Message posted by Wildweasel on November 08, 2003 at 19:37:29 PST:
Back duing the X-15 flight program there was one incident where the rocketplane was forced to cut short its flight and make an emergency landing, alledgedly at Mud Lake in Nevada. I've searched all the X-15 photo archives available online and only found one photo supposedly of that incident. But something about everything I've found on that incident seems to be wrong. I've never seen anything about Mud Lake, either the one near Tonopah or the one north of Groom Lake, that would indicate a landing strip ever existed there. ***However***, there were a series of photos of Groom Lake published that showed a lakebed runway laid out southeast to northwest on the dry lake. Just like the lakebed runways at Edwards AFB, the outline of a runway was marked on Groom Lake in thick lines of black paint, or more likely used motor oil. In the photo series the marking could be seen on the lakebed for several years, although they faded out over the years. So, is there a chapter in the history of the X-15 project where the rocketplane landed at Groom Lake and the incident was reported to have taken place at Mud Lake to cover the existence of the secret facilities at Groom Lake? Anyone with answers or further information?
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