It was a remarkable achievement, but years of development and flight testing would be needed before the system was reliable.
Once development began in earnest, the question became where to test the A-ll. Despite the success of the U-2 flight tests and the A-ll mock-up radar tests, Groom Lake was not initially considered. It was a "Wild West" outpost, with primitive facilities for only 150 people. The A-ll test program would require more than ten times that number. Groom Lake's five-thousand-foot asphalt runway was both too short and unable to support the weight of the Oxcart. The fuel supply, hangar space, and shop space were all inadequate.
Instead, ten air force bases scheduled for closure were examined. (This indicates the scale of operations envisioned.) The site had to be away from any cities and military or civilian airways to prevent sightings. It also had to have good weather, the necessary housing and fuel supplies, and an eighty-five-hundred-foot runway. None of the air force bases met the security requirements, although, for a time, Edwards Air Force Base was considered.
In the end, Groom Lake was the only possibility. Plans were drawn up for the necessary facilities. As cover, the site was described as a radar test range. The remote location was explained as necessary to reduce interference from outside sources. Construction began in September 1960, several months after the CIA U-2 operation closed down. The first construction workers were housed in surplus trailers. A new water well was drilled, but the site still lacked anything but the basics.
The first major construction work was the 8,500-foot runway. This was built between September 7 and November 15, 1960, and required some 25,000 yards of concrete. This was followed by construction of the fuel storage tanks. A-ll test operations would need 500,000 gallons of JP-7 per month. By early 1962, a tank farm with a storage capability of 1,320,000 gallons was completed. Three surplus navy hangars were obtained, moved to Groom Lake, then reassembled at the north end of the facility. The navy also provided over 100 surplus housing buildings. Additional warehouse and shop space was added. Repairs to the existing buildings from the U-2 days were also made. To provide access, 18 miles of highway leading into the site were resurfaced. This work was done on a two-shift basis and continued into mid-1964.
The CIA ran into a legal problem with the construction work. Nevada law required that the names of all contractor personnel who stayed in the state for more than forty-eight hours be reported to state authorities. Listing the personnel and the companies working on the project would reveal the existence of Oxcart. The CIA general counsel discovered a loop-hole — government employees were exempt. Accordingly, all contractor personnel at Groom Lake received appointments as "government consultants." If any questions were raised, it could truthfully be said that only government employees worked at the site.
By August 1961, a year after work began, the basic facilities had been completed to support the initial flight tests. Although work would continue for another three years, Groom Lake had been transformed from a ram-shackle collection of hangars and trailers in the desert into a permanent, state-of-the-art flight test center.
At this same time, the radar test program on the A-ll mock-up had been under way. By the time the work was completed in mid-1961, it was found that most of the radar return came from the vertical stabilizers, the engine inlet, and the forward sides of the nacelles. The edges of the chines and wings, as well as the vertical stabilizers, were made of a radar-absorbing laminated plastic. Of course, this plastic also had to withstand the 500-plus-degree F heat. This was the first time plastic had been used as a structural material. Because of the design changes from the radar tests, the aircraft was renamed the "A-12."[133]
Groom Lake was also used for low-speed tests of the A-12's ejector seat.
It would have to work from standing still on the runway up to a speed of over Mach 3 at 100,000 feet. Johnson was never convinced that a capsule ejection system, such as that on the B-58 or XB-70, was needed. The pilot would be wearing a pressure suit, which would provide protection from wind blast and heat. Instead, a modified F-104 seat would be used. The system was tested by towing a fuselage mock-up across the lake bed behind a car.[134] Later, in-flight ejection tests were done using a two-seat F-104.
Groom Lake had also, by this time, received a new official name. The nuclear test site was divided into several numbered areas. To blend in, Groom Lake became "Area 51." (Its unofficial name remained the Ranch through the 1960s.)
The first A-12 was originally scheduled to be ready in May 1961. Due to problems with wing assembly and J58 engine development, this date was pushed back to August 30, then December 1. Bissell was very upset by the delays: "I trust this is the last of such disappointments short of a severe earthquake in Burbank," he commented.
It was not to be — on September 11, 1961, Pratt and Whitney notified Lockheed of continuing problems with the J58's weight, performance, and delivery schedule. The completion date had slipped to December 22, 1961, with the first flight set for February 27, 1962. Because the J58 would not be ready, it was decided to temporarily install J75 engines (used in the F-105, F-106, and U-2C.) This would allow flight tests up to a speed of Mach 1.6 and 50,000 feet. With this, the A-12 program began to pick up momentum.
But there would be more problems.
As flight testing neared, activities at Groom Lake also increased. In late 1961, Col. Robert J. Holbury was named Area 51 commander. A CIA officer was his deputy. Support aircraft began arriving in the spring of 1962.
This consisted of an F-104 chase plane, eight F-100s for training, two T-33s for proficiency flights, a helicopter for search and rescue, a C-130 for cargo, and a Cessna 180 and U-3A for liaison use.
At Burbank, the first A-12, Article 121, was undergoing final checkout and tests. Once this was finished, the aircraft's wings were removed and the fuselage was loaded into a boxlike trailer, which hid its shape. Article 121
left Burbank at 3:00 A.M. on February 26, 1962. The route from Burbank to Groom Lake had already been surveyed, and it was found that an object 105
feet long and 35 feet wide could be moved with only a few road signs having to be removed, trees trimmed, and roadsides leveled to provide clearance. By sunrise, the convoy was out on the desert and away from prying eyes. After arrival, work began on reassembling Article 121 and installing the J75 engines. There was a final delay — the sealing compound had failed to stick to the fuel tank's interior. It was necessary to strip the tanks and reline them.
Finally, the A-12 was ready to test its wings. Lockheed test pilot Louis W. Schalk was selected to make the first flight. In preparation, he made several flights in a modified F-100. With the center of gravity aft, it matched the A-12's expected handling characteristics. The first tests in Article 121 were engine runs and low- and medium-speed taxi runs. The prototype A-12 was unpainted and unmarked, with no national insignia, no "U.S. Air Force," no civilian N-number, not even an article number.
All was ready by April 24, 1962, for a high-speed taxi test. Schalk would momentarily lift the plane off the runway. For this test, the A-12's stability augmentation system (SAS) was left disconnected. Because of its design, the A-12 was inherently unstable under some flight conditions, and the SAS was necessary to keep the plane under control. The SAS was triple redundant in yaw and pitch and double redundant in roll.[135]