American Notes California

When one of its planes crashes, the Air Force is usually quick to come forward with details of the accident. But after an aircraft went down during night operations near Bakersfield, Calif., last week, the military cordoned off the crash site just outside the Sequoia National Forest and refused to allow planes to fly above the wreckage. Tight-lipped spokesmen would do little more than acknowledge that a pilot had been killed.

The Air Force probably had good reason for reticence. Military observers suspect that the plane was an F-19 Stealth fighter, a supersecret aircraft whose shape, materials and electronic gadgetry make it less visible than normal planes to enemy radar. The Stealth- fighter program is so secret that the Air Force does not even confirm its existence. Few civilians have ever seen the Lockheed-built plane, which is tested only under cover of night.