This concept gained approval, however the administration of the project was allocated to the CIA. Initially Seaberg offered the contract to build the aircraft to 3 small companies but Kelly Johnson of Lockheed managed to outsmart him - Johnson took his design with a delivery date of 8 months directly to the CIA. and succeeded in obtaining the contract.

The proposed aircraft was code named "Aquatone".

Edwards Air Force Base was deemed not to be "secure" enough for the test of such a craft so Johnson gave his top test pilot, Tony Levier, the task of finding a suitably secure area in the Southwest where it would safe to do so. Levier checked a number of sites before arriving at a dry lake - Groom Lake in Nevada - adjacent to what was called the Atomic Energy Commission Proving Grounds (later re-named the Nevada Test Site). Groom Lake proved to meet the requirements of a testing site for a top-secret aircraft - a ready surface for landing, unpopulated and unattractive because of the pollution caused by radio active fall out.

The controlled area of the AEC was expanded to include Groom Lake and the CIA set up a fake company - CLJ -to administer the sub-contractors who were hired to construct the base. Initially a mile long runway, hangars, a concrete ramp, a control tower and mess hall were constructed and although described as Watertown Strip officially, the base became known as "Paradise Ranch" or simply "The Ranch" by air crews.

The first prototype "Aquatone" was flown (dismantled on a transport plane) out to Groom Lake on 24th July 1955 - later became known as the U-2.The Ranch, however, was administered by the CIA and Lockheed - it was not an Air Force base - and U-2 pilots when recruited had to resign from the Air Force and become employed by the CIA. Such secrecy was enforced by the CIA that the pilots who flew the transport aircraft bring U-2s to the base were not told where they were heading and for the latter part of their journey were guided in by radio. All personnel working at the Ranch used aliases whilst on duty - returning to their normal I.D.s when they left the base.

The successor to the U-2, code-named "Archangel", required a much longer runway than that at Groom Lake. However, security was so good at the base that it was decided to extend the runway and in effect, build a small town which included a movie theatre, a bar and a baseball field. In 1962, Groom Lake or the Ranch was renamed, it now became known as "Area 51". To add even more confusion, Nellis AFB began calling the base by the call sign of its control tower - "Dreamland". At this time the restricted air space above Area 51 was extended to 600 square miles. The new aircraft, a high altitude reconnaissance plane, was originally called the RS-71 but due to a mistake by a president's aide it came to be known as the SR-71 and because it was painted black (part of its anti-radar protection), it became known as "Blackbird".

The SR-71 was followed by the development of the D-21 Tagboard, an unmanned drone which was not a success and eventually AREA 51, in 1973, it became the developing ground for "Stealth" technology. Once again Lockheed obtained the contract to develop stealth aircraft, code-named "Project Harvey" after the invisible rabbit of the same name. From 1977 stealth aircraft - stealthy to the extent of being virtually undetectable by radar - have been tested at AREA 51 and it is rumoured that "visual stealth" is now being developed which one such mysterious craft being called "AURORA" - the existence of a craft under that name is, however, highly debatable.

One theory given for the name "AREA 51" is "because the CIA seems to have the ability to act independently of the U.S. Administration and because the base itself is completely autonomous, it has, in effect, become a self governing state - the 51st".

Area 51

De-classified intelligence satellite photos frames that might have shown Area 51 from the air have been replaced by the message

Somewhere in the remote Nevada desert is a chunk of land some six miles wide north to south and ten miles east to west. On that land is located a paradox: A secret base that everyone knows about.

Area 51 is a parcel of land in the Nellis Range Complex located about 30 miles south of the town of Rachel, Nevada. In Area 51, near the dry bed of Groom Lake, is a test facility for military aircraft. It is a base was so secret that even though it had been there over forty years it wasn't until 1994 that the government confirmed that it existed.

At the border of Area 51 are no trespassing signs that warn that the "use of deadly force is authorized." On the public land outside the boundaries electronic sensors in the ground detect foot and vehicle traffic. Unmarked Blackhawk helicopters that cruise the perimeter, searching for intruders, are ready to summon unidentified, armed patrols to greet unwelcome visitors.

