5 Former Area 51 Scientists breaking some of the silence

[RamboLiberal]

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Thornton Barnes, a former Area 51 project specialist, told Fox's Bill Hemmer that a secret plane, code-named OXCART, was almost certainly mistaken for a UFO. At the time the OXCART was first brought online, Barnes says no one else in the world had any aero-technology like it.

The A-12 OXCART flew 2,850 missions out of Area 51. The plane could fly at three times the speed of sound at an altitude of 90,000 feet.

"People would see the reflection of the plane at that altitude and at that speed and I’m quite sure that this was responsible for many of the false sightings," Barnes said.

Former Area 51 physicist Edward Lovick agreed. "Commercial aircraft pilots would see something, but they were never really able to see the shape of it," Lovick said. "All they could see was some glint off the bottom of the airplane flying by."

Lovick and Barnes said their work for Area 51 was focused on defeating and besting Soviet aero-technology.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Area_51_employees_explain_UFO_sightings_0413.html

LA Time article: http://www.latimes.com/features/magazine/la-mag-april052009-backstory,0,706224.story

[old mark]

1. It looks somewhat like the SR 71 Blackbird. nt

[parasim]

3. That's because the Blackbird was a later incarnation of the A-12 Oxcart. nt

[arcadian]

4. A-12 = CIA; SR-71 = U.S. Air Force

[kestrel91316]

7. Heh. The Blackbird. One of my former clients was the first pilot to

crash a Blackbird and live to tell about it - he ejected safely - Ken Collins. He's fun to google, along with another of my former clients, who basically invented and designed the damned thing, IIRC - Dave Urie. Both good men.

I know, I know, major thread hijack, lol.

[Ian David]

2. See also

Area 51 during Project Oxcart in the 1960's
http://www.dreamlandresort.com/area51/groom_oxcart.html

Why is it that all the really cool stuff we build has to be things that are used to kill people?

[tkmorris]

6. Because that's where the funding is

Pretty lame I know, but it's true nonetheless.

[parasim]

5. That's all fine and dandy. But it doesn't really debunk anything.

It shows that Area 51 is finally being recognized as a place where experimental military aircraft was designed and tested.

Doesn't prove that there isn't a secret underground lab that holds aliens or their aircraft. :evilgrin:

Now, I'm not saying I believe that stuff, just saying that these guys "breaking their silence" doesn't prove much.