"Majors, please join me," Colonel Michael Jacobson USAF, military commander of area 51, invited the two astronauts over to his table at lunch.
"Whoo boy we're in for it now," Tony muttered to Roger.
Tony knew about Colonel Jacobson. The man was an accomplished pilot, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross in both World War II and Korea. But out of the cockpit, Jacobson was close to impossible to be around. Jacobson was a mustang, went from the army enlisted ranks to a pilot and officer through the USAAF Aviation Cadet Program in 1943. Even though he eventually earned his degree by going to night school, he didn't have that much respect for academy grads and other "college boys." Secretly, Jacobson was envious, believing that had he went to West Point he would be a General by now. Now, joining him for lunch were two West Point grads, astro-freaking-nauts no less.
Tony and Roger had a seat.
Jacobson started in right away, "So you NASA boys want one of my YF-12A's?"
Roger explained, "The goal is to reconfigure the plane as a high altitude test craft to explore the feasibility of a reusable spacecraft."
The Colonel just grunted, "I was a big proponent of using the Blackbird as a high speed/high altitude fighter and attack aircraft. After all, there is a war on."
Tony expected such a statement. The Colonel was not a big fan of the space program, and would much rather be leading a squadron of fighters or light attack planes in Vietnam.
Tony diplomatically said, "We appreciate the use of your facilities."
The Colonel responded with, "Orders are orders."
The base CO went on with the rules. The majors were to stay on base during the week. On base, the astronaut's movement would be highly restricted. On Friday evenings after sunset, they may take a "Janet" flight to Las Vegas McCarren International Airport. The Air Force had a deal with one of the larger casino/hotels, where the two majors may share a room. While in Las Vegas, the two astronauts were to wear civilian clothes, and if recognized were to say they were visiting Las Vegas on vacation. Nelson and Healey were to return to the test base on the "Janet" flight that left McCarren at 4:30 AM Monday morning.
After they were dismissed Roger said, "Wow, you weren't kidding, that guy is one tough bird."
Tony explained, "He enlisted in the armor division in 1940, saw quite a bit of action in the 1st armored division with General Patton. Jacobson decided to switch from tanks to planes, and became one of the best tank killers in the Army Air Corps, then later in the Air Force. He was instrumental in the Air Force adopting the Navy's A7 Corsair II as a tank killer."
Roger whistled, "Now I can see why he was upset about the Air Force canceling the F-12 program, and offering NASA the prototypes."
Tony said, "He is stiff, but he does respect good flying. Just remember we are in the regular military here, and we'll do fine with him."
Roger understood what Tony meant by the 'regular military.' NASA was a bit more laid back than most commands. Both Tony and Roger were seasoned military officers as well as astronauts, and easily adapted to a more Spartan lifestyle.
Then Tony added, "Let's go see what makes it all worthwhile."
Roger and Tony got into a jeep driven by an Air Force Security Police sergeant who was in olive drab battle dress uniform complete with M16. They were driven to hangar, which had two other similarly attired security police non-coms. When they entered the hangar, Roger was struck speechless. The Army major had seen photos and specs of a Blackbird, but it was something else to be up close to one. The plain captain, an attractive female airman, was putting a yellow decal that had the letters "NASA" cut out of it on the tail. For a change, Roger was more infatuated with the plane than the young woman up on a ladder.
"She is something else, isn't she," Tony said, referring to the plane.
The plane captain came up to the astronauts that would be flying "her" plane.
"Sirs, welcome to Dreamland," Senior Airman Denise Rodriguez said. To the best of her knowledge, she was one of the few female plane captains in the Air Force, and the only plane captain of a blackbird.
"Thank you, Airman," Tony replied, "That is one fine aircraft you have."
"Thank you sir, and I'd like to keep her that way," Rodriguez said proudly.
Tony smiled. A plane captain is as attached or maybe even more attached to an aircraft than the pilot. The pilot is only in charge of the plane in the air, while the rest of the time the plane captain is in charge. Usually, a plane captain spends more time with the plane than the pilot.
Tony answered the airman, "I'll take good care of her."
Roger finally said to Tony, "That's one beautiful airplane. So you were testing these babies before you came to NASA?"
Tony responded in the affirmative, "Yep, fastest and highest flying aircraft in the world. They didn't exist when I was flying them, now the public knows we have them, but we don't exactly show them off at air shows. As a matter of fact, we won't be able to take off until after dark. We don't need to give the Russians more of a peek that they've already had."
Roger was looking over the specifications and observed, "In this we could fly back to Cocoa Beach in an hour!"
After dark, Tony and Roger took off in the Blackbird. Tony was in the pilots seat, Roger was in what was the Bombadier/Navigator (BN) position, which had been turned into a research station. The two astronauts poked holes in the desert sky, and took many readings. NASA was making long range plans for a reusable space craft, a space shuttle so to speak, and the tests that the Blackbird can perform will help Tony and Roger and other engineers design the shuttle.
