D-21 Drone Project
Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:22 am
Here is a note and link provided by my cousin that you may find interesting regarding the SR-71 and D-21 drone project.
Joe,
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlybyeTJ30. This is the top secret program I was in charge of security for at Beale AFB from 1968-1970 when it was discontinued. This video sums it up pretty well. John Hazlett was a rich Captain on flight pay and a friend who took me, a poor Lieutenant, water skiing behind his 18' Horizon jet boat with a 455 Olds engine.
The idea was to overfly China with unmanned drones, as their research facility was about 1200 miles inland and the US was wary of losing another pilot after Gary Powers was shot down in the U2 over Russia. The Chinese could see the overflights but could do nothing about them and did not know they were essentially unsuccessful. I suspect Nixon negotiated away the program in his talks with the Chinese, knowing full well new satellite technology would soon make the overflights unnecessary anyway.
It was incredible being 23-24 years old and to be given such responsibility, as this was a program so secret only a few people at the very top of government even knew it existed. Our black funds were hidden deep in the Inspector General's budget. The project code word "tagboard" was so secret that we were told that the OSI (Office of Special Investigations) would send an agent to kill us if we ever even mentioned the word. The SR-71 program at the same base was very hush-hush, but we were a secret within a secret. I was sent to Okinawa to escort the film back to Washington DC in a briefcase handcuffed to my wrist and allowed to carry my .38 concealed on a commercial airline flight just like in the movies. Unfortunately, that is the mission that was successful until the Navy recovery ship ran over the floating camera pod and sunk it. I came back empty-handed. The program is well covered in a book called "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. See the chapter entitled "The China Syndrome."
Once the program was cancelled, I was transferred to the base Security Police squadron as admin officer for my last two years. Jailing drunks and guarding B-52's was not too exciting after my first two years.
Craig
Joe,
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlybyeTJ30. This is the top secret program I was in charge of security for at Beale AFB from 1968-1970 when it was discontinued. This video sums it up pretty well. John Hazlett was a rich Captain on flight pay and a friend who took me, a poor Lieutenant, water skiing behind his 18' Horizon jet boat with a 455 Olds engine.
The idea was to overfly China with unmanned drones, as their research facility was about 1200 miles inland and the US was wary of losing another pilot after Gary Powers was shot down in the U2 over Russia. The Chinese could see the overflights but could do nothing about them and did not know they were essentially unsuccessful. I suspect Nixon negotiated away the program in his talks with the Chinese, knowing full well new satellite technology would soon make the overflights unnecessary anyway.
It was incredible being 23-24 years old and to be given such responsibility, as this was a program so secret only a few people at the very top of government even knew it existed. Our black funds were hidden deep in the Inspector General's budget. The project code word "tagboard" was so secret that we were told that the OSI (Office of Special Investigations) would send an agent to kill us if we ever even mentioned the word. The SR-71 program at the same base was very hush-hush, but we were a secret within a secret. I was sent to Okinawa to escort the film back to Washington DC in a briefcase handcuffed to my wrist and allowed to carry my .38 concealed on a commercial airline flight just like in the movies. Unfortunately, that is the mission that was successful until the Navy recovery ship ran over the floating camera pod and sunk it. I came back empty-handed. The program is well covered in a book called "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. See the chapter entitled "The China Syndrome."
Once the program was cancelled, I was transferred to the base Security Police squadron as admin officer for my last two years. Jailing drunks and guarding B-52's was not too exciting after my first two years.
Craig
Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:37 pm
Unfortunately the video link doesn't work. It says:
"The URL contained a malformed video ID. "
"The URL contained a malformed video ID. "
Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:06 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlybyeTJ30
Must not have liked the cut & paste from the email. Try this one. Sorry
Must not have liked the cut & paste from the email. Try this one. Sorry
Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:26 pm
sdennison wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlybyeTJ30
Must not have liked the cut & paste from the email. Try this one. Sorry
Ah, much better! Nice video tidbit, thanks. I didn't know that the D-21's were supposed to self-destruct after a mission, though.
Re: D-21 Drone Project
Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:55 pm
sdennison wrote: so secret that we were told that the OSI (Office of Special Investigations) would send an agent to kill us if we ever even mentioned the word.
I guess thats the end of the road then....
Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:40 am
We took the AMARC tour in the winter of '88/'89. The D-21s were then in storage and we were told in no uncertain terms that no one was allowed to take photos in that small area of the facility.