When curious spectators found a ridge that let them observe the base from a distance of 12 miles the government quickly moved to withdraw the hill from public use. Now the closest public observation point to Groom Lake is now Tikaboo Peak (7908') some 25 miles away to the east. Even the sky there is made secure by the "Dreamland" restricted airspace zone that extends outside the borders of Area 51 and up to space. The zone is in effect twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and not even the military pilots that use the rest of the huge Nellis range dare to breach it.

Why all this security? The Groom Lake, and the surrounding facilities, have all been host to air tests for the most secret of military aircraft. Back in the 1950's the U-2 spy plane was flight tested there. More recently the F-117A Stealth Fighter flew from Groom Lake's immense six mile long runway.

Typical of the type of advanced aircraft put through it's paces at Groom Lake was the famous SR-71 "BlackBird." In the early 60's it became obvious that the U-2 spy plane, despite it ability to fly at ultra high altitudes, was vulnerable to attack while doing recon over enemy territory. One, flown by Gray Powers, was shot down over the USSR, and later one was brought down over Cuba.

The military decided that they needed a spy plane that could not only fly high and fast, but was packed with advanced electronics to fool enemy missile radar. The SR-71 was designed totally in secret. With a top speed of over Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound, more than 2,200 miles an hour) it was, and remains, the fastest aircraft ever built. It went into service in the mid-sixties and was only recently retired. During that entire time no SR-71 was ever caught and shot down. Some speculate that the "Black Bird's" successor is in test at Groom Lake right now.

Over that last decade Area 51 has also come to be associated with UFO's. There were stories that a flying saucer that allegedly crashed at Roswell, New Mexico, had been brought to the Nellis Complex and was under study. This tale as further bolstered by the story of Bob Lazer.

In 1986 a gentleman named Bob Lazar went to the press. He claimed that he was a former government physicist and had been assigned to work in a secret underground base, designated "S4", that was about 15 miles south of Groom Lake at a place called Papoose Lake. (This is just north of Yucca and Frenchman Lakes where above and below ground nuclear testing took place since the 1940s).

According to Lazar the base consisted of a series of hangers containing nine alien flying saucers that the government was trying to understand and reproduce.

Most dismissed Lazar when the educational background he described for himself did not check out. Still, the incident helped cement the idea of UFO's and Area 51 in the public's mind. (For the hobby minded you can purchase a model of the flying saucers, built to Lazer's specifications, that is marketed by the Testor Corporation.)

Quite a few UFOs have been reported being seen near Area 51. Though many locals suspect the sightings are the result of seeing disc shaped conventional aircraft, a cottage industry has grown up outside the boundaries based on the mystique of UFO's and aliens. You can get a burger at the "Little A'Le'Inn" (pronounced "Little Alien"), a cafe located in the town of Rachel. Even the legislature of Nevada, in a fit of whimsy, has gotten into the act, renaming route 375, which runs along the eastern edge of the Nellis Complex, "The Extra-terrestrial Highway."

Recent reports indicate that the base at Area 51 may be phased out in favor of a location in the White Sands Testing Range in Utah. The new location, officially designated Area 6413, is at a higher elevation. There is speculation that this extra height may increase the maxium payload of a space plane the Airforce is rumored to be testing. The craft is a military version of NASA's X-33.

Area 51, a History and Update

For a place that doesn’t officially exist, Area 51 has been referred to by a lot of names over the years. Some of those names included; GroomLake, Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, Watertown Strip, the Box, the Pig Farm and several others. Many people do not know how or when Area 51 came into existence in thedesert some 85 miles northwest of Georgia Nevada.

Most people believe it was a military base, when in fact it was originally opened by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).

President Truman through the National Security Act of 1947 set up both the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency. Back then, the Director of the CIA answered directly to the President. In 1949 the CIA Act was passed which stipulated that not only would the CIA’s activities be classified but that it’s budget would also be classified. The U. S. Government could also deny any responsibility for the CIA’s activities should they be exposed.

Area 51 is still alive and well. The signs around the perimeter still indicate “the use of deadly force is authorized”, and the patrols by the “cammo dudes” in their Jeeps, and 4 wheel drive Ford and Chevy pickups, still monitor any unauthorized individuals approaching to close to the boundary of the base.

