wrote in message
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On 20 Apr 2006 19:28:04 -0700, "WaltBJ"
wrote:


I had to "rescue" our flight engineer one day when, at
Seymour-Johnson, he decided to take a "closer look" at a KC-135 behind
some red lines.

OK - time for my story.

I worked at NAS Point Mugu, CA during the 1980s. There was an old hangar on
base that was always posted off-limits because of "PROJECT X". We had to
walk past the "PROJECT X" hangar everyday to get from the parking lot to the
hangar where we worked. The doors were always closed with some type of
death threat warning posted on the doors. Then one day in about 1988 I was
walking into work and noticed that the hangar doors were open about 6
inches. Well, you know....I just HAD to pause and stick my nose in there to
find out what the big PROJECT X was all about. What I saw: The hangar
contained about 15 of the black Secret Service limousines. When President
Reagan flew into Point Mugu on Air Force One he normally de-planed and then
hopped onto a Marine Helo to make the trip to his ranch. But sometimes the
fog rolled into Point Mugu and it was not safe to fly the helo so they kept
these limousines stored there just so that he could get to the ranch (about
50 miles away) on the highway. Sort of a Plan B thing. I think the hangar
door were open that day because he had left office and the new President
(Bush) would not be coming to California so someone had to move the limos to
the NEW Plan B location, probably a Naval Air Station near Kennebunkport,
ME. I remember that shortly after this, the hangar doors were fully open
again and it was used for what airplane hangars are normally used for and
the death threat signs were also gone.

So the lesson that I learned from all of this is that "PROJECT X" = parking
lot for expensive cars.

JD