anti- matter generators, gravity waves, and, of course, Aurora. (Many Aurora believers also accept Lazar's claims and view Aurora as a test that would prove them — if Aurora was true, so must his captured saucer stories.)

One of the conference moderators was Gary Schultz. He runs a group called Secret Saucer Base Expeditions, which has tours to the area. Schultz described a dark and sinister web of conspiracy, run by a 'shadow government.' UFOs represent only one strand of this web, which includes the death of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, the B-2, the Council of Foreign Relations, Dreamland, and the local sheriff. This was backed up by quotes from 'the only authorized version of the Bible.'

One observer, who believed UFOs are alien spaceships, wondered, 'Does UFOlogy give rise to paranoia or vice versa?'[848]

It is only fitting that in a time of delusion, the final word on Aurora, the nonexistent Dark Eagle, should be given by a nonexistent person. In late 1990, at the time the Aurora stories were published, there was a fad on the U.S. east coast for T-shirts with a black Bart Simpson. One read:

'It's A Black Thing, You Wouldn't Understand.'

CHAPTER 13 Invisible Horizons History, Stealth, and Innovation

War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.

Sun Tzu Ca. 400 B.C.

With the turn of the century, and the approach of the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight, this is an appropriate moment to look back on the role played by the Dark Eagles. The secrecy of the Dark Eagles, in most cases, was due to their involvement with the technology now popularly known as 'Stealth.' As a result, the Dark Eagles are inextricably intertwined with the history of stealth's development and application. In addition, beyond their importance in the history of both military aviation and reconnaissance, the Dark Eagles also provide a case study in the process of innovation.

Though stealth's first practical applications were made a quarter century ago, the seeds of stealth are as old as military aviation. The concept had lain dormant, awaiting the circumstances that would finally transform it into an operational reality. This was brought about by the interplay of three factors — the changing nature of the threat facing the aircraft, what was needed to counter this, and, finally, what types of technology were available.[849]

FROM THE GREAT WAR TO THE COLD WAR

When World War I began in August 1914, the few operational military aircraft were slow, mechanically unreliable, and fragile. Yet, within a year, the basic shape of the war in the air had taken form: reconnaissance planes spotted enemy positions, while fighter aircraft dueled. Over London and other English cities, German Zeppelins and bombers attempted to destroy factories and break British will to continue the war.

One factor that affected both offensive and defensive efforts was the lack of long-range detection and tracking systems. Although some work was done with sound detection equipment, this had only limited use. The threat facing the aircraft was visual detection and tracking. What was needed to counter the threat was a means to make the aircraft harder to see. The competing technologies to meet the need were the then relatively new concept of camouflage, and the more exotic one of the transparent covering.

The German Imperial Air Service's experiments with the first stealth aircraft ended in failure. Translated into modern terms, although the transparent covering made the planes harder to see in some threat environments, such as clear weather, in others it was ineffective or actually made the plane more detectable. The glint in bright sunlight, for instance, would have been detectable for tens of miles. The material itself was not suitable for the rigors of combat. Today, it would be said that it reduced the planes' operational readiness due to excessive maintenance downtime.

The technology that was finally selected to counter the threat of visual detection was to paint the aircraft in camouflage colors — blue underneath to blend into the sky, and multi-color patterns on upper surfaces — to make it harder for pilots of other planes to see them against the ground. Zeppelins and night-flying bombers had their undersurfaces painted black to merge with the dark skies. Such camouflage had limitations; an airplane silhouetted against a blue sky would be easily seen, while searchlights and even a moon-lit night sky could illuminate a black- painted aircraft. It did not have the technical and operational shortcomings of the transparent covering, however.