After World War II the United States was very concerned about whether the Soviet Union had developed an atomic bomb. One way to find out would be to over fly the Soviet Union in a high altitude aircraft equipped with cameras. Lockheed’s Kelly Johnson designed such an aircraft and went directly to the CIA with it. Normally such aircraft would have been test flown at Edwards Air Force Base, but with the security required for such a top-secret project as this, it was decided to look for a new secure site somewhere in the Southwest. A dozen sites were looked at before deciding on Groom Lake, Nevada, adjacent to the Nevada Test site. The area which was previously controlled by the Atomic Energy Commission for testing atomic weapons was expanded to include Groom Lake and by July 1955 the CIA had its secret base. A fake construction firm “CLJ” was formed to oversee the construction on the base mostly done by sub-contractors to build hangars, a mile long runway, ramps, control tower, mess hall and other required structures.

The airplane designed by Kelly was known as the “Aquatone” by the CIA, and as “Angel” by Lockheed. The first prototype was called “Article 341”, and flown to Groom Lake. Eventually that aircraft became known as the U-2.

The thing to remember about the inception of Area 51 is that it was not an Air Force base, but rather that Lockheed and the CIA were in charge, not the military. Pilots were recruited from the F-84 pilots with top-secret clearances from SAC bases. If they became U-2 pilots they resigned from the Air Force and became CIA employees.

The first mission over the Soviet Union took place on July 4, 1956, and the missions were quite effective due to their speed and high altitude capabilities, until May 1. 1960 when Francis Gary Powers was shot down by a Soviet missile, captured and forced to confess to spying. That same day the first American spy satellite film was retrieved which showed more information about the Soviet Union than all the previous U-2 flights combined. The satellites however did not put an end to spy planes developed and test flown at Area 51.
Area 51 has long been the source of much speculation about UFOs and advanced aircraft.

While many in the UFO enthusiast community suggest that these advanced vehicles are a result of extraterrestrial technology, the fact is that these new systems are of very earthly origin.

It is true that UFOs are the subject of a government conspiracy and cover-up. During the early 1960s the CIA launched a secret project called "Ox Cart," not to hide alien life forms but to hide a multimillion-dollar spy plane.

Ironically, for a project named after one of the slowest vehicles on Earth, Ox Cart involved one of the fastest creations in flight history, pioneered by aviation legend Kelly Johnson.

With Project Oxcart, which eventually became the SR-71, a longer runway was needed and in fact a small town was built for the support personnel assigned there. Area 51 probably is hidden in underground facilities or in hangars to keep the prying eyes of foreign satellites from knowing what is going on there. Rumors have surfaced over the years that the base has as many as 22 levels underground, and some of the hangars seen from locations miles from the base indicate structures of gigantic size. One of the two runways at Groom Lake is 30,000 feet long, indicating some aircraft are landing at tremendous velocity, to require that length of runway. As a comparison, one of the Roswell Army Airfield runways is 13,000 feet and was used by B-29 and B-52’s to carry atomic bombs in the 40’s, 50’s and early 1960’s.

MYSTERY OF THE LONG RUNWAY: During the close of WWII, General Patton's army came upon a very unusual find at a captured German facility in France (near the V1 and V2 launch sites).

This finding was described in Patton's biography, which included specific data and photos, and also in an official document known as the "Patton memo". In fact, General Patton specifically warned the U.S. military of unbelievable facilities being found.

General Patton described coming upon a huge runway that was 200 feet wide, 11,300 feet long, and was made of concrete which was 14 feet thick. The memo stated that the runway was built by the Germans using thousands of slave laborers, and took several years to complete. It was his written opinion that the construction materials and labor force "surpassed that of the great pyramids" (his words). The runway incorporated a unique feature at the far end. An upward turned "ski slope" was built into the runway to allow larger aircraft with heavy cargo loads to take off more easily. This "ski slope" feature was later incorporated into the designs of British and Russian aircraft carriers.

