Message posted by Peter Merlin on July 11, 2006 at 8:31:57 PST:
So far, I have only seen the COMBAT AIRCRAFT article by Robert F. Dorr which contains numerous factual errors. Among the worst: "Today, the place is infamously known as Area 51, a name created by conspiracy theorists and crazies,..." This is just plain wrong. We know the the test site was officially designated Area 51 in conjunction with the AEC land grab of June 1958. It appears with that designation on AEC maps and numerous CIA and Air Force documents. And yet it appears as "A-12" in numerous declassified CIA documents. OK, there's no excuse for this one. It is the 6513th Test Squadron 'Red Hats' and 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron 'Red Eagles.' The X-45 made all of its flights at Edwards and the X-47 made its single flight at China Lake. There are other questionable items as well, but these are the most egregious errors.
"Historians of the Lockheed Skunkworks insist that the company named the aircraft the A-12, but CIA officers never called it anything but the Oxcart."
"4477th Operations Group, the 'Red Eagles'"
"Today, most of the work at Groom involves unmanned aerial vehicles (including the X-45 and X-47),..."
In Reply to: AIRCRAFT ILLUSTRATED versus COMBAT AIRCRAFT posted by Norio Hayakawa on July 10, 2006 at 22:32:24 PST:
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