Stories From The "Secret City"
For many years, China Lake was known as the "Secret City" due to the nature of the classified weapons research, development, and testing work that is conducted there and due also to its isolated location in a remote part of the Upper Mojave Desert of California. The stories presented in the links below originally appeared as articles in the China Lake Museum Foundation Newsletter, "The China Laker", over the past several years. Most of the articles concern stories of historical events that happened at China Lake or that somehow directly relate to China Lake. However, several of the articles are records of other fascinating historical military events such as combat experiences. A video of the "Secret City"; and other related videos can be purchased from the Museum's Gift Shop by a phone call to (760) 939-3530. Note that many of the articles below are PDF files of several megabytes size, and thus may take a minute or two to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.
- Article Explaining Why The United States Needs China Lake's Capabilities
- Coso Village, China Lake's Mining Ghost Town
- Coso Old Fort, China Lake's Early Army Outpost Fort
- Theories on Where China Lake Got Its Name
- CALTECH WWII Rocket Program, The Precusor of China Lake
- Early Tragic Plane Crash of China Lake Scientists
- Early Days at China Lake's Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS)
- Dr. William McLean's Biography, Inventor of the Sidewinder Missile
- Early China Lake Flight Heroes
- Description of China Lake's Critical Role in the Development of the Atomic Bomb During World War II
- China Lake's Early and Pioneering Use of Electronic Computers for Weapon Research and Development
- Description of an Early Trip to China Lake's Indian Petrographs
- The Evolution of the Army's Chaparral Missile from the Navy's Sidewinder Missile
- China Lake Rescues AIM -7F Missile Development and Production From Certain Cancelation
- Birth of the China Lake Supersonic Naval Ordnance Research Track (SNORT)
- Did China Lake Preempt NASA and Successfully Launch the First U.S. Satellite called NOTSNIK in 1960??
- China Lake's Early Work and Contributions to Polaris, the Navy's First Ballistic Missile System
- The History of the U.S. Marines at China Lake
- The 2.75 Inch Mighty Mouse Rocket Program
- The Origin of the Name of the Tiny Tim Hard-Target Rocket
- Description of the Initial Combat Use of the A-6 PAVEKNIFE Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) Laser Target Designator
- Project Rainhat (Shrike) and Its First Operational Use Against Cuban Radars in 1962
- Shrike's Forgotten Lessons
- China Lake's Early Pioneering Work at Tracking Navy Satellites
- The RAM Rocket Program -- A 28 Day Miracle
- China Lake and the Budweiser Rocket Car Sound Barrier Record
- The Amazing First Person Story of a SR-71 Inflight Breakup and Pilot Rescue
- "High Flight", A WWII Canadian Pilot's Inspiring Poem About Flying
- The Battle of Palmdale -- Target Drones are Critical to Weapon System Development Unless They Stray
- Description of the Development of the Varible Time (VT) Proximity Fuze, a Key Element To Our Victory In WWII
- Navy Air Tanker Bombs Soviet Trawler with Jet Fuel
- A-1 Skyraider, The MIG Killer During the Vietnam War
- Fantastic WWII B-17 Collision and Survival Story
- The Day the US Navy Accidentally Fired a Live Torpedo at President Roosevelt! -- and fortunately -- MISSED!
- One Airman's Berlin Airlift Experience
- A Second Airman's Berlin Airlift Experience
- The WWII Submarine That Sank a Train
- Origins of the 21 Gun Salute
- The Origin of the Infamous and Ubiquitous World War II "Kilroy Was Here" Graffiti
- The Story of World War II Classified Monopoly Game
- Sailplane Effort to Soar into the Stratosphere