The U.S. constructed such a runway in 1972 for our incoming and outgoing SECRET horizontal take off and landing spacecraft at Hunter Army Airfield (Savannah GA.), which was never officially closed.

As part of Ox Cart, the CIA also launched an effort to cover up the testing of its new high-flying reconnaissance plane. That effort included circulating stories of space aliens and flying saucers flying over the Western skies.

The CIA cover story for the SR-71 worked well enough for it to remain a secret until President Lyndon Johnson released details of the aircraft during a speech.

For nearly 30 years the SR-71 remained the fastest aircraft in active service, flying over global hot spots in Europe and the Middle East. No Blackbird aircraft was ever lost to enemy action, but one was destroyed when it was launching an even faster vehicle. During the 1980s, several SR-71s were modified to carry a ramjet-powered unmanned vehicle designed to over-fly the most dangerous targets.

The single-engine ramjet pilotless craft were carried aloft on the back of the Blackbird and launched at over 100,000 feet and at speeds in excess of 2,000 miles an hour. One of these unmanned aircraft failed immediately after launch, colliding with the SR-71, instantly destroying both aircraft.

The Stealth project began in 1973 and was referred to as “Project Harvey”. Because of the flat surfaces on the plane to reflect radar away from their source, such as the appearance of facets on a diamond, Lockheed named the project “the Hopeless Diamond”. It was renamed “Have Blue” when the prototypes began arriving at Area 51 in 1977 for testing.

Other aircraft that have been test flown at Area 51 include the A-10, A-12, B-1 and the B-2. Captured foreign aircraft are also flown there such as the MIG-21. Under development and being test flown there today are such names as the TR-3A Black Manta, the Pumpkin Seed and the Aurora. Within the last few years, contrails have been seen that leave a trail that look like “doughnuts on a rope” which is believed to be a pulsating propulsion system, possibly from the Aurora.

Although never officially confirmed, Aurora was also developed by the Lockheed Skunk Works during the 1980s. The space plane was designed to operate either in a manned or unmanned mode. Its Cold War mission was to penetrate the anti-missile defenses surrounding Moscow at Mach 8+ speeds and deliver nuclear bombs onto multiple targets.

Aurora was described as a very large diamond-shaped vehicle and most likely powered by a hybrid jet-rocket engine technology. The craft could attain speeds in excess of 8,000 miles an hour and fly at altitudes of over 50 miles. was armed with over a dozen nuclear warheads.

The reason it was developed to be both manned and unmanned was because of its dual missions - peacetime reconnaissance and wartime nuclear strike vehicle.

During times of peace, the Aurora carried manned crews to supervise surveillance. During wartime, the very powerful Aurora accelerated and changed directions at speeds that would crush a human under the high G forces. Aurora's nuclear strike mission was intended to be without a pilot because a human simply would not survive the ride.

However, Aurora had two great drawbacks: its price tag and its mission.

Aurora reportedly was retired from service in the late 1990s due to budget constraints. Each vehicle reportedly cost over $2 billion. The price of Aurora operations could not be justified when the Cold War ended.

What is the Skunk Works testing today? The unofficial reports indicate that the super-secret aircraft builders are hard at work on an invisible airplane.

Stealth was the watchword for the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. However, the stealthy strike fighter was visible to the naked eye, limiting its attack missions to the deep dark of night

We found out about the Stealth F-117 during the Gulf War in 1991, whereas it had been test flown at Area 51 in 1977 under the name “Have Blue” and it’s development had begun in 1973.

Today, advances in light panel technology are pushing the limits of invisible airplanes. The fact is that aircraft stand out against the bright sky as darker objects, but by using bright panels of light the aircraft virtually disappears against the blue sky.

Ironically, the concept is not new. In the 1940s, the U.S. Navy developed operation "Yahootie," the first practical attempt to create an invisible aircraft. U.S. Navy bombers were considered too slow to visually spot a German U-boat cruising on the surface and attack in daylight. U-boat ommanders often spotted the lumbering bombers and dived safely away before the planes could attack.

In response, a string of bright lights were arrayed on the wings and propeller hubs of the sub-hunter planes. The bomber crews adjusted the lights to match the natural background light behind the aircraft, masking their planes against the sky.

