The HIDE Project: The Untold Tale of Stealth in Tulsa, Oklahoma

While the Skunk Works is well-known for their early use of stealth technology in F-117A Stealth Fighter, the story of the HIDE project has not been told until now. This secretive group, assembled in Tulsa, Oklahoma by North American Aviation in the early 1960s, was responsible for a great deal of stealth technology. Craig Baucke’s book, The HIDE Project, shines a light on the team’s colorful personalities and their amazing technical achievements, including stealthy drones in Vietnam, stealthy nuclear missiles, stealthy submarines and the B-1B bomber. For decades, the history of these stealth pioneers in Oklahoma was cloaked in secrecy. Even now, many of the activities of the HIDE project have yet to be revealed. However, the unclassified documentation compiled in this book show that HIDE was a technology leader enabling critical stealth efforts by North American Aviation as well as several other well-known aerospace companies. The story begins with the creation of the HIDE team to improve the stealthiness of the Hound Dog cruise missile and chronologically follows the team until its demise with the sale of Rockwell International. Combining narrative from original team members with declassified government documents and scores of project photos, The HIDE Project gives readers a front-row view into the development of early stealth technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma.