[This report on the release of the Testor's Aurora Model (less 
than 3 minutes) appeared on the CBS Evening News on Nov. 11, 
1993.]

Dan Rather:  And there may be something else new under the sun 
tonight.  Does the United States military have a new Top Secret--
or at least used-to-be Top Secret--mystery plane.  As CBS News 
national security correspondent David Martin reports, there have 
been several sightings, but not where you'd expect.

David Martin (narrating): Presenting Aurora, the Pentagon's secret 
weapon capable of streaking from Washington to Bagdad in 90 
minutes.  For years it was only whispered about.  Now you can see 
it with your own eyes, right next to the '57 Chevy at this year's 
model and hobby show.  Its maker swears its a replica of the real 
thing.

John Andrews, Model Plane Designer: We feel comfortable that it 
absolutely does exist and is flying today.

Martin:  The toy Aurora, nestled atop its mother ship, was born of 
a genuine mystery.  What left these donuts-on-a-rope contrails in 
the skies over the Southwest?  What has caused sonic booms near 
Los Angeles as loud as the Space Shuttle?

Jim Mori, U.S. Geological Survey:  They all occur on Thursday 
morning.  I think we've had about eight of them in the last couple 
years, and they occur between six and seven in the morning.

Martin:  Why is the Air Force buying up land around this secret 
test site in the Nevada desert?  Why, as this satellite picture 
shows, has the Air Force lengthened the runway?  Why, if not to 
accommodate a high speed aircraft like Aurora?

Bill Sweetman, Aviation Expert:  It probably has a range of about 
five thousand miles, and it may be capable of speeds as high as 
4,000 miles an hour.

Martin:  Aurora would be the latest and greatest in a long line of 
secret airplanes.  Except the Air Force swears it ain't so.  "The 
Air Force has no such program," the secretary of the Air Force 
wrote last year.  So who are you going to believe:  the Secretary 
of the Air Force or the toy maker?

John Andrews:  The model toy maker over the years has developed a 
vast network of people that he calls Desert Rats that see 
airplanes flying in Southern California and Nevada and it's that 
network that keeps sending back that information.

John Pike, Fed. of American Scientists:  Some people would like to 
believe that there are these marvelous machines hidden under 
mountains and that there is some sort of secret Air Force...

Martin:  If Aurora doesn't exist, it was only a matter of time 
before somebody invented it.  But what did cause those sonic 
booms?  David Martin, CBS News, Washington.

[Transcribed by Glenn Campbell]