Peebles Curtis. Dark Eagles: A History of Top Secret U.S. Aircraft Programs

Presidio Press, 1997. — 400 p. — ISBN13: 978-0891415350.This well-researched history of the development, testing and operational deployment of ultrasecret U.S. aircraft?planes that fly ever higher and faster, are almost invisible and can remain aloft for months?will be of interest to general readers as well as to flight buffs. Peebles describes how the Bell XP-59A introduced jet-engine technology in the 1940s and created the concept of the "Black" (secret) airplane. During the 1950s, the emphasis shifted from tactical fighters to reconnaissance planes, one of which, the U-2, revolutionized intelligence-gathering. Peebles (Watch the Skies!) recounts the successful development of the Have Blue 1001, a plane virtually invisible to ground radar. He notes that the longest continuing Black Eagles aircraft program remains the test-flying of MiGs and other Soviet planes?tests that have brought fundamental changes in air-combat tactics and led to the establishment of the Navy's Top Gun program. The author's informative chronicle also reveals that the public's curiosity about these specialized aircraft has led to increasingly serious security problems at the two principal test sites in Nevada. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.Peebles admirably assembles, from a multitude of sources, a compact complete history of U.S. programs to develop so-called black or secret aircraft. Those began with work on the first American jet, the Bell P-59, during World War II, and proceeded to include the construction of such eventual headline-makers as the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, which distinguished itself in the Gulf War. Also covered are such lesser-known vehicles as several families of reconnaissance drones, some fast and high, some low and slow. Besides the hardware, Peebles covers the logistics, administration, and politics of keeping multibillion-dollar programs under wraps until they succeed or fail. Occasionally, such secrecy has led to fantasizing aircraft that do not exist--the demonstrably legendary Mach 5 Aurora, for example, which was a favorite of flying saucer cultists. Overall, one of the year's best additions to aviation collections. Roland Green