From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #268 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Saturday, 13 May 1995 Volume 05 : Number 268 In this issue: Ping Pong Balls F-117 Loss Skunky Folks Re: SCI Re: F-117 Loss See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark A Buda DTN 381-1969 12-May-1995 0955 Date: Fri, 12 May 95 09:54:25 EDT Subject: Ping Pong Balls There is an old military explosives storage area in MA that had multiple uses. Tested explosives, stored them, burn tested clothing and the like and many other strange and sundry things. Roughly 3000+ acres in size. The place has been dormant except for a radar station on its edge and FEMA on the other side. Someone mentioned to me that every now and then they would here a ping pong like noise (one that is dropped onto a table where it makes a noise faster) that emanates what seems like every where. It happens every couple minutes (maybe sooner). I wondered if it was something to do with the radar station. It is strange in that it comes from everywhere and is very hard to locate the source. As one person said, it makes your hair stand on end. Is this anything to do low frequency transmissions? Another thing that is interesting, the area seems to have sprung to life. They just put brand new fencing around the whole area and increase in traffic. I cannot help but wonder if this has something to do with new radar being installed. Seems strange to have nearly nothing happen for many years and suddenly it springs to life. - mark ------------------------------ From: "Robert S. Hopkins, III" Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 12:33:13 -0400 Subject: F-117 Loss I've just heard that an F-117 exploded in flight last week (or perhaps earlier this past week), perhaps while participating in ROVING SANDS. The wreckage was reportedly strewn over a five-mile area on or near a "Pueblo Indian" reservation. Sadly, the pilot was killed; although it is unclear if he was killed in the explosion or in an attempt to jettison the jet. Does anyone have further details, including the serial number of the lost aircraft? I find this report extremely curious, especially recalling that recently another F-117 suffered some kind of explosion (?) while on the ground at Holloman AFB, temporarily closing the runway. If these details are even marginally accurate, does it suggest the possibility of a fleet-wide problem such as the U-2s had with bad engine exhaust ducts causing overpressure in the fuselage and blowing off the tail section? Could this be evidence of a potential short life of some high-technology component? Or, could all this be just coincidence and appear to be symptomatic of a wider problem? Dr. Bob Robert S. Hopkins, III Corcoran Department of History Randall Hall University of Virginia Charlottesville VA 22906 internet: rsh8s@virginia.edu ------------------------------ From: Evan Beeton Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 17:58:52 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Skunky Folks Please excuse my naivity in asking the following question. I am a high school student, and know little about the black aircraft/skunky areas, but I do find this digest to be interesting reading. I thought the McDonnel Douglas warrantee registration bit posted by James Mangin was hilarious. What does the acronym "SCI" stand for? /\ Gone but not forgotten... //\\ | \/ | _______ ________ ________ __ | | / _____/ / __ / / ____ / / / | | / / / / / / /_/ / / / / | | / /_____ / /_/ / ____ / / / / | | /_____ / / ____/ /___/ / / / / | | / / / /\ \ / / / / | | _____/ / / / \ \ / / / / / \ /______/ /_/ \_\ /_/ /_/ /\ / \ /\ | V V | | | / \ /_ ___ __ _\ Evan Beeton -- \ / -- z001565b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us \/ ------------------------------ From: "Philip R. Moyer" Date: Fri, 12 May 95 16:00:14 -0700 Subject: Re: SCI >What does the acronym "SCI" stand for? Sensitive Compartmented Information. Cheers Phil ------------------------------ From: MiGEater1@aol.com Date: Sat, 13 May 1995 01:46:01 -0400 Subject: Re: F-117 Loss Just a bit of information to add. The F-117's were not "officially" part of Roving Sands although I (and others) monitored their participation under the callsign Spear. I was there until Sunday, May 7th and didn't here any indications on 243.0 mhz that a plane had gone down. Any word on when it happened? One more thing to add. The Air Force PAO at Roswell said the classified list was bigger than the non-classified list for participating aircraft in Roving Sands! Cheers to all, John ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #268 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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