That 1/12 seems impossibly high. An estimate here gives “Monetarily, in 1940 dollars, the estimated cost was $288 Billion. In 2007 dollars this would amount to approximately $5 Trillion.” That’s pretty much what I’ve read in other places. IOW, the Manhattan project was less than 1%. That’s trivially hideable.
I don’t know about Fresh Air, but the Daily Show lets all sorts of people on. It seems like anyone who will be entertaining, although most of the really wacky ones seem to end up on the Colbert Report. (I say this as a fan of Stewart & Colbert.)
Indeed, we managed to lose and hide $9 billion in Iraq without even trying.
Anyone who had any interest in science at the time knew that atomic weapons were possible. Anyone who had any interest in history knew that the government was developing secret weapons, because that’s something that governments always do, especially in wartime. Anyone who knew any scientists (or engineers, or other technical people) would know that large numbers of scientists were being recruited to work on something they couldn’t talk about. Put it all together, and there are bound to have been a significant number of people who put all the pieces together and came up with some guesses very close to the truth about the Manhattan Project. Heck, science fiction writers with no security clearance whatsoever, nor any privileged information, wrote stories about it.
Just listened to the entire Fresh Air episode last night - and no, Fresh Air does not let just anyone on the show. and I thought the 45 minute exchange was fascinating.
Everything about the SR71, and the other aircraft was nice, but it was the part about Stalin either genetically engineering, or surgically altering two human beings who flew the “disc” so that the Americans would think they were aliens…yeah that is the part that threw me.
The other part that I am surprised Terry Gross didn’t ask about…was if we reverse engineered the “disc” and had a vehicle that used the advanced system, why have we not declassified the propulsion system and put it into general use?
The other thing that I thought was interesting, was that when the CIA and Military began working together, that is when the SR 71 Blackbird and other stealth vehicles were born…and that marriage between the two branches has continued today…interestingly, we have a wartime General about to take over the CIA right now…
My favorite bit of utter nonsense on The Daily Show interview was: “Every declassified document that I’ve seen has the words “Area 51” blacked out!” Really? So how do you know it doesn’t just say “gotcha ya!”? Seriously, if it’s blacked out, how do YOU know what the hell it says, you moron. Also the bit about “the Air Force won’t even admit that there IS such a thing as Area 51.” Er. . .yes, they do. They just don’t think it’s any of your business as to what goes on in there.
I stopped listening when the author said something about earthworms transporting alpha particles.
According to Richard Rhodes *The Making of the Atomic Bomb,*Truman had actually heard of the Manhattan Project while serving as chairman of the Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. When he tried to find out what it was and what the money was going to, the Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, told him to drop the issue. So folks knew something was happening - just not exactly what.
In fairness to the author, who is a few pounds of uranium short of a critical mass IMHO, I think she said the earthworm thing was a concern of the scientists conducting the tests.
I saw her on the Daily Show and listened to the Fresh Air Interview, and she struck me as very odd.
And about the secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project… It’s been a while since I read the Richard Rhodes book, but didn’t Stalin know about it because of people like Klaus Fuchs?
Yes, Stalin was pretty well aware what was going on and they Russian project was using the intelligence from Fuchs to further their program - the first Russian atomic bomb was pretty much a direct copy of the Trinity bomb. IIRC, without getting the book back out, this was a frustration for the Russian team, because Stalin and Beria insisted on copying the American plans for a sure result and the Russian scientists (led by Kurchatov) wanted to do their own research and development and do it better than the US had.
I was skimming through The Skunk Works, a memoir by Ben Rich (the guy who took over after founder Kelly Johnson) the other day and he writes that the Air Force didn’t want the CIA to have its own Blackbird air wing.
The Skunk Works wanted to sell the Air Force the Blackbird as an interceptor but the Air Force had its own interceptor in mind. USAF Gen. Curtis LeMay was interested in the Blackbird as a spy plane but got Johnson to agree not to oppose the USAF interceptor. Rich recounts LeMay couldn’t believe the USAF hadn’t ordered any recon versions of the Blackbird and didn’t like the idea of the CIA having spy planes in competition with the USAF. The Blackbird probably would have been a hell of an interceptor against incoming USSR bombers but such is big defense project politics.
Aside: the reason I was skimming through the book was that I was looking for a story from one of the Blackbird pilots. He recalls flying through French air space without permission after photographing the results of the Libya bombings in ’86. France denied permission to fly through their airspace but the pilot had an engine running hot and decided to throttle back and take a short cut back to England. He’s almost through France when he notices a Mirage on his wing asking for his clearance. The recon officer gives the French pilot the finger and the pilot punches it and leaves the Mirage standing still. I always wondered what went through the French pilot’s mind and what he told his boys back at his base…maybe something like “It was there one moment and a speck in the distance the next”.
That was the great thing about the Blackbird. No weaponry needed because it flew so high and fast. Say you’re a country that doesn’t want us to overfly your airspace…
Tough - what are you going to do about it? 
The U2 predated the Blackbird and it was also a CIA plane, so if the Air Force was complaining about the Blackbird in CIA hands, they were a little late.
Several SR-71s have been taken down probably because the Russians developed a missile to catch it.
But, yes, most “aircraft” will have nothing.
I just wonder, considering how early on the SR-71 had been developed, what replaced it since it has been retired…
Satellites mostly. Although one of the books, possibly the one mentioned upthread, tells about Norman Schwarzkopf specifically asking for them in the first Iraq War and being annoyed that they weren’t available.
In his book, Rich says they never lost a Blackbird to enemy action. It could be if they did, it’s classified info. They did lose some, IIRC, to other problems; it was demanding to fly.
The advantage it had was it could be almost anywhere in the world in an hour or two. At the time I would imagine it would take longer to get a satellite somewhere. We probably have more coverage now and I sure there are missiles that are a lot more capable.
Doubtful. Tiny wings made for minimal maneuverability. That wouldn’t have been a problem today, with off-boresight and beyond visual range launch capability, but it would have been a huge problem in 1975.
12 SR-71s have been lost - the airframes are all accounted for - but not due to Soviet action. A D-21 (a drone based on the SR-71) crashed in Russia in the 80s. It wasn’t shot down, though.
To clarify, the D-21 is just the drone part, not the main airframe (which is the M-21, based on the A-12/SR-71 airframe.)
I didn’t get the impression that SR-71s would be easy to scramble either. But I don’t know the details.
Especially after 60 years or so.