Message posted by Peter Merlin on March 26, 2012 at 7:24:32 PST:

I have found two descriptions of incidents involving F-105s landing at Area 51. Some of the details are so similar that I wondered if they were the same incident despite the fact that the reported dates were different. The date of first story (involving two F-105s) seemed easy to confirm because security guard Jim Noce took a picture of the plane and wrote the year on the back. Unfortunately, he added that information many years after the incident, and the photo leaves both tail numbers hidden. The second story was dated two years after the first, but included a tail number for the single F-105 mentioned in the account.

The first story reportedly took place on 8 October 1963. A flight of three F-105 Thunderchief fighter jets, led by British exchange pilot Anthony “Bugs” Bendell, was on a practice nuclear weapon delivery sortie about 80 miles north of Nellis AFB when one aircraft experienced an oil pressure malfunction. One Thunderchief returned to Nellis while Bendell led the stricken craft to the airfield at Groom Lake. After making a pass over the field with no response to distress calls, Bendell advised the student pilot to land. At this point, two F-101 Voodoos intercepted Bendell and a voice on the radio requested his nationality. Upon learning that he was a British citizen, Bendell was asked to land also. He was requested not to look to his left, but it was too late. Bendell had already seen the futuristic craft with the enormous engines and inwardly canted tail fins. After parking near the Southend hangars, Bendell was met by "a USAF colonel" and hastily escorted to an interrogation session to verify his identity and his story. The student pilot underwent a similar debriefing in another room. Security guards Jim Noce and Tim Zarrella grabbed a Polaroid camera and one of the pilots’ flight helmets, and took a few pictures of the planes with Noce posing in front. Bendell wrote in his 1998 memoir that, following his debriefing, he was released to fly his plane back to Nellis, and that the student returned sometime later in a passenger transport. Another pilot eventually flew the remaining F-105 back to Nellis from Area 51. The oil pressure problem was eventually traced to a paper towel in the oil tank.

The second story took place on 29 June 1965. RAF exchange officer Flt. Lt. Jock Heron took off from Nellis in F-105D (59-1772) on a simulated nuclear weapons delivery sortie. Having released his practice bomb, he noticed smoke in the cockpit and sought permission to make an emergency landing at Area 51. Permission was granted and he landed without incident. Heron was taken to a windowless building and debriefed while maintenance personnel examined his aircraft. After about an hour, a ground crewman arrived with information about the cause of the smoke. Apparently the cold air turbine for the cockpit air-conditioning system had seized and overheated. Heron was allowed to watch an A-12 takeoff and then treated to lunch before being allowed to depart for a return flight to Nellis.

Both stories involve F-105s flown by British exchange pilots who were engaged in simulated nuclear weapons delivery. Each pilot provided a specific date, and one included the airplane's serial number. Oddly, both incidents took place on a Tuesday. Bendell says he inadvertently witnessed "a large , black, delta wing [aircraft], with two massive engines, each having a dorsal fin which canted inwards." He adds that about six months later he saw a photograph of America's Mach 3 "A-11" and knew that he had seen "the same aircraft, or a derivative of it" at Area 51. Heron claims he was allowed to watch the Blackbird take off. Were there two nearly identical incidents, or have the memories of a single incident been warped by time?

In Reply to: Re: Question to Peter Merlin posted by OldThudMan~!!~ on March 25, 2012 at 17:55:05 PST:

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