Message posted by Hal on March 11, 2002 at 21:20:45 PST:
I already told Joerg this tale but he probably didn't post it. We got the call to go to this range, I believe the message said Groom Lake test range, to run some tests on antennas on an aircraft--black aircraft. My technician and I checked out a Navy van for the trip and had to drive to China Lake to retrieve some equipment and then proceed via the directions given us over the phone. At this point in my life, I had never heard of A-51 or the legends about it--it was simply another desert test range to me. Getting there was half the fun. Made a wrong turn onto ther wrong dirt road and met up with four guys in jeeps that were armed. They pointed out the correct road and off we went, past the deadly-force signs, past one gate and then another. At the second gate we picked up our guides--4 heavily armed military (but they didn't have insignia). We proceeded to the end of a long runway and began to set up our equipment where our guides said we could. Then the aircraft taxied over--then was the first time we knew it was the Have Blue craft. What made it unpleasant, other than the heat and dryness was that our guides told us not to look in certain directions or that we would be shot!! "Just kjeep your eyes down," they said. I refused to work under such restrictions and we packed up and left. A friend who spent several weeks at the site said that our guides may have been joking or may have been serious--I didn't want to find out.
In Reply to: Re: A-51 etc. posted by Russ on March 11, 2002 at 15:17:17 PST:
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