From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #590 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 3 January 1996 Volume 05 : Number 590 In this issue: RE: Tejon Ranch 3/4 RE: Tejon Ranch 3/4 A Bit of ancient history 1986 F-117A crash - UFO report 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: George Allegrezza 02-Jan-1996 1435 Date: Tue, 2 Jan 96 14:52:54 EST Subject: RE: Tejon Ranch 3/4 I know I'm gonna regret this but . . . > An approach on the south entrance to the facility reveals a posted >warning sign stating "DANGER!/ Poison Devices In The Area/ These devices are >dangerous. They contain deadly cyanide. Stay away and keep your dogs away./ >These devices are the property of the United States Government and are used >for the protection of livestock and game animals./ Tampering with these >devices or this sign is a federal offense./ United States Department of >Agriculture." One may wonder what a poison device may have to do with the >protection of animals, but continuing further on the road brings the >visitor to a guard shack and gate. Maybe, just maybe, the DOA uses gas to protect the compound against intruders of the four legged variety? (M2A1 Coyote, Wile E., 1 ea.) > Whatever secret the Ranch hides is hidden mainly beneath the desert >floor. But of course. Thunderbirds are Go! >Estimates of the extent of this burrowing run to 42 levels down. >Approximately seven years ago, Northrop hired local contractors to start >digging and pouring concrete in a massive ogram. Locals report a line of >concrete trucks stretching for five miles up to the complex, unloading >cement for many weeks. How much "cement" do you need to make a runway? Lots, I bet. Um, and where did they put the excavated material for a 42-story underground building? And didn't anyone flying around in the area see anything from the air? That would have been one big-ass ditch. >Some estimates place the amount of concrete used in the structure at >approximately a million square yards. Do you mean cubic yards? And how much concrete is produced in So. Cal. in any given year? Wouldn't the sudden demand for a million cubic yards have been reflected in a steep increase in prices for concrete? Concrete is a commodity and responds to the laws of supply and demand in almost textbook fashion. >According to Bill Hamilton, the management utilize surveillance devices >that appear as "orbs" of light which hover in midair. "They are small >glowing balls of light which are extremely luminous but don't reflect their >light off any of the surrounding walls. They don't appear to be anything >that we could manufacture, completely alien and beyond anything my source >had ever seen." Must be running those Prisoner reruns on PBS again . . . George George Allegrezza | Digital Equipment Corporation | "Focus, Pinky, focus!!" Mobile Systems Business | Littleton MA USA | -- the Brain allegrezza@ljsrv2.enet.dec.com | ------------------------------ From: freeman@netcom.com (Jay Reynolds Freeman) Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 13:33:35 -0800 Subject: RE: Tejon Ranch 3/4 > Poison Devices In The Area [...] There are predator-killing devices that consist of a baited thingy that ejects a poison charge when nosed at, thus killing an animal too wary to take the bait. They have been used to kill wolves and coyotes from time to time. My guess is that they are what is described; they are definitely dangerous to dogs and probably are not too good a thing for a human being to trip over or pick up and play with. -- Jay Freeman ------------------------------ From: I am the NRA Date: Tue, 2 Jan 96 17:45:51 EST Subject: A Bit of ancient history From Joseph Baugher's monumental effort at all the a/c. I note an INTERESTING black recce bit towards the end (look for the *). >From: Joseph.F.Baugher@att.com >Subject: Bomber Series--Convair B-36 (16 of 16) >Message-ID: >From Joseph.F.Baugher@att.com > >One of the weaknesses of early jet fighters was their limited range >and endurance. The FICON (FIghter CONveyor) project was an early >1950s attempt to extend the range of fighter and reconnaissance jets >by having them operate as parasites from B-36 bombers. > >On January 19, 1951, Convair was ordered to modify an RB-36F bomber >(serial number 49-2707) to carry and recover a modified F-84E >Thunderjet. The modified RB-36F was redesignated GRB-36F. The bomb >bay of the GRB-36F was extensively modified, and the usual bomb racks >were replaced by a retractable H-shaped cradle. F-84E serial number >49-2115 was modified to carry a hook on the upper nose ahead of its >cockpit. During the recovery operation, the F-84E was to fly up >underneath the B-36 and use its hook to engage a slot in the cradle. >The cradle would then rotate down over the fuselage of the F-84E and >engage hardpoints on the rear fuselage. Once attached, the F-84E >would be pulled upward and nestle underneath the belly of the GRB-36F. >Launch was carried out by reversing this process. > >The GRB-36F/F-84E combination began its first retrieval and launch >tests on January 9, 1952. The first complete cycle of retrieval, >retraction, and launch took place on April 23, 1952. > >In 1953, the original YRF-84F 51-1828 (the first swept-wing >Thunderstreak) was modified and tested for the hook up in flight with >a B-36. It had a hook on the nose ahead of the cockpit for engaging >the H-shaped trapeze lowered from the B-36, and had a set of >hardpoints on the rear fuselage for attachment of the aircraft to the >trapeze once it was engaged. In addition, the tailplane of the >modified YRF-84F was sharply canted downwards in order to clear the >bottom of the B-36 during launch and recovery. The conventional >landing gear of the YRF-84F was retained. This aircraft was >redesignated GRF-84F. > >The success of the tests with the F-84E and the GRF-84F led to a USAF >order in the fall of 1953 that 25 RF-84F reconnaissance aircraft be >modified to operate as parasite aircraft. These aircraft were >redesignated RF-84K. Serials were 52-7254/7278. Ten B-36D bombers >were ordered modified to act as motherships, these aircraft being >redesignated