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3.1 KiB
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52 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
16-Oct-87 12:05 MST
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Sb: APnv 10/15 2240 Stealth Missing
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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) -- An Air Force plane that Pentagon sources said was a
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top-secret Stealth fighter crashed in a rugged desert area, killing the pilot.
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A Pentagon official in Washington who asked not to be named described the
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missing plane as a Stealth fighter, similar to the plane that crashed in 1986 in
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California.
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The source refused to discuss the conditions under which the plane crashed
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and it could not be learned immediately whether the plane was on a training
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exercise or a flight test.
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Nellis Air Force Major Victor Andrijauskas said the pilot was killed when the
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plane crashed on the Nellis Air Force Gunnery range about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.
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The crash was about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas and 50 miles south of a
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secret air base where the Air Force is known to test the Stealth fighter.
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A dispatcher for the Bureau of Land Management said the BLM was notified of a
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fire in the area Wednesday night, and called the Air Force, which operates the
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sprawling range facility. The dispatcher, who refused to give her name, said Air
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Force officials asked the BLM not to say where the fire was or how big it was.
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Andrijauskas refused to say what kind of plane crashed, but said the pilot
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was the only crew member aboard. He said emergency crews responded and secured
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the area.
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"We have personnel on the scene," said Andrijauskas.
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The spokesman said the pilot was assigned to Nellis, but refused to say what
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fighter wing he was attached to. Nellis is the largest fighter wing training
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facility in the United States.
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A plane believed to be a Stealth fighter crashed in July 1986 in the western
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Sierra Nevada, touching off a 150-acre brushfire in Sequoia National Park. The
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crash occurred about 12 miles northeast of Bakersfield, Calif. Air Force guards
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carrying rifles and pistols barred people from that crash site.
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The F-19 fighter known as the Stealth has been described as an experimental
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aircraft using the latest electronic technology, materials and aerodynamic
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design to foil radar and infared sensors.
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The Air Force has said it will buy 750 of the proposed advanced tactical
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fighters, which will be high-technology planes slated to become the mainstay of
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the U.S. air defense system through the mid-21st century.
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Reports have long circulated that the Air Force tests a squadron of 50
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Stealth fighter jets under Nellis auspices at the Tonopah air field about 200
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miles northwest of the base.
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Recently, a two-mile air strip was lengthened at the small base, and small,
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individual hardened hangars were built along the base's flight line.
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Residents in the Tonopah area said previously that the flight line remains
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quiet during the day. But at night, the desert erupts with an almost constant
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thunder of takeoffs and landings at the base.
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The Tonopah base is on the northern tip of the Nellis range, which covers
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about 3 million acres of desert and mountain areas, and borders on three sides
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the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear weapons tests are conducted.
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Copyright 1987 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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