◆ SpookStack

for delivery qualified Agency-assigned USAF pilots would be sent to HilL Air Force Base, Utah where they would test fly and test the weapons prior to formal release of the aircraft. The planes would then be ferried to Field 3 at Eglin Air Force Base; and according to Esterline, within 48 hours they would then be ferried black to the Project site where they were to be put to use. The Chief, WH/4 also said that the Agency would assume responsibility for the disposition of all the B-26 aircraft upon completion of the Project and that none would be returned to USAF. 53/ Acquisition of these eight additional B-26's would have meant that a total of 18 had been acquired from the Air Force. * It is not entirely clear whether the Project did in fact receive eight or only six aircraft following the above request; but in any event, at the end of March 1961, in response to a query raised by the Office of Logistics, C. F. Welch (Chief of the Materiel Staff/DPD) noted that there were 16 * These were in addition to two B-26's which had been borrowed from the DC Air National Guard, and subsequently were returned to the DC Air National Guard. ) - 43 -