GRB-36D. > >Ten GRB-36Ds with cradles for RF-84Ks were delivered to SAC in >February/March of 1955. In a typical mission, they were to carry the >RF-84K out to a 2810-mile radius and launch the parasite at an >altitude of 25,000 feet. After completion of the mission, the RF-84K >would be recovered by the GRB-36D and returned to base. > *>The GRB-36D motherships saw limited service with the 99th Strategic *>Reconnaissance Wing based at Fairchild AFB, operating in a team with *>RF-84Ks of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron based at nearby *>Larson AFB. The technical operation of FICON was fairly simple, with *>the carriers and parasites flying out of different bases. The *>parasite could be picked up in midair while enroute to the target *>area, or by ground hookup prior to takeoff. Night operations were *>also possible. Operations with the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance *>Squadron's Thunderflashes continued until the spring of 1956, when *>they were quietly abandoned. In retrospect, it seems that the *>withdrawal of the GRB-36G/RF-84K combination from service coincided *>with the introduction of the U-2 spyplane into service. > >When visiting the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum in June of >1992, I noted that the YRF-84F is on display there. However, I have >its tail number listed as being 92430, which must be wrong. > >Sources: > > Fighters of the United States Air Force, Robert F. Dorr and David > Donald, Temple Press Aerospace, 1990. > > The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987. > > American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday, > 1982. > > United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and > Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989. > > The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, Ray Wagner, Profile Publications, > 1966. > > General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors, John Wegg, Naval > Institute Press, 1990. > > Post-World War II Bombers, Marcelle Size Knaack, Office of Air Force > History, 1988. > > >Joe Baugher AT&T Bell Laboratories 2000 N. Naperville Road >Room 9B-230 P. O. Box 3033 Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033 USA >Phone: (708) 713 4548 Email: jfb@ihgp.ih.att.com >Earlier articles are stored at: > URL http://www.vestnett.no/vulcan/aircraft/jfb/bauindex.html > FTP byrd.mu.wvnet.edu in pub/history/military/airforce ------------------------------ From: kerry@Hungerford.chch.cri.nz (Kerry Ferrand) Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 12:36:26 -1200 Subject: 1986 F-117A crash - UFO report While I was wading through old UFO reports looking for black triangles I came across this report which includes a witness to the July 11 1986 F-117A crash. I thought some people here may find it of interest....I wonder if the guy ever got his photos back. (I should note here that 1986 was 2 years before the F-117 officially existed) begin text: Report #: 198 From: UFO INFO SERVICE Date Sent: 12-10-1986 Subject: BAKERSFIELD, CA CASE TYPE: LRS DATE: 12 JULY 1986 TIME: UNKNOWN CFN#: 0320 DURATION: UNKNOWN WITNESSES: THREE SOURCE: MERCURY NEWS, SAN JOSE, CA - -+------------------------------------ REDONDO BEACH - Andy Hoyt admits he has no proof - not anymore, at least - that he witnessed the crash of an aircraft that may be the Pentagon's most carefully guarded secret. His sister, Lisa, and her 16-year-old son, Joey, reportedly also saw the plane, but both declined to discuss the alleged incident. Hoyt, an unemployed Redondo Beach carpenter, says he snapped photographs of the plane as it plummeted to the ground in the Sequoia National Forest near Bakersfield. But the photographs were given to the Air Force, Hoyt says, and the Air Force isn't talking. Defense experts, however, say Hoyt's description of what he claims he saw that night fits the most educated guesses of the configuration of the top secret F-19 stealth fighter - a plane the Air Force will not confirm even exists. In a scenario that sounds like a science fiction movie, Hoyt says he and two relatives saw something drop out of the sky and explode into flames on the other side of a hill about a half-mile away. "It seemed like it was something other than an airplane, said Hoyt, 26, who was on a camping trip. "Believe it or not, I thought it was a UFO." Whatever it was, he says, the military has been treating him royally since he called Edwards Air Force Base when he returned home the following Sunday evening and told the Air Force about the photographs. Hoyt says he and his party were driving east on state Highway 178 about 15 miles northeast of Bakersfiled in the early morning hours of July 12 when they pulled over for a brief rest. He was just climbing back into his truck when he saw it. "All I saw were three red lights and a dark image behind them like an upside-down triangle." Hoyt said, adding that each light was at a point of the triangle. He said he pulled a camera from the dashboard of the truck and managed to take two or three pictures before the plane disappeared over the hill. Then, a pair of explosions "lit up the sky like it was daylight out." Contrary to published reports on the day of the accident, Hoyt says, the aircraft did not explode before it crashed. At least one Air Force source has been quoted as saying plane exploded in midair, which could explain why the pilot, who was killed, was not able to eject safetly. "It was definitely not on fire when it came down," Hoyt said. "Why couldn't the guy eject?" After making sure the blaze was reported on an emergency roadside phone, the party continued to its campground north of nearby Lake Isabella. His call to Edwards upon returning home brought a sudden response from the Air Force, Hoyt says. "They took my name and number and within an hour someone had flown down here and talked to me," he said. "They didn't press me, but they wanted to see the film in my camera." - --- ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #590 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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