SUBJECT: MACH 8 AIRCRAFT FILE: UFO54
PART 2
"I nearly spat my coffee out all over the floor," says
the 30-year-old Mr. Gibson of his reaction to finally seeing a
design that seemed to explain what he'd seen three years
earlier. In a telephone interview from Houston, where he is
attending an engineering training program, Mr. Gibson says that
while he couldn't make out much detail of the mystery plane's
underside, he easily eliminated all other aircraft shapes that
might explain planes of the same size, including F-111s with
wings in a swept-back position.
According to the Jane's report, the "perfect 75-degree
swept triangle" described by Mr. Gibson corresponded "almost
exactly" to designs of Mach 5, or hypersonic, aircraft designed
but not built over the past 25 years. Mr. Sweetman took his
collected data about the size and shape of the plane and
descriptions of unidentified aircraft noise reported from such
places as Edwards and Beale Air Force bases in California, where
secret planes are often held, and presented them to Paul Czysz,
an aerospace-engineering professor at St. Louis University for
an opinion. Prof. Czysz is quoted as speculating that such a
plane could be powered by liquid methane, which could take it to
a maximum cruise speed of Mach 8.
As for selecting Lockheed and Rockwell as the likely
makers, the Jane's article notes that "Lockheed's financial
figures have indicated a continuing, large flow of income for
'classified' and 'special mission' aircraft." The engine
responsible for the strange noises that have been heard in
California "is closer to a rocket than to a turbojet," the
article says. Lockheed and Rockwell worked together on a losing
bid to build the bomber that eventually became Northrop Corp.'s
B-2, the Jane's article says. And while it isn't noted there,
one industry official earlier this year confirmed that the two
companies had been involved in a classified project for years.
Figuring that the aircraft would likely be in very low
production - only 50 SR-71s or predecessor aircraft were made,
beginning in the early 1960s - the article says that "each
reconnaissance aircraft could easily cost as much as $1
billion." Lockheed reported sales of aeronautical systems
totaling $2.2 billion in 1991, an amount that has steadily
fallen from the $4.2 billion recorded in 1987.
Lockheed Aeronautical Systems spokesman Richard Stadler,
a veteran of having to decline comment on past classified
programs, says the company won't discuss revenues of any
classified programs, but adds that at the Skunk Works,
"supporting the F-117 is the largest program we've got now as
far as active programs go."
A spokesman for the Rockwell Rocketdyne division says
the company doesn't build engines for any reconnaissance
aircraft, although he adds that Rocketdyne does have some
classified programs that it can't discuss.
The speculation about hypersonic aircraft flying over
California has special interest for that state's residents, many
of whom have felt what they thought were small rumbling
earthquakes for nearly a year and a half - only to be told by
representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey that some peculiar
unreported aircraft were probably responsible. Scientists have
referred to the phenomena as "airquakes" and even described the
speed and size of the aircraft that might cause them. The Jane's
article suggests that the speed and size correspond to those of
the mystery spy plane.
As an author, Mr. Sweetman has had considerable
experience studying secret aircraft, having written extensively
on the Stealth fighter before the Air Force disclosed the
existence of that program. He has since written a book on the
program. His magazine article engages in heavy speculation of
course, calling its findings "a tentative analysis."
When asked about the sightings, a public affairs officer
at the Air Force, which for years denied the existence of the
plane now known as the F-117 says, "As far as the Air Force is
concerned, there is no such program," and satellites are doing
all reconnaissance work.
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