Spy plane? What Spy plane?
Pictured: A U-2 spy plane prepares for flight from Groom Lake, also known as Area 51, Watertown, The Ranch, Neverland, Paradise Ranch, The Box, or Restricted Area 4808N.
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You know that feeling when you are on the highway, low on fuel and wondering how far until the next gas station...
September 24th, 1959; A Lockheed U-2C, 56-6693, Article 360, of the SAC's 4028th SRS, Det C, out of Atsugi Air Force Base, Japan, and clandestinely operated by the CIA ran her tanks completely dry in flight.
Now in an unpowered top secret glider, pilot Tom Crull was forced to make an emergency landing at the civilian airfield at Fujisawa Japan.
The all-black CIA aircraft with no identity markings was damaged during the forced landing, and much to the angst of the CIA, the appearance of the Area 51 originating spy plane attracted a multitude of curious locals.
Officials and Military Police were quickly dispatched to cordon off the area, at gunpoint, no less, which ended up attracting even more unwanted attention. Soon, much to the horror of the CIA, public pictures of the top secret U-2C began to appear all over the Japanese press.
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Pictured above: This "NASA" photograph is another example of the CIA's attempt to hide a U-2 spy plane. Immediately after word was received that U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, the CIA scrambled to cover up his true mission of espionage. NASA quickly issued a press release claiming the U-2 spy aircraft was actually an atmospheric research aircraft inocently conducting scientific studies, and that it had unfortunately strayed off course. To back up their claims, a U-2 plane was hastily painted with NASA markings and a fictitious serial number, then put on display for the media, at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.
Interestingly enough, Article 360 was also the plane Powers was flying when he was shot down!
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