Page "Aurora (aircraft)" Paragraph 11

I even saw the Aurora take off one night-or an aircraft that matched the Aurora's reputed configuration, a sharp delta with twin tails about a hundred and thirty feet long.

It taxied out of a lighted hangar at two-thirty A. M. and used a lot of runway to take off.

It had one red light on top, but the minute the wheels left the runway, the light went off and that was the last I saw of it.

I didn't hear it because the wind was blowing from behind me toward the base.

" I asked when this had taken place.

" February 1994.

Obviously they didn't think anybody was out there.

It was thirty below zero-probably ninety below with the wind chill factor.

I had hiked into White Sides from a different, harder way than usual, and stayed there two or three days among the rocks, under a camouflage tarp with six layers of clothes on.

I had an insulated face mask and two sleeping bags, so I didn't present a heat signature.

I videotaped the aircraft through a telescope with a five-hundred-millimeter f4 lens coupled via a C-ring to a high-eight digital video camera with five hundred and twenty scan lines of resolution, which is better than TV.

" The author then asked " Where's the tape?

" Locked away.

That's a legitimate spyplane ; my purpose is not to give away legitimate national defense.

When they get ready to unveil it, I'll probably release the tape.