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Stories like this always remind me that large groups of people can work on unknown projects without the public finding out. 'Project Oxcart' known as the A-12
by brymaster 13y ago
Stories like this always remind me that large groups of people can work on unknown projects without the public finding out.
'Project Oxcart' known as the A-12 was the first stealth plane built in Burbank, CA by thousands at Locheed and kept in secrecy - then later transported to A51/Groom Lake. It was the predecessor to the Blackbird.
- lostlogin 13y agoBletchley Park. www.bletchleypark.org.uk
- jlgreco 13y ago> It was the successor to the Blackbird. Predecessor actually. It came first.
- brymaster 13y agoWhoops, got my noun and tenses mixed up. Updated, Thanks!
- derleth 13y agoExcept, governmental delusion aside, the existence of Area 51 was not actually secret. Everyone knew the place was there, and the most reasonable explanation for it (spy planes) turned out to be correct. Also, A only implies B when there is some actual connection between A and B.
- brymaster 13y agoExcept, I didn't mean A51, I meant the Locheed stealth plane programs.
- moens 13y agolol... that was funny. "...large groups of people can work on unknown projects without the public finding out" I completely agree. I have heard the opposite line of reasoning used to "refute" actual evidence many too many times.
- HeyLaughingBoy 13y agoThat was a very long time ago, though. I imagine it is much harder to keep secrets these days. Not that people with clearances are more likely to divulge anything, but when the only way you have to document a project is with paper and blueprints, it's relatively easy to track those. When it's on your intranet, on people's local hard drives, on thumb drives, etc. it becomes harder to keep track of each copy and stuff gets out that way.
- brymaster 13y agoYeah I agree, too much technology can get in the way of keeping things secret now. On the other hand, it's very easy to track leakers now too.
- adestefan 13y agoMore people know about things like this than you realize. When you end up passing it everyday you become immune to what's really going on. It turns into, "Oh they build planes over there" when someone from our of the environment notices.
- mehmehshoe 13y agoHere are pictures of the A-12 being driven by cargo truck from LA to Groom lake in the early 60's. Quite a hoot if you are familiar with the freeway system out here. http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.h...
- defen 13y agoThat's fascinating. Can anyone explain what is going on here: http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12_v2/image018.jpg http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12_v...
- adestefan 13y agoThe truck was crawling along while a guy was out in front probably just checking out the road or getting stuff out of the way. If you've ever seen a house or large sections of bridge being moved the same thing happens.
- defen 13y agoThe weird thing is that it looks like he's running, and he doesn't show up in any of the other pics.
- mehmehshoe 13y agoI've been curious about that fellows job description as well. I just emailed that question to the website. I'll post the answer if/when I get a reply.
- coldtea 13y ago>Stories like this always remind me that large groups of people can work on unknown projects without the public finding out. Yes. Between this and secret Apple product launches, so much for the common anti-conspiracy argument that says: "Do you think a fake moon landing would have been kept secret while requiring so many people working on it?" :-)
- InclinedPlane 13y agoIt's actually interesting how not secret most of those projects actually were. President Johnson couldn't resist blabbing about the SR-71 in 1964, only one year after A-12 operations had begun and 2 years before SR-71 operations began. The U-2 began operations in 1957 and was revealed to the world, along with the equally secret mission of overflying the Soviet Union, in the Gary Powers incident in 1962. The F-117 was introduced in 1983 and was revealed in 1988. It's possible that there are additional still secret projects that operated out of Groom Lake, but I find it interesting that most of the super secret projects there were only completely secret for a period of a few years.
- gcb0 13y agoThey were not secret as you and other point out. It was only classified internaly as secret, probably to get funding without filling reports. Everyone knew where the damn base was. But officially there was a lot of money being assigned to keep it 'hidden'. Its just gov bureocracy/money shenanigans.