Never got to meet any other Brits - actually any "foreigners" at all - while I was at Tonopah; an RAF aircraft diverted in during Red Flag while I was on leave, but apart from that it was me and a whole bunch of americans. Even senior officers were denied permission to visit until we had made the move to Holloman. I very much doubt the tale of the heavy paint, as all evaluation had been done by that time. Even in 1993 we had armed guards when we did static air shows to ensure that no unauthorised people touched the aircraft, so lugging a lump of authentic Black Jet on a tour around the UK in 1991 sounds like merely a great way to catch the audiences' attention to me!
Tonopah was amazingly secure. Ronnie, the (civilian) Aircrew Driver for our squadron, had been at Tonopah for many years by the time I arrived. Her final task each day was to deliver the first wave of pilots to the hangars, dropping each one individually outside his shelter. She then had to drive out beyond the security gates. The hangar doors were only opened once all those who didn't "need to know" had been logged out.
When the aircraft was unveiled to the public at Nellis in mid-'90, she drove the 5 hours from Tonopah town down to Nellis AFB just to get her first look at the aircraft!! All those years and never even a glimpse .....