Curiosities 30 - When Aircraft Go On The Road: The Challenges Of Aviation Logistics
João Henrique Barboza Jorgetto • Mar 22, 2024
Roads are all countries' blood vessels. Every day, tons of the most diverse materials cross the country through them to ensure the functioning of factories, commerce, business, and tourism.
An infinite number of items need to move here and there, causing a lot of work for our friends involved in aerospace company logistics. Difficult, right? Imagine transporting secret cargo to an even more secret base.
Today's story came from some photos that were released on the internet:
An American girl photographed this escorted cargo heading through Arizona toward Area 51. Then, various rumors arose: Was it the new B-21 bomber? Could it be an attack drone? A Flying Saucer? Another more recent photo again shows an oval object being transported across the United States of America.
The shape and size cannot be precisely defined just from these photos, but it is undoubtedly some project by the Americans going to their new nest in the world's most famous secret air base. But this is nothing new, as, in 1962, another secret plane attracted much attention on the same road. Check out the story of the trouble that involved transporting the A-12 (CIA spy plane and cousin of the SR-71 Blackbird) to Area 51!
It all started in the hangar of Skunkworks, a team specializing in secret aircraft from the Lockheed company. At the same time as the A-12 prototype was produced, its transport cases were also designed and produced to save as much time as possible on the project. It was necessary for it to leave the company's hangar in California and cross Death Valley to Area 51 so that some sensors and radars could be installed on the prototype. This trip would be repeated eight times.
The trucks were huge when loaded with parts of the plane and required escort at all times, both for their safety and to clear the path of other vehicles. The entire planned route was analyzed, and several impediments were removed, such as central guardrails, holes, posts, and even signs, as the load could not remain exposed for any time, waiting for these problems to be resolved. A truck was fitted with steel side bars, the exact size of the transport boxes, to travel all the way, ensuring that nothing would collide with the precious package. It was time to leave once the work was finished and the truck was loaded.
The escort had vehicles from the CIA, highway police, Skunkworks, and Air Force personnel, all to speed up the trip as much as possible. In total, there were three days of travel, several rest stops, some jams, and also some shortcuts through the desert. The trip only took place during weekdays, avoiding weekends and holidays, when they could encounter more curious people on their way.
After unloading the order at Area 51, the boxes were disassembled and taken in separate parts back to the Lockheed hangar to await their next trip through the desert.
These photos were recently published after being released by the family of one of Skunkworks' engineers, Dorsey Kammerer.