All language subtitles for Mysteries.Of.The.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Abandoned structures hold
the secrets of America's past.

Lost in a sea of machinery,

an aircraft
that helped America
reach new heights.

It has such a unique,
special role in history

that no other aircraft
can lay claim to.

A sporting arena
built in a county that
didn't play by the rules.

We didn't have anything,
you know, much around here.

In the early days,
you had to do something
to survive.

And defenses near
the capital hide a story
that was nearly lost forever.

It was involved
in the protection
of the United States Capitol.

But in a bigger sense,
it was here to serve a mission
to protect the world.

Scattered across
the United States

are abandoned structures,
forgotten ruins of the past,

monuments to a bygone era.

Each shines a light
on the story of this land
and its people.

These are the secrets
of hidden America.

In the hot, dry lands
near the border with Mexico
is a sight to behold,

and it hides a creation
that helped America
reach for the stars.

We're on the edge
of the city
of Tucson, Arizona.

And right here is a pretty
unbelievable scene.

We're looking
into a vast spectacle

of decommissioned airplanes
on a monumental scale.

This is the largest
airplane boneyard
on the whole planet.

And nearby
is a site holding

the select few
that really made a difference.

This is like
a greatest hits
of aviation history.

I mean, all the weird
and most effective vessels
kind of all in one place.

They won war,
shattered records
and broke barriers.

But out here is stored
one of the most unique looking

and interesting aircraft
you'll ever see.

It looks
like a bloated,

monstrous whale
and staring at it,

it biggest belief
that this thing could ever
course through the sky.

But looks
can be deceiving.

This airplane
is one of the most unsung

but important aircraft
of the 20th century.

It made America's
single greatest achievement
of the 20th century possible.

The sheer size
tells us that
this was designed

to carry some
truly heavy cargo.

But the real clue
as to what this was for

lies in the little bumps
to the edge of the fuselage.

In simple terms,
they're just basically hinges.

The whole front
of the aircraft
would swing open

just like a regular
front entrance door
to your house.

And that enable
the... the crews
to load the cargoes.

Regular cargo planes
are loaded from the rear.

This approach
was a design headache.

However, it helps identify
what the plane was for.

So the reason
is because the huge diameter
the components are putting in,

they weren't able to get them
into existing cargo airplanes

through the traditional
rear entry points.

What it carried
in that big belly?

Well, you know, it had
a huge impact on America.

And what they were trying
to achieve with this plane
was unchartered territory.

I believe that this nation
should commit itself
to achieving the goal

before this decade
is out of landing a man

on the moon and returning him
safely to the Earth.

When President
Kennedy addressed
Congress in 1961,

it was clear the Cold War
had boiled over into space.

So, the space race
was an expression

of rivalry
between the United States,

between capitalism
and Soviet societies
under communism.

And this was fought out
in many ways,
the propaganda, sports,

but most strikingly,
perhaps who could get
into space first?

Who could put a man
on the moon?

America, however,
was on the back foot.

The Soviets
were worryingly ahead.

They've put
the first satellites
into space.

They put the first man
into space.

This was
a huge challenge.

Frankly, when he said it,

the US was still pretty far
from being able to achieve
anything like that.

It was against
this high stakes backdrop
that the Super Guppy was born.

Everyone's heard
of the B-52s, the Spitfires,
the Stealth Bombers,

all the things that are
kind of powerful and feared.

And this is like putting like
a trailer truck in the sky
to haul things,

which sounds less exciting,

but when you really dig
into the story,

you realize that
this changed history.

And here we are.
This is what it's all about.

It's its unique insight
as it is from the outside.

It's... it's enormous.

It's... it's a...
it's a structure
unlike any other aircraft

you're going
to ever come inside of.

It wasn't designed
to carry just any cargo.

Its mission was very specific.

The Super Guppy
was purpose built
to carry rocket modules

for the Apollo program
to get us to the moon.

The deadline
for reaching the moon was set,
the end of the decade.

Time was the new enemy.

One of the biggest hurdles
was logistics,

especially transporting
the components

from the West Coast manufacturers
to the East Coast,

where the launch sites
were actually to be found.

They were far too big
to transport by road and rail,

and if you went by ship,
it would take 18 days.

