The Mystery of the Aurora Aircraft
As was the case many years ago when rumors were running rampant about a top secret stealth aircraft flying out of Nevada’s Area 51, only to be proven true after at least two crashed, now another aircraft has caught the imagination of conspiracy buffs.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to two people who have worked at Area 51 and asked them if there was an Aurora. One answered, “Now why would you want to know that?” The other said, “I can’t say one way or the other. It would mean my job.”
Personally, I think there just might be another black ops aircraft lurking high overhead that is rumored to fly at better than mach 4. “That’s fast,” as one of the characters in my novel, Hunt of the Sea Wolves, says.
I’m giving you a peek at Chapter 74 from the book, where the two main characters, Parris and Roy come face to face with Aurora–and then get to go on the flight of their lives from the East Coast to Hawaii, as they race the sun to catch pirates intent on detonating a nuke on a very special anniversary.
Below Chapter 74, I will begin giving details of what people suspect about the top secret Aurora project.
Chapter 74 of “Hunt of the Sea Wolves”
Parris and Roy stood in the cavernous hanger, transfixed at the massive black aircraft. A hydraulic-powered trap door opened under the aircraft and the pilot stepped out. Wearing a high-altitude pressure flight suit, he stood five feet six (the better to fit in tight cockpits). In his mid fifties, his hair was long and red. He didn’t look like a typical Air Force pilot. He wasn’t. Harry Saxon’s life was as secret as the aircraft he tested and flew during covert operations.
Saxon held out a hand to both men. They shook hands. “I hear you fellows need a lift.”
Parris motioned toward the aircraft. “What is that thing? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I believe it is the Aurora.” Roy answered eagerly. Roy was obviously enraptured at being in presence of the ultra-secret aircraft. He turned to Parris. “You do not realize what this is?”
“Well, it sure isn’t the Concord. But since it looks like an offspring of the SR-71 Blackbird and the F/A-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter,†Parris said. “I’ll take a wild guess and say it’s the latest spy plane out of Area 51.”
Roy ran his hand along the sleek aircraft’s fuselage, almost affectionately. He looked at Saxon. “It is the Aurora, isn’t it.”
“You’ve heard of her,” Saxon said proudly.
“Oh, yes.” Roy looked into one of the huge jet engines. “She is much, much more. Is it true that she can exceed an altitude of more than two hundred thousand?†He looked at Saxon for confirmation.
“Oh, she’ll get up in that neighborhood, I suppose,” Saxon said coyly.
“Some neighborhood,” Parris said with awe.
“She is a long-range reconnaissance follow-on to the SR-71,” Roy recited from memory. “She has a blended delta wing with seventy-five degree leading-edge sweep and retractable low-speed fore-planes. It is thought that she is most likely powered by two regenerative air-turbo ramjet engines.”
“I’m impressed,” Parris said.
“You’ve been surfing the Net,” Saxon said. “Don’t believe everything the conspiracy blogs have to say.”
Roy wasn’t put off by the remark. It only encouraged him. He looked up the hatch into the aircraft. “Is it true she will do Mach six?”
“Mach six?” Parris said as he tried to calculate the numbers. “That’s, what, a couple thousand miles per hour?”
“Over four thousand miles per hour,” Roy said almost gleefully.
“Give or take, depending on the altitude and air temperature,” Saxon said.
“That’s fast?” Parris smiled.
A test pilot of long standing with the CIA, Saxon was justifiably proud of his newest toy. “Give her a good tailwind at thirty-seven miles up and she’s the fastest commute on the planet,” he said, then asked, “How long did it take you to drive over here from down town?”
“A little over an hour,” Roy said.
“Less than an hour ago, I took off from Groom Lake, on the West Coast.” He touched the side of one of the engines with the back of his right hand. “She’s still warm.”