The principle is called isoluminosity, the perception that different objects displaying the same brightness seem indistinguishable from each other.

The principle worked very well until 1942, when the Navy introduced airborne radar, allowing bombers to spot and kill submarines beyond visual ranges. The Navy abandoned Yahootie in favor of radar.

An advanced version of Yahootie, a manned surveillance aircraft, reportedly uses a combination of lights, low-noise engines and radar-absorbing skin to render itself practically invisible in daylight. The aircraft not only is invisible to radar but also its skin is layered with an array of high-intensity light panels that broadcast the same output as the sky around it.

What was Lockheed Test 2334?

While the technology may seem out of this world, it is certain that Test 2334 is no UFO. Clearly, Test 2334 was flown by a USAF pilot and not ET.

Several researchers have indicated that the crashed saucer from Roswell, originally taken to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio in 1947, may be at Area 51 today. Other reports indicate that Area 51 has as many as 22 levels below ground and the secret base was brought to the forefront involving UFOs when Bob Lazar claimed to have been there to back engineer a UFO propulsion system in another area of the base known as S-4 at Papoose Lake. No real evidence of this has come to light and Lazar has been seriously questioned on his credibility.

Rumours

Due to its lack of explanation of its contents, Area 51 has been open to all kinds of rumours:

A Secret Underground Complex?

Surrounding Area51 are the Nevada Test Site and Nellis Air Force Range, again locations at which strange craft have been sighted by many hundreds of witnesses. Those who have managed to get close enough to the base to take photographs of it, have brought back many tantalizing images of the area in general, showing nothing more than a few hangars and other small buildings and surface structures. It is now believed that Area 51 actually stretches miles down underground as part of a huge subterranean military complex..

Extraterrestrials

A common rumour about Area 51 is that it is the housing place for a total of nine recovered alien crafts and that these are being reverse engineered in order to discover their secrets.

The rumours of extraterrestrial beings and vehicles are endless; a simple search on an internet search engine turns out hundreds of thousands of results. Area 51 has been thought to be the test centre of captured UFOs because of the lights in the night sky.

The base was used as a testing ground for previously top secret military projects such as the U2, F117 and SR-71. However in recent years, incredibly fast and advanced airborne craft have been sighted by hundreds of witnesses over the Area51 test ground "AreaS4", which clearly exceed all of humankind's current technological abilities. This, along with reports of Alien Bodies and other strange Extraterrestrial artefacts witnessed by those who have worked at the base, has now lead many to believe that Area51 houses much more than a few new test aircraft .

Faking Of Lunar Landing

Another belief is that Area 51 was used to fake the Lunar Landings beginning with the first landing in 1969. It is believed that the sand type is similar to that on the lunar surface. If you speed up the astronauts moon walking by ½ x speed they appear to be running round in the same way we do on earth.

There is of course the more likely case.

There is much circumstantial evidence to link Groom Lake with (at the very least) experimental high-Mach vehicles. It has even been claimed that a new mother/daughter combination like the A-12/D-21 has been flown, known as the Super Valkyrie. Evidence from base-watchers and elsewhere also suggests other top-secret, Special Access Programs that have been conducted at Groom Lake in recent years:

-High Altitude Stealth Reconnaissance: Large subsonic long-endurance vehicle jointly developed by Lockheed and Boeing to replace the SR-71's ability to over fly denied territory at will. Based on the Skunk Works failed bid for the Advanced Tactical Bomber (ATB) - the B-2, it was cancelled in 1992 after at least $300 million had been spent, and replaced by the Tier 3 Minus UAV (Lockheed's Darkstar).

-Covert Assault Transport: Probably a delta configuration with advanced V/STOL capabilities but with very low noise as well as radar signature. Probably cancelled in 1993 in favour of further Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey development.

-Stealth Helicopter: Different designs with emphasis on low blade and transmission noise, also exploring new technology to reduce blade and efflux signature. (Sikorsky's new attack helicopter, the successor to the Apache - the Comanche, incorporates stealth technology, but this is being tested elsewhere.)

-Cloaking Technology: Cloaking technology in the form of electro chromatic panels mounted to aircraft has