Jack Conroy,
a former air force pilot,

teamed up with businessman
Lee Mansdorf.

Their vision was to build
a plane large enough

to carry
some of these components.

He realized that
if you could transport them,

you could cut
that waiting time

from about two weeks
to 24 hours,

and that would give America
the crucial upper hand.

So, of course, anything
that's being done in a hurry
for the first time,

it comes with risks
and it comes with challenges.

We were modifying things
that hadn't been
designed to be modified,

and it could have ended
very badly at any point
in the program.

We choose to go to the moon
in this decade
and do the other thing.

Not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.

You'll be sure we are behind
and will be behind
for some time in man flight,

but we do not intend
to stay behind
and in this decade

we shall make up
and move ahead.

By the time Kennedy
made that speech in 1962,

Conroy had been working
on his prototype design

of an oversize cargo plane
for around a year.

Conroy basically
gambled it all, I mean,

remortgaging his house,
taking out multiple loans.

And there were no guarantees
from NASA

that even if this worked,
they were going to use it.

Now,
Conroy's first version,

known as the Pregnant Guppy,
was ready to test.

September 19th, 1962,
first test flight,

confidence was the opposite
of high.

They called
the police department,
fire department,

told everyone to stand by.

But to everyone's surprise,
it was a success.

And before he knew it,
he was flying to NASA.

A year later,

the Pregnant Guppy
flew the second stage
of NASA's prototype rocket

to Cape Canaveral
as part of the Apollo program.

However, to get a man
on the moon

before the end of the decade,
they needed to go bigger.

And that came
with added risks.

The problem
with the aerodynamics
nearly ended it all.

It very nearly
came crashing down
in a ball of flame.

In 1965,
against the tense backdrop
of the Cold War,

construction of the Super Guppy
was underway.

The Super Guppys
had their airframe genesis

from these two airplanes
behind us.

Basically,
these are derivatives

of a civilian
B-377 Stratocruiser,
which was an airliner.

And it was really well built.

And it was just
the right of rugged basis
for the Guppy's creation.

Designed to transport the third stage
of the Saturn V rockets.

It needed to be
both longer and wider
than the original Guppy.

Built from three B 377
and one military variant,

the fuselage
of the original airliner
was extended by 31 feet.

At the same time,
the 25-foot diameter
upper section was built above.

They framed up
a construction gantry,

a grid and built the airframe
from that waterline up

and a great big arc
to the crown

and then skinned it
and built it forward.

This was really
a custom bespoke job.

It is absolutely
not the normal way
of building a plane.

Before the Super Guppy
could be thrown

into service, though,
it had to pass
a series of tests.

Here, an obvious issue
that also impacts

later versions
reared its head.

The most notable feature
of the Guppy

is its massive size,
its huge diameter.

Well, that doesn't make it
very aerodynamic.

So, you're really pushing
a brick through the air,
and that's a real challenge.

In flight, it made
some terrifying noises.

There were real fears
that it might just
break up mid-flight.

One of the test engineers

reported that he had walked
into the fuselage
during the test flights

and he said it was like
staring into a willow basket
in a windstorm.

Nevertheless,
with no failure so far,

on a clear September morning
in 1965, she took
to the sky once more.

And this time the fears
turned into reality.

Now it's time
for the final test flights

and you know, you get
the easier ones
out of the way first.

So this was
one of the hardest ones,

a dive from 10,000 feet
at high speed.

Suddenly there was this
loud explosion.

Someone said it was
like a bomb going off.

And then the whole plane
started to shake violently.

As they passed
the 275 miles per hour mark,

the pressure on the fuselage
became too great
and it suddenly imploded.

Above the cockpit,
there was now
a 23-foot wide hole.

The plane was now
speeding towards the earth.

The crew had no option
but to try to regain control.

They are wrestling
to keep this thing in the air.

And, you know,
this is them
fighting for their lives.

Eventually the Guppy
was steadied and the crew

were able to land it
on a dry lake bed.

Disaster was averted,
but it was close.

The Super Guppy
went in for repairs.

Reinforcements were added.

And soon enough she repeated
the test and passed
with flying colors.

