Area 51_ An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base - Annie Jacobsen [224]
18. the Air Force ordered not one but three variants: Pedlow and Welzenbach, Central Intelligence Agency, 33.
19. letters stood for “Reconnaissance/Strike”: Memorandum, Secretary of the Air Force Eugene Zuckert to General Bernard Schriever, April 8, 1963, w/att: Procurement and Security Provisions for the R-12 Program, Top Secret.
20. eight hundred million dollars developing the B-70 bomber airplane: Marcelle Size Knaack, Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems, Post-World War II Bombers, 559. The XB-70A had its genesis in Boeing Aircraft Corporation’s Project MX-2145. Also see Ball, Politics and Force Levels, 216–18.
21. the President was astonished: Rich, Skunk Works, 228.
22. “unnecessary and economically unjustifiable”: President Kennedy, Special Message to the Congress of Urgent National Needs, delivered in person before a joint session of Congress, May 25, 1961.
23. Congress cut back its B-70 order even further: House Armed Services Committee, Authorizing Appropriations for Aircraft, Missiles and Naval Vessels for the Armed Forces (1961), 569, see FY 1962, 1564–65, 1577.
24. “Johnson, I want a promise out of you”: Rich, Skunk Works, 231.
25. LeMay promised to send Lockheed: Robarge, Archangel, 52. The Air Force initially envisioned a fleet of as many as a hundred YF-12s, designed to intercept a Soviet supersonic bomber rumored to be in the works.
26. At the Ranch, it was business as usual: Interview with Colonel Slater.
27. finally delivered to the Ranch: Robarge, Archangel, 17. The J-57 engine could reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 and a maximum height of 40,000 feet; interview with John Evans of Pratt and Whitney.
28. An X-ray showed the outline of a pen: Interview with Ed Lovick.
29. new set of challenges: Pedlow and Welzenbach, Central Intelligence Agency, 38.
30. F-101 chase plane had run off the airstrip: Interview with Don Donohue.
31. Lyndon Johnson would be briefed: CIA Memo, Meeting with the President, Secretary Rusk, Secretary McNamara, Mr. Bundy and DCI. Re: Surfacing the OXCART, 29 November, 1963, 1.
Chapter Twelve: Covering Up the Cover-Up
Interviews: Jim Freedman, Colonel Slater, T. D. Barnes, Stanton Friedman
1. “I heard it was in Area 22”: Interview with Jim Freedman. In contemporary maps of the test site, Area 22 is located down by Camp Mercury. In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the quadrants were numbered differently.
2. 354,200 feet—almost 67 miles up: Jenkins, Hypersonics Before the Shuttle, 119. The Kármán line, commonly used to define the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, is at an altitude of approximately 328,000, or 62 miles above sea level. The U-2 flew at 70,000 feet, or approximately 13 miles; the A-12 flew at 90,000 feet, or approximately 17.5 miles.
3. “on 30 April, A-12 was in air”: Priority Secret Classified Message to Director from———2219Z Classified Message Secret 15 May 62, ZE19C “Oxcart Secure Ops.”
4. commercial pilots would report sightings: Interview with Colonel Slater; Annie Jacobsen, “The Road to Area 51,” Los Angeles Times Magazine, April 5, 2009, 26–28, 77.
5. Walter Cronkite hosted a CBS news special report: The report can be viewed online, “From the Vault,” CBS Reports.
6. Dr. Robertson appeared on a CBS Reports: Haines, “CIA’s Role,” 74.
7. House Armed Services Committee held hearings on UFOs: “Congress Reassured on Space Visits,” New York Times, April 6, 1966.
8. Air Force laying blame for the cover-up on the CIA: Walter L. Mackey, executive officer, memorandum for DCI, “Air Force Request to Declassify CIA Material on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO),” September 1, 1966.
9. According to CIA historian Gerald Haines: Haines, “CIA’s Role.”
10. journalist named John Lear: Lear, “The Disputed CIA Document on UFO’s,” Saturday Review, September 3, 1966.
11. One of the more enigmatic figures: Hillenkoetter took over amid negotiations on May 1, 1947, of what would be the National Security Act