Scott
Scott
Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:07 am
Second Air Force wrote:We took the AMARC tour in the winter of '88/'89. The D-21s were then in storage and we were told in no uncertain terms that no one was allowed to take photos in that small area of the facility.
Scott
They apparently changed that policy sometime later, as I took the AMARC tour also in about '93 or '94 and I took several pictures of at least one D-21. Somewhere I have them - if I can find them, I'll post.
Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:18 am
warbird1 wrote:
They apparently changed that policy sometime later, as I took the AMARC tour also in about '93 or '94 and I took several pictures of at least one D-21. Somewhere I have them - if I can find them, I'll post.
My guess is that the D-21 program was no longer classified when you took the tour. I remember there being three or more of them parked together, complete with trailer, etc. As I remember, they were parked near the F-106 section.
Scott
Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:53 am
Second Air Force wrote:We took the AMARC tour in the winter of '88/'89. The D-21s were then in storage and we were told in no uncertain terms that no one was allowed to take photos in that small area of the facility.
Scott
Oh yeah, those darn D-21s created a great deal of trouble with the old MASDC tours. Actually someone publishing photos of D-21 (which he was told not to take) caused a great deal of trouble and was one of the reasons for the abolishment of the old MASDC photo tours.
It is good that the history of the D-21 program is finally being fleshed out. Interesting program.
Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:29 am
I hadn't heard about that incident, Clifford. Now I understand why they made the tour more restrictive.
We were fortunate to take the long tour back in '89. We were out in the storage area for two or three hours, including being able to walk around in specified areas during numerous stops. The tour guide/sergeant gave us direction on how far out we could go and then cut us loose for a short period of time. That led to a couple of missing tourists at one stop.
Two gentlemen from Japan got way out where there were a couple of C-121s parked, and it took the bus a while to find and retrieve them. The sergeant gave them a mild admonishment for going outside our "box", and they smiled and said they didn't quite understand the language. 
All in all it was a great way to spend a Saturday.
Scott
We were fortunate to take the long tour back in '89. We were out in the storage area for two or three hours, including being able to walk around in specified areas during numerous stops. The tour guide/sergeant gave us direction on how far out we could go and then cut us loose for a short period of time. That led to a couple of missing tourists at one stop.
Two gentlemen from Japan got way out where there were a couple of C-121s parked, and it took the bus a while to find and retrieve them. The sergeant gave them a mild admonishment for going outside our "box", and they smiled and said they didn't quite understand the language. All in all it was a great way to spend a Saturday.
Scott
Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:30 am
The MoF in Seattle has one on display next to it's Blackbird inside the main hall
Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:44 am
The Inspector wrote:The MoF in Seattle has one on display next to it's Blackbird inside the main hall
Yup sure does.
Looks a little strange on the M21 back.
Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:02 pm
Second Air Force wrote:I hadn't heard about that incident, Clifford. Now I understand why they made the tour more restrictive.
We were fortunate to take the long tour back in '89. We were out in the storage area for two or three hours, including being able to walk around in specified areas during numerous stops. The tour guide/sergeant gave us direction on how far out we could go and then cut us loose for a short period of time. That led to a couple of missing tourists at one stop.
Scott
That was the second big reason. I do not remember having problems with Asians and the Brits were always good visitors, but there were some other European nationalities that had major image problems when it came to following rules. The tours were actually run by volunteers. The Air Force contributed transportation, but individual service members contributed their own time to the tours. The "old days" were good and the current tours suck in comparison, but oh well, that is change.
Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:39 am
Clifford,
I didn't mean to imply that the two fellows on our tour were really causing any trouble. It was actually pretty funny, and the sergeant giving the tour was laughing about it with Ellen and I as we continued the tour. He said that lots of people "pushed the envelope" when they saw a particular airplane that they really wanted to get close-ups of. The funniest part of it was how the two intrepid photographers used the "language barrier" to keep out of hot water. Ingenious!
I didn't know the tour directors were volunteers--my thanks to them for spending their free time to show us through AMARC.
Scott
I didn't mean to imply that the two fellows on our tour were really causing any trouble. It was actually pretty funny, and the sergeant giving the tour was laughing about it with Ellen and I as we continued the tour. He said that lots of people "pushed the envelope" when they saw a particular airplane that they really wanted to get close-ups of. The funniest part of it was how the two intrepid photographers used the "language barrier" to keep out of hot water. Ingenious!
I didn't know the tour directors were volunteers--my thanks to them for spending their free time to show us through AMARC.
Scott