So once the Guppy
had cleared its, uh,

flight trials and got
its acceptance from the FAA,

it went into service immediately

in support
of the Apollo mission program,

moving Saturn rocket components

across the country
to Cape Canaveral.

On July 16, 1969,
Apollo 11 was launched.

Four days later,
the astronauts
entered lunar orbit.

In addition to flying
the major rocket
sections for...

for the Saturn rockets,
this particular airplane
also carried,

uh, the Eagle Moon Lander
and the Columbia
Command Module.

That's one
small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.

This was
a huge propaganda coup.

It communicated
to the world that America

was more resilient,
more powerful,

more innovative
than its Soviet rivals.

It's really safe
to say that without
this particular airplane,

the United States
would not have achieved

its objective of putting
a man on the moon
before the end of the 1960s.

Four upgraded
Super Guppys were later built,

but the original remained
in service until 1991,

when it joined
the Tucson Boneyard fleet.

Some planes
are stored here temporarily.

Others are used for parts.

NASA felt this one
deserved something special.

NASA
was very conscious

of the historical significance
of the Guppy at this point,

and they approached us here
hoping that
we could preserve it

in public display storage
versus being in secure storage
at a military facility.

And we were,
you know, very eager
to help them out with that.

Soon moved here
to the Pima Air
Space Museum

alongside other aircraft
of historical significance,

ownership was handed over
in 2015 and the Super Guppy
is now a permanent fixture.

Every one of these airplanes
is animated
by someone's memory,

by someone's connection,
by someone's
personal involvement with it.

And the Guppy
is unique amongst them

in its role and significance
to history.

In the Tar Heel State
is a town

where a farming community
made their own luck.

Tar Heel
is a derogatory term,

saying that people have
dirty manual labor jobs,

but it's one that
the people of North Carolina
have owned for themselves.

As the saying goes,
"If God isn't a Tar Heel,

why did he make the sky
of Carolina blue?"

In the county
of North Wilkesboro,

history pivots on
a battered circuit of asphalt.

Clearly, the stands
have weathered over the years,

but the concrete
is still sound.

However, there are boxes
that are falling over.

The track itself
is littered with weeds

and grasses that are growing
through the asphalt,

but it still isn't hard
to imagine cars

whipping around this
five-eighth of a mile track
and making your head spin.

To many residents
of Wilkes County,
however, this track is home.

Just about most
of the people, I mean,

are here involved
in the Speedway
in one way or the other.

And the downfall
of this place would lead
some to take drastic measures.

That's all you could do
to survive.

You just couldn't get ahead
without something else.

Dean Combs,
his family moved
to Wilkes County

in the 1940s in the aftermath
of the Great Depression.

My mama,
she was a green bean raiser

and an uncle,
he'd grow the pigs.

And then my mama
made better milk.

She made milk.
She had three milk cows.

I don't think people
got government help
back in those days.

It was just manual work
is basically what it was.

Manual work.

Farming communities
like Wilkes County
were slow to recover.

Some families supplemented
their income by making
and selling moonshine.

It was those that did it
and those that lied about it.

Most people did it
to feed families, you know,

this was a farming community
and there wasn't
a lot of money

to go around and moonshine
was a way of life.

But then
I really didn't know
that much about his operation,

but the understanding
that I got,

he mostly headed
the stilts built

and had other people
working for him,

and that's when they got
their extra cash,
they'd get extra cash,

they knew they can go out and
sell a little moonshine or...

or a whiskey here or there,
and they could...

they could get
a little more money
to build up.

And like
in so many places
across the US

where there's moonshine,
there's stock car racing.

In 1946,
they laid ground on a track

that would one day
become legendary.

The North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The first Speedway
was a dirt track
with four banked turns,

and back then stock car racing
was something else.

In the early 1940,
stock car racing
was a little haphazard.

You had different competitions
all around the country.

You had different tracks.

There really
was no regulation.

Stock car racing
was still something
that was done

on the weekends
by local moonshiners
and people

who were just enjoying
modifying their cars

to make them
as fast as possible.

But the new
speedway would have

a profound impact
on the future of the sport.

In 1947, its opening event
was promoted by a businessman
from Washington D.C.

a former racer.

