The largest hangar on the base, Hangar 18 takes up approximately 51,366 square feet capable of accommodating aircraft with a wingspan of 235 feet, and a length of 190 feet. The height of Hangar 18 is estimated to be eight stories. Reports claim this high bay building is used to mate a secret hypersonic aircraft to its launch vehicle.
TAN Hangar 629
The scientists had made some assumptions about the dimensions and characteristics of the airframe. Each power package would need to be handled as a unit. A maximum of four engines per plane might be slung under the wing close to the fuselage. Chemical fuels would be auxiliary to the operation. The plane would weigh at least 600,000 pounds. It would extend 135 feet from wing tip to wing tip, be 52 feet wide at the tail, be 205 feet long, and be 53 feet high or higher at the tail.
http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/id/id0200/id0269/data/id0269data.pdf
SCA Descriptions
Dimensions
- Wingspan: 195 ft. 8 in.
- Length: 231 ft. 10 in.
- Height: Top of vertical stabilizer, 63 ft. 5 in. To top of cockpit area, 32 ft. 1 in.
- Vertical tip fins on horizontal stabilizers: 20 ft. 10 in. high, 9 ft. 7 in. long.
- Weight: Basic weight, NASA 905, 318,053 lb;. NASA 911, 323,034 lb
- Maximum gross taxi weight: 713,000 lb
- Maximum gross brake release weight: 710,000 lb
- Maximum gross landing weight: 600,000 lb
MDD Description
The facility consists of two 100-foot towers with stationary work platforms at the 20-, 40-, 60- and 80-foot levels on each tower and a horizontal structure mounted at the 80-foot level between the two towers. The horizontal unit cantilevers out 70 feet from the main tower units. It controlled and guided a large lift beam that attached to the orbiters to raise and lower them.
Three large hoists were then used simultaneously to raise and lower the lift beam. Two of the hoists are connected to the aft portion of the lift beam and one hoist is attached to the beam's forward section. Each of the three hoists has a 100,000-pound lift capability. Operating together, the total lifting capacity of the three units is 240,000 lbs (120 tons).
TAN RUNWAY
The 23,000-foot runway (4.36 miles), although partially designed, was never constructed.56 After a number of study groups evaluated the matter, the AEC decided in December 1958 that neither the NRTS nor any other AEC installation could be used for
an ANP test site. "The decision not to use NRTS for the flight
test base gave due regard to prior Government expenditures," but
the AEC determined that "these were more than outweighed by the
potential risks involved."57 Rather, the AEC decided that nuclear
test flights should originate from an island or coastal station
and fly only over the ocean.
Two years after the "cancellation" of the TAN runway in November of 1960 the Blackbird's runway at AREA-51 was completed.
| Area 51/Groom LakeF | United States | 37°14′06″N 115°48′40″W | 7,093 | 23,270 |
November 1960 Runway 14/32 was completed. The A-12 required a runway at least 8,500 feet long and 150-feet-wide. A 10,000-foot hard asphalt extension, with a concrete turnaround pad in the middle, cut diagonally across the southwest corner of the lakebed. A semicircle (called "The Hook") approximately two miles in diameter was marked on the dry lake so that an A-12 pilot approaching the end of the overrun could abort to the hard-packed playa instead of running his aircraft into the sagebrush.
Message posted by Peter Merlin on February 26, 2011 at 13:06:38 PST:
The original runway 14-32 was built for Project OXCART. According to Area 51 Standard Operating Procedures, Landing Area Rules, dated 1 December 1968, runway 14/32 included a 8,625-foot concrete strip with a 6,000 foot asphalt extension to a concrete turnaround pad followed by another 5,000 feet of asphalt. The asphalt overrun was not lighted, and therefore not considered "remaining runway" during hours of darkness. That runway was built in 1960 for the A-12.
The lakebed extension was a safety feature to prevent loss of a high-value asset. A pilot who had to abort a takeoff could land straight ahead. If he ran out of room, he could turn off onto the Abort Circle (known as "The Hook") that is marked on the lakebed surface.
In the Mid-1980s the runway was extended approximately 5,000 feet on its south end because the lakebed end became flooded during the wet months, so its total length was now about 13,625 ft plus the 11,000-foot overrun which was beginning to show the effects of age. The apparent length, as it appeared on aerial and satellite photos, led to the myth that it was the "world's longest runway." It was, in fact, a very average runway with the world's longest overrun.
Runway maintenance costs began to outweigh the benefits of building a new airstrip. Construction of Runway 14L/32R began in 1991. The old airstrip became Runway 14R/32L. As the new airstrip approached completion, the north half of Runway 14R/32L was closed, along with the lakebed extension. At approximately 10,000 feet, the old runway was now the shortest airstrip at Area 51. Eventually it was closed altogether.
The new runway is about the same length as the main portion of the old runway, but does not have a lakebed extension. There is, however, a lead-in line to the Abort Circle marked on the lakebed.
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