7. Area 51
Ahhh, purported center of nearly every conspiracy theory, so we decided this deserved a special place. Officially named Groom Lake, an outpost of Edwards Air Force Base, Area 51 has been home to projects that include the U-2, X-15, F-117, and the OXCART program, which later became the SR-71 Blackbird.
The picture shown is not a B-2 but a F-117.
The photo is of the B2 and not the F117.
Get a photo person that KNOWS aircraft.
Andrew and Bruce, you’re totally right! Sorry about the mixup, the wrong image was, indeed, uploaded. We’ve fixed the problem now.
Area 51 is not a secret project but a access restricted base. No one has yet to definitively state just what goes on there currently. While it was used for airframe testing previously including Have Blue/ F117 / B2 there is no single known project now or then.
Personally my theory is they use it to develop thin crust pizza dough! Come on PROVE me wrong ;-]
Wait… You include the U-2, I would agree a great accomplishment, but only mention the SR-71 in passing on the Area 51 page. The SR-71 made the U-2 look like a Cessna 150. Flew higher, faster (much faster) and was totally impervious to any existing defenses. As you noted, the U-2 was shot down – the SR-71 was not. It still holds many altitude and speed records.
It certainly meets the criteria for this article as much as any other entry – and, if you have ever seen one in person, it is awesome! If you haven’t you should. The things they had to solve to fly at Mach 3.2 at 85,000 ft were daunting.
Gerald Bull was brilliant at gun design but not so good at who he designed for. The project was called Babylon because the client was Sadly Insane. Countries located in any direction from Bagdad would not have been too thrilled if the gun was completed.
Too bad the details about the projects in this article are barely picture captions.
Holy Birchtrunk, Batman! You made my day and then some!