A man called Bill France.

Bill France came along
and realized the potential

of this hobby and he thought
he could make it into a sport.

So he held a race
at North Wilkesboro Stadium

to prove that
this could not only be
a viable sport,

but one that will bring out
thousands of people.

The bleachers
were standing room only.

The race was won
by future legend Fonty Flock.

And it was
a smashing success
from the get go.

They expected
3000 attendees instead,
they got 10,000.

Following the success of North
Wilkesboro's first race,

Bill France established
the National Association
of Stock Car Auto Racing.

Most of the NASCAR fans
are blue-collar.

Hard working everyday
people or farmers

or whatever,
that's the one
that filled that stands.

Any NASCAR event
is going to bring
a big spectacle.

It is the place
where people go to connect

with their neighbors
and their friends

and watch something
that is important

to their culture,
their heritage,
and their history.

The start
of the engines,
you know, the engines,

you know, the old loud cars,
you're hearing them

and the speed and the...
and the competition
that was there.

It was just...
just so exciting.

At 23 years old,
Dean Combs made his debut
on the starting line.

NASCAR transformed
how the North Wilkesboro
Speedway operated.

Now tracks across the country
all followed the same rules.

Play becomes sport
when rules are established

to level the playing field
for all competitors.

NASCAR established rules
for stock cars and how far
you could modify them

and establish
the first rule book.

But for a lot
of race car drivers,
rules are just suggestions.

This was scales
where they weighed
the race car with.

In other words, they had
a rule that you had to weigh
no less than 3700 pounds.

Why? Why is because
you can think about weight.

Weight
is basically horsepower.

The louder you're running,
the faster

the car is going to run
versus the same horsepower.

But at the North
Wilkesboro Speedway,

the tricks of the bootlegger
were brought to the racetrack.

Stock car racing
has its roots in prohibition

and people trying
to escape police.

If horse racing
is the sport of kings,

NASCAR is the sport of outlaws.

Everybody worked
to try to get lighter.

So your race teams
are doing everything

they can to modify
their cars, to...

...bend the rules
and sometimes break them
just a little bit

to be able to give their car
and their driver an advantage.

Everybody cheat.

But you didn't cheat
till you got caught.

That's the way...
that was our theory.

You don't cheat
till you get caught.

If you don't cheat,
you're not gonna win.

But even
a strict rule book
can't completely eliminate

the risks that go
with stock car racing.

In 1957,
at the Wilkes 160 Race,

the axle of one of the cars snapped.

A wheel came careening off,
bounced over the fence
and crashed into the audience,

killing one spectator.

In the 1950s,
NASCAR turned

a farming community
into a racing mecca.

But in 1957, a freak accident
saw one fan killed.

Fortunately,
such incidents are rare

and increasing regulation
of the sport
has made it safer.

The accident
at North Wilkesboro

was an important prompter
of those regulations.

But after
the incident at Wilkes 160,

the Speedway went
from strength to strength.

By the 1980s,
the Speedway

was hosting events
to sell-out crowds.

Wilkes County
had never had it so good.

The economy
that brought in,

the people
that came in from towns,

you know, that was probably
three or four

just little old
backyard stores where people
stop to buy their drinks,

buy this and buy that
and really helped
the economy for 'em.

And a lot of times
they didn't have enough
to sell 'em.

But by the middle
of the 1990s,

the county's golden age
had ended.

You've gotta bring
the spectacle.

As NASCAR grew older tracks
like North Wilkesboro

just couldn't keep up
with the capacity

and the facilities
of the newer tracks.

So unfortunately,
by the 1990s,
it wasn't used as much,

and even local teams
were looking

for other race tracks
to race their cars.

At the end of 1996,
NASCAR stopped coming

to North Wilkesboro Speedway,
taking with it an economy
that fueled Wilkes County.

The North
Wilkesboro Speedway

has been silent
for over 25 years,

but some residents
of Wilkes County

have returned
to an old occupation
and even gone legit.

I've always set out
to make a mile strong whiskey

that everybody would like
and that wouldn't burn you.

I've probably not changed
the way I do it
in the last 40 years,

but I started when I was about
nine-years-old

and I'll be 76 next month.

