Originally Posted by
West Coast
The book discussed here talked about the rivalry the two groups had. By nature of the operations they had sleep cycles 180 from one another. The MiG pilots would boom the airport while the 117 pilots were trying to sleep, while the 117 guys would do whatever they could to wake the MiG boys. Per the book, they were read in on each others programs, not a casual meeting at a party.
Perhaps ironically, the MiG's were used as cover for the even more secret F-117's. According to Davies' book the F-117 Bandit numbers originated with the Red Eagles' callsign:
Operationally, the F-117 pilots had even taken to using the Bandit call sign associated with the Red Eagles, a measure designed to ensure that their radio transmissions, which could be intercepted by a basic handheld scanner, did not sound out of the ordinary. In fact, the SENIOR TREND pilots had started assigning Bandit numbers to newly qualified pilots, too.
Geisler devised an interim solution for those pilots on the squadron not yet briefed on SENIOR TREND to get a look at the strange aircraft. “We would get lawn chairs and go out there at midnight and sit in the corner of our ramp. They would be asking what the hell they were doing, but I would tell them to be patient. Then all of a sudden this big old ‘Doober’ [F-117] would go by and they would just about fall out of their chairs.”
After General Bond's MiG-23 mishap rumors quickly spread that he may have crashed a stealth test aircraft on the Nevada Range. This was a little too close to the truth since he had apparently taken a couple of YF-117A flights earlier at Groom Lake. Within days, details of the MiG story were leaked to the press to tamp down speculation that might expose the F-117's.
From a
New York Times article:
GENERAL KILLED IN NEVADA CRASH FLEW SOVIET JET
By WAYNE BIDDLE
Published: May 3, 1984
WASHINGTON, May 2— The Air Force general who was killed in a plane crash last Thursday in Nevada was flying a Soviet MIG-23 jet that has been used in tests against American planes equipped with radar-evading technology, according to Air Force sources.
The Pentagon has declined to comment officially on the accident, other than to say that the victim, Lieut. Gen. Robert M. Bond, vice commander of the Air Force Systems Command, was killed while flying ''an Air Force specially modified test craft.''
The accident occurred on the Nellis Air Force Range, part of a wasteland that also encompasses the Government's underground nuclear testing field. It is the headquarters for a number of secret programs. One is the Stealth project, which seeks to develop materials and shapes that will make weapons less detectable by hostile radar.
Weapons Acquired and Tested
Pentagon sources initially denied news reports that General Bond, who was 54 years old, was flying a plane involved in the Stealth project. The Air Force is known to be developing designs for a radar-evading strategic bomber and a jet fighter, but no complete models are thought to exist yet.
GENERAL KILLED IN NEVADA CRASH FLEW SOVIET JET - NYTimes.com