The drawing of the XB-70 forward fuselage being loaded on a C-5 is also questionable. The witness did not get a good look at it, as the object was obscured by bright lights and obstacles. No cockpit canopy was seen. The drawing made it look much more airplanelike than the evidence would suggest. The air force officially stated that it was a radar cross section test article.[808]
The other XB-70 sightings can be put in perspective by an experience of the author. On January 12, 1993, the author saw the XB-70 flying at low altitude, heading west. It was in a steep bank, so its delta wing and long nose could be seen. The author was quite surprised, as he had evidence by this time that the XB-70 Aurora stories were not to be relied upon. At second glance, the plane proved to be an F-14 coming into NAS Miramar. Its wings were swept back, giving it a long nose-delta shape. The Helendale sighting could have been a home-built Long E-Z light aircraft.
Belief in Aurora itself has generated sightings — the T-38 trainers at Beale Air Force Base, used for chase work and pilot proficiency flights, were repainted in an all-black finish. One pilot said: "One twilight, I was flying in close formation with my wingman as we returned to base after a mission.
We had our landing lights on as we turned over the town on final and the base's switchboard lit up with calls from people inquiring if the 'Aurora' was arriving at Beale!"[809]
The photos of the doughnut-on-a-rope contrail has several internal inconsistencies. As the size of the lens (410mm) and the frequency of pulses (three hertz) are known, it is a simple matter to calculate the distance between each "puff" for a given altitude. This gives the speed of the aircraft.
When the calculations are done, they indicate that if the aircraft was moving at supersonic speed, the puffs would be shooting out several hundred feet from the central contrail. They each would be the size of a football field. This represents the loss of a huge amount of energy. Blowups of the […] me regularity or me" pulses breaks down. The contrail it-seir snows zigzags that are inconsistent with a very-high-speed object. This indicates it was from a much lower and slower aircraft.[810]
The circular contrails visible in the weather satellite photos were identified by several letter writers as being made by an E-3 AWAC aircraft flying a racetrack course.[811] It is an example of how any strange sight or sound would be credited to Aurora.
The North Sea sighting was of a KC-135, two F-111s, and a black triangle silhouetted against high clouds. The size of the Aurora was about that of the F-111s. The angle of an F-111 with its wings in the fully swept back position is 70 degrees. The undersides of F-111s are also painted black. In all probability, the Aurora was simply a third F-111 with its wings swept back. From far below, the nose and wings would blend together, and it would look like a black triangular flying wing.
This evidence of Aurora's nonexistence has been amassed from different sources over the past several years. Yet, even as the story was developing and spreading, it was possible to tell that belief in UFOs was closely connected with Aurora. The February 1988 Gung-Ho article on Aurora said,
"Rumor has it some of these systems involve force-field technology, gravity-driven systems, and 'flying saucer' designs. Rumor further has it that these designs are not necessarily of Earth human origin — but of who might have designed them or helped us to do it, there is less talk." The author used the name Al Frickey; he has subsequently been identified by several sources as the author of books on stealth and Black airplanes. At the end of the article, the editor added: "The Air Force has had a unit at Nellis for several years; its name: The Alien Technology Center. The first question is, do you think they are studying Mexicans? The center is rumored to have obtained alien (not Earth) equipment and, at times, personnel to help develop our new aircraft star wars weaponry."[812]
An article on the "skyquakes" observed that earthquakes, meteors, or aircraft had all been eliminated as the source. It ended on a tongue-in-cheek note: "That leaves us with only one explanation to describe the particulars of this case — the shaking was caused by aliens, with a thing for Thursdays, whose spaceship is buzzing southern California."[813]
An October 1992 issue of Aviation News noted in an article on Aurora,
"Indeed, within the last year, established figures of U.S. government agencies have indicated that captured UFOs are also here [Groom Lake], but that is another story!"[814]
Television programs on Aurora also showed UFO influences — as already noted, the NBC film of a light in the night sky above Groom Lake was described as maneuvering "like a flying saucer." A Fox network special titled Sightings: UFO Report showed a segment on Groom Lake. (An "unidentified" object was probably a car headlight on the Groom Lake Road.) On October 16, 1992, the Fox program Sightings had a segment on Aurora — it had been preceded by a "report" on UFO abductions (in which persons claim they were taken aboard a UFO and their sperm or ova removed).
Local television programs have also stressed the Aurora-UFO link. The three Las Vegas stations, Channels 3, 8, and 13, have all done a number of stories on Area 51, Aurora, and UFO claims. It was Channel 8 that first interviewed Lazar in November 1989. WFAA-TV of Dallas, Texas, carried a two-part program titled, The Aurora Project. The first part was on Aurora and Groom Lake, while part two was on the UFO subculture in the area.
This is typical of how television programs deal with the story.[815]
The Tester Corporation, which released models of the SR-75 and XR-7, followed up with another kit in the late summer of 1994. It was a model of a UFO, as described by Robert Lazar. The order form reads: "This particular disc, nicknamed the 'Sports Model' was one of nine different discs being 'back engineered' at a secret U.S. Installation known as 'S4' on the Nellis Air Force range in the Groom Lake area of Nevada."[816]
The most obvious example of the link between Aurora and the UFO subculture is computer bulletin boards (BBS). The America Online BBS has two sections (called "folders") titled "Area 51" dealing with Black airplanes and "Above Top Secret" on UFOs. Using screen names such as "FR8-Driver," "Steve 1957," "BlackSky," "GrahamP," "Stealth C," and "Velvt-Elvis," individuals can post messages and exchange information. These messages can be read by anyone with a personal computer and a phone modem.
The author has a seventeen-foot printout of the messages from June 26 to October 15, 1993.[817] There are numerous references to UFOs. One message reads: "The crafts seen could be man made craft that might utilize an anti-matter/anti-gravity propulsion system designed around flying saucer shapes.
As I look at all the information I have, I feel that there are some vehicles of extraterrestrial origin being seen flying above and around Area 51."[818]
It reached the point that one person observed, "The Area 51 folder seems to have degenerated into a discussion of UFO's."[819]
813
Betsy Woodford, "Phantom of the air tracked by Caltech's seismo-graph network,"
814
Micheal G. Crunch, "Project Aurora: The Evidence So
815
Glenn Campbell,
817
Author's printout of computer messages, America Online, June 26 to October 15, 1993. There was quite a controversy over whether it was a good idea to discuss Black projects, like Aurora, in so public a forum. Rereading the printout indicates the material came from published accounts and Black buff rumors. One example of this was a September 19 message that claimed people at the site wear "foggles" to prevent them from seeing anything other than the project they are working on. Foggles are standard safety goggles with the plastic scratched so you can see only your feet. An escort leads you around. One doubts the KGB or GRU would care.
818
Computer Message, Subject: "Alien" Craft at Area 51, From: BlackSky, America Online, 93-06-29, 00:43:30 EOT.
819
Computer Message, Subject: Good Idea, From: DougBewar, America Online, 93-08-15, 15:55:09 EDT. The author should note that the vast majority of Aurora sightings (like the vast majority of UFO sightings) were made in good faith. I have talked personally with four people who heard the "Aurora roar," and I have no doubt they are honestly describing what they experienced. The problem, as with UFOs, is that the sky has an infinite number of tricks of light and shadow. (The author's "XB-70" sighting, for example.) It is ironic that in 1983, as the super-high-speed airplane stories were spreading, the