So, do the math.

The moonshine culture
is kind of having a revival,

especially in this part
of the country,

and people have gone back
to making it again.

Some people collect stamps,
some people make moonshine.

Near the nation's capital
is a complex designed

to defend America,

but a classified operation
there had consequences
on a global scale.

This is one
of the most important places
in American history.

It's the last turn
in the Potomac River

before you reach
the nation's capital.

You have thick walls,
places where there would have
been gun emplacements.

It's clear that the whole site
was built with one purpose
in mind.

War.

However,
this structure is not alone.

There's not one fort here,
but two.

Directly across the river
is another fort.

The defenses
tell a story stretching
across two centuries.

But while designed for battle,

their greatest contribution
came from something
entirely different.

And it's not
the exterior defenses
that would matter.

It's what went on inside
that was important.

Stationed here
was a top secret organization

that the public
wouldn't even find out
about until this century.

Much of the classified story

was revealed
after an investigation

began asking questions
about a code name,
P.O. Box 1142.

We were able to get
a phone number for a gentleman

who worked here
during World War II.

And when we called up,
we mentioned
the name P.O. Box 1142.

It resulted in some silence
on the other end of the phone.

Finally, his question was,
"How do you know about
P.O. Box 1142?"

The US was able
to obtain
vital more information.

The work that was done here
was hugely important
to the allies victory.

Straddling the Potomac River.

The two forts
and additional batteries here

were built
with one goal in mind.

Vincent Santucci has worked
with the Park Service
for around two decades.

We are south
of Washington, D.C.

and Washington, D.C.
is in the distance.

And this fort was constructed
specifically as a way

to protect
the American capital.

Completed in 1824,
the oldest remaining structure
is Fort Washington,

but it's only here
because an earlier fort

failed to protect the capital
a decade before.

With tensions arising
in Europe, America feared war,

so it began to fortify
almost every key seaport

with new batteries
and new defenses.

No seaport was of as big
an importance as this one.

The concern
would be that the British

had a tremendously
well recognized
and respected Navy,

and the Potomac
would afford a route
right up to the doorstep

of the American capital.

Completed in 1809,
the original fort
was far smaller

than the one standing today
with tall earthen walls

and a stone tower
to house cannons.

But during the war of 1812,
the fort failed in its duty.

The view
from this point
on August 24th, 1814,

would be looking to the north
and seeing the glow

of the fire
in Washington, D.C.

Instead of sailing
up the river to the capital,

the British had chosen
to land further to the east.

They marched
to the city
and they set it on fire.

This was a huge blow
to Americans strategically,
but also to their morale.

Next, the British
were heading here.

The fort
was undermanned, underarmed.

They used the last
of their remaining gunpowder

to blow up the fort,
making it essentially
unusable to the British.

The British
occupation soon faltered,

but it was painfully clear
that strong defenses

would be vital
to safeguard America's future.

It was such an important
strategic location

they decided to rebuild
on the same site again.

Fort Washington
was just the beginning.

The upgrades around this area
continued over decades.

Not only were the defenses
of Fort Washington rebuilt
and strengthened,

but many years later
they decided to build

a second fort directly
across the river.

The new structures,
however, never saw conflict.

But in the 20th century
they'd be called upon

to defend America
in an altogether
different way.

The protection
that was done here
during World War II

was not just to protect
the capital,

but it was a more
global outreach
to protect the world.

While both forts
had been decommissioned
by this time,

in 1942, they were brought
back into the fold.

Fort Washington housed
the Women's Army
Auxiliary Corps.

Fort Hunt was requisitioned
for a clandestine operation.

The guns
had long been removed,

but it became important
for something else.

The top secret organization
known only by

its mailing address,
P.O. Box 1142.

In the early 2000s,

the National Park Service
began to research the use
of this site

during the Second World War.

There actually were quite
a few buildings

throughout Fort Hunt Park
that were part
of the US Army's

installation here,
but most of that is gone,

torn down
directly after the war.

Few structures remained.

There was little
surviving documentation.

The team needed to find
a new source of information.

It wasn't until we had
one of our park rangers out

providing an interpretive
walk and talk for visitors,

and somebody in the audience
raised their hand and said,

"Hey, I know somebody
that used to work here.

