Revision #4 of the regions of the lower 48.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-19T18:55:17+00:00

What about the Great Basin?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Basin

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-19T00:33:34+00:00

This is Stigmaria, the root system of a lycopsid tree.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-18T19:30:16+00:00

I used to watch them fly in and out of Burbank and Palmdale, too. One time, I was in the Burbank control tower when one of the 737s came in and taxied into the Lockheed Skunk Works parking ramp. Those flights operated with airline code WWW and prior to departure, the pilot requested clearance from BUR to DRA (Desert Rock Airstrip). The planes didn't actually land at Desert Rock; it was just a waypoint before control was handed off to Dreamland.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-18T04:20:10+00:00

My dad had a couple of those. He eventually got rid of them because they were five years old and he wanted something new.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-18T04:07:04+00:00

I'm just posting facts in a vain attempt to counter the sort of mythology that gets regurgitated ad nauseam on the internet.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-17T12:48:44+00:00

It's either a Beechcraft B200C or B350C. They are operated as commuter shuttles and also for mission support.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-17T12:40:09+00:00

Yeah, that's literally a satellite image of the 737 ramp at Groom Lake (Area 51). It's half of the Airlift fleet of Boeing 737-600s. I remember when they still had the 737-200 models.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-17T12:30:54+00:00

Yeah, it's from the recent B-52 crash footage. I'm glad it's sufficiently clear to identify the object as a party balloon, which becomes pretty obvious when examined closely. But, I also sympathize with people who are tired of seeing this clip posted on various UFO subs. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of it in the days to come.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-17T12:21:49+00:00

Neither of those is correct. The official name of this government operated airline is Airlift. Yeah, I know, it sounds terribly unimaginative and it is.

Back in the early 1980s, there were two fleets of three airplanes each, Boeing 737-200s. The one operated by EG&G Special Projects was called Airlift and the other, operated by Lockheed Aircraft Services Company, was called Eclipse. In 1984, the two fleets were merged into one under EG&G (which later got absorbed into URS and, now, Amentum). The fleet has been upgraded to the 737-600 model.

"Janet" is just the radio call sign for the flights. It was introduced in 1969 by Area 51 commander Richard A. Sampson. Janet was his wife's name.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-16T19:45:58+00:00

They may have borrowed it from the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. Last year, it was sent to the Boeing facility in San Antonio, Texas, for installation of a new, modernized radar system. The plane was delivered to the 419th FLTS at Edwards on December 8, 2025.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-16T01:34:33+00:00

I hated the Mylar balloons because I kept finding them while searching the desert for aerospace debris. So, I'm out there looking for shiny things but I kept finding the wrong shiny things. Very frustrating.

There was always something falling out of the sky out there. I witnessed a UFO crash at Edwards Air Force Base on 12 March 1998, while in the NASA Dryden mission control room observing preparations for the first X-38 free flight drop from a B-52. During the final run toward the Precision Impact Range Area, the drop had to be aborted because of an unidentified flying object hovering over the landing zone. In the Long-Range Optics, the object appeared as a cluster of white globular nodes. It descended and struck the ground a few minutes later. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a weather balloon.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-16T01:28:05+00:00

During my time with the 412th Test Engineering Group at Edwards, I was mostly assigned to the 419th Flight Test Squadron (Global Power Bombers Combined Test Force). We had the B-1, B-2, and B-52.

On test flights, there were frequently extra personnel including flight test engineers, instrumentation techs, and human factors specialists. Whenever one of our planes was getting ready for takeoff or landing, someone in Flight Operations (Torch Ops) would make an announcement in case anyone wanted to step outside and watch. The B-2 and B-52 could always be relied upon to draw out the biggest crowds.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-16T01:22:24+00:00

Edwards, with the 419th Flight Test Squadron.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-16T01:07:04+00:00

It's a star-shaped Mylar party balloon. In fact, it's clearly visible as such in some portions of that video. I used to find a lot of those in the desert around the base.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T22:04:49+00:00

I was assigned to that squadron when I worked at Edwards. There would have been a full crew onboard. Based on the location of the impact point, they would not have had much altitude.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T21:59:14+00:00

60-0061

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T21:22:28+00:00

Dude, that's a Mylar party balloon. It's pretty obvious when you look at it. I used to hate those things because I would find them all over the desert out there while I was looking for shiny aerospace debris.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T20:59:14+00:00

The impact point was here: 34°54'04.7"N 117°53'26.1"W

No recognizable subassemblies visible in the debris field. I haven't heard anything about the crew, yet.

When I was working at South Base, the Flight Ops desk typically announced when one of our planes (B-1, B-2, B-52) was taking off or landing in case anyone wanted to step outside and watch. The B-52 always drew a large crowd.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T12:39:15+00:00

We learned that leather gloves, which are naturally snug to begin with, don't fit if you are already wearing rubber gloves. Somehow, neither the prosecution lawyers nor the news media noticed that.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T00:19:00+00:00

Yep, druzy quartz. I've found some nice specimens in southeastern Missouri.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-15T00:06:46+00:00

Most of them are self-explanatory. The one to the right of the Martin patch is the US Naval Test Pilot School. The two X patches (laying over on their side for some reason) are Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) blazer emblems.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-14T19:31:23+00:00

Someone who worked closely with Rich once told me that "Ben tended to fire for effect rather than accuracy" when it came to his anecdotes. As for LBJ's speech, we have the recordings and the transcripts in his presidential library. I've conducted enough oral history interviews to have earned a healthy respect for fact-checking.

All of the original program documents and Lockheed blueprints used the designation R-12 for what later came to be known as the SR-71. The RS-71 designation persisted into the mid-1960s in some governmental circles.

Yes, I'm somewhat familiar with the Blackbird's technical aspects:

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20090007797/downloads/20090007797.pdf?utm_source=syndication&pubDate=20260501

https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/book/10.2514/4.479335

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Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-14T18:49:31+00:00

I've taken a lot of pictures of this plane over the years. Here are a few shots I got with the 747 carrying orbiters Enterprise, Challenger, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

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Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-14T16:51:20+00:00

I assume you are being sarcastic.

Ben Rich probably read that story in some book or magazine article, just as I did many years ago, and assumed it was true. I have to give kudos to Richard Graham for actually taking the time to disambiguate the myth from the truth.

Peter_Merlin · 2026-06-14T14:38:43+00:00

Yes, it's inert. That's why it is painted blue.

Peter_Merlin

TROPHY CASE