The hunt for truth in the legend of the F-19.
Would you rather a story be exciting or true?
It is, for all intents and purposes, a harmless tale.
Does it matter, then, whether a story is entirely, 100 percent true?
Have a look at this.
It was a comment made on Eurogamer about MicroProse aerial combat sim F-19 Stealth Fighter.
Offices raided by US intelligence services?
It set my internal storytelling radar off.
All we had was a half-remembered story.
The question was: could it be true?
I had to find out.
Immediately, though, I ran into a problem.
F-19 followed a pedigree at the studio, then - MicroProse knew what it was doing.
But did it know what it was doing a littletoowell?
Let’s start at the very beginning - what’s this all about?
Key point number one: the F-19 was not a real plane but a made up one.
It still continues to this day; we’re on F-35 currently.
That an F-19 would follow an F-18, then, was like saying night would follow day.
He worked for American scale model maker Testors and was one of the chief designers there in the 80s.
One with good connections in the industry.
And the public ate it up.
Within a year, it had become Testors' best-ever selling kit.
Such success didn’t go unnoticed.
“John was approached by the FBI, Air Force security services, and likely other government entities.
Remember, we’re talking about a time period here at the tail-end of the Cold War.
Paranoia was running high.
“The SR-71 Blackbird is legendary.
“His F-19 was the result of logical and mathematical reasoning,” Cotti said.
And yet, the popularity of Andrews' evocative F-19 design continued to capture imaginations.
The world moved on.
Plus if I were to find them, they might not remember what I’m talking about anyway.
But I’m nothing if not persistent, and I do eventually reach Andy Hollis via a messaging app.
Eager to discover a story, I recount the tale.
“Not true,” he says, abruptly.
“No controversy.”
The MicroProse offices hadn’t been raided by US intelligence services and nothing untoward had occurred.
I assume the conversation is over but Hollis surprises me with something of a postscript.
“But I have no proof of that.
Sounds like an urban legend.
All of our interactions with the military were quite positive and came from our own initiatives.”
Bill Stealey liked to exaggerate - could that be where this all came from?
The door to a story was still ajar.
“I think Bill Stealey will have the best recollection regarding this,” wrote Meier.
“I don’t remember any raid on the MicroProse offices.
There was a lot of secrecy and speculation about the stealth fighter around the time we released F-19.”
There was Bill Stealey’s name again - was there something in this after all?
He was an avid pilot for years, and many of the games he made were flight based.
They weren’t wrong.
He’s a strong personality.
“Anyway, that’s another story,” he says, before I can answer.
“As you’ve got the option to see, I do like to tell stories.
At my advanced age, it’s the only thing I can remember.”
Eventually, we settle down.
“So let me tell you the real story of F-19,” he says.
The story begins with another question.
“Hunt for Red October - you know what that is?”
I recall it being something about a submarine and maybe Sean Connery was in it.
It was based on a book.
“And who did it?”
“Google it quick.
“Oh,” I say as the penny drops.
“Tom Clancy.”
It’s the Hunt for Red October where the F-19 story starts, according to Stealey.
“He had a shooting range in his basement.
Tom couldn’t see, he was not coordinated, but he thought he was cool.
I said, ‘Tom, you’re able to’t call the Pentagon.’
“Guess what?”
Clancy says when they do - Stealey’s voice is still a whisper.
“I said, ‘What - what, Tommy?’
“He says, ‘There’s a stealth fighter coming.’
“I said, ‘Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.’
“He says, ‘No - I just heard it.
And it’s called the F-19.'”
So, sensing an opportunity, Stealey decides to make a game about it.
You might remember the role-playing game Darklands - that was famously made by Hendrick.
Did you ever see one of our manuals?”
“300 pages of BS!
“So I went to Arnold Hendrick.
Arnold was really good at searching things and getting the real facts.
And then Sid Meier put a machine gun on it.
Did MicroProse come up with the F-19 design or did it copy it from somewhere else?
Unknown to Stealey at the time, the Air Force also had plans of its own that day.
He couldn’t have been more pleased.
“And I went, ‘Oh darn,'” Stealey says, laughing.
Does that sound like the reaction of someone with inside information?
Not to me it doesn’t.
This photo is iconic.
And at this, Stealey leans back and throws his hands up in a gesture like triumph.
“Come on, babe, what a great story!”
You know, it’s hard not to be taken in by him, and by his enthusiasm.
Perhaps it is true.
But every so often I catch little inconsistencies in what Stealey tells me and I begin to wonder.
I found a story after all.
It’s a story that will keep the F-19 Stealth Fighter game forever in my mind.
I ask you again: does it really matter if it’s not true?