Would you like
to talk with him?"

What followed
was a five year project

involving extensive interviews
with around 75 veterans
that worked here.

We began to uncover
a much broader story

of activities
that were going on here.

But the primary program
has to do

with the military intelligence
interrogation program.

Largely, it was trying
to obtain information

and intelligence
from German prisoners.

Standing near
the nation's capital,

the top secret facility known
as P.O. Box 1142

was bulldozed
after the Second World War.

Using interviews
and the few surviving photos

Vincent Santucci has formed
an idea of what it might have
looked like back then.

One of the most interesting
aspects of Fort Hunt, uh,

which is no longer
here any longer,
are two prisoner compounds.

So the center of the compound
would be the prisoner cells,

and it would be surrounded
by a gated area

where they can get out
and exercise outdoors.

These two large
prisoner compounds
would be completely fenced.

There would be guard towers.

There were
more than 500 prisoner
of war camps across the US.

But this site on the edge
of the Potomac
was something different.

Being close
to Washington, D.C.

in the Pentagon
was very handy.

The prisoners
that were interrogated
at P.O. Box 1142

were high ranking officers
so that they had
the propensity of...

of having more
important intelligence

that could help
the United States effort.

Intelligence gathering

from the various types
of camps proved vital
to the allied war effort.

Listening devices
were installed,

undercover agents
were planted.

And here it's possible
that a key German site
was first identified.

Headed by Wernher von Braun,

Peenemunde was a key part
of the Nazis missile
and rocket program

that ultimately brought
devastation on London
and beyond.

To extract
all they could
from the eavesdropping

and interrogations,
the military had recruited
some unlikely candidates.

Many were German
born Jews.

They lived
and grew up in Germany.

They were impacted
by the Holocaust.

They fled Europe,
came to the United States
and said, "Give me a gun.

I wanna go back
and fight the Nazis."

Where they ended up, however,

was a long way
from the front line.

The interviews
suggest a wealth
of valuable intel

was discovered here.

There are no reports
of violence or torture
being used,

but occasionally the prisoners
did require some persuasion.

Here, the older structures
had a unique role to play.

With the most resistant
German prisoner, uh,

when they finally realized
that they weren't gonna get

any information from them,
they would blindfold them,
handcuff them,

they would take them
and they would put them
in the back of a truck.

After hours
of driving around,

it was hoped they believed
they had been
transferred far away.

So the vehicle
with the prisoner on
would drive down

to one of these doors
and they would back it in

and then bring the prisoner in
and take them into a room

where they take
the blindfold off
and the handcuffs.

And at that point,
out of the darkness,

walk somebody
with a Russian uniform.

Even the most resistant
pro-Nazi prisoners

usually cooperated better
after thinking

that they were gonna go
with the Russians.

Following Allied victory in Europe

as part
of Operation Paperclip,

a number of leading
Nazi scientists and engineers
were brought to the US,

including Wernher von Braun.

Reports suggest
he was held here.

And by now,
the approach to internment
had evolved somewhat.

There was one position,
it's called a morale officer.

And the morale officer
is the person

who actually provides rewards
to them.

And so there's
some great stories
about taking people

that cooperated into D.C.
and buying items
to send back to their family.

Wernher von Braun
went on to play a vital role
in NASA's space program.

Alongside him,
hundreds of other scientists
and engineers

had come through here.

In total, almost
three and a half thousand prisoners

were questioned
at P.O. Box 1142.

But by the end of 1946,
the camp had completed
its work.

The structures were bulldozed
and documents mentioning
its name were burned.

Sworn to secrecy,
the sacrifices of those
who served at P.O. Box 1142

came close
to being lost forever.

Given my background,

it wasn't that easy to be
in the presence
of a German officer

and quite frankly,
it was unpleasant,
to put it mildly.

I'd almost feel like vomiting
for the very simple reason

I had to be nice
to these guys.

But having gone
unrecognized for decades,

the work
of all those stationed here

was finally commemorated
in 2007.

We dedicated
this memorial to the veterans
of P.O. Box 1142.

These men said that
the way that they felt
honored and recognized,

made up for the 65 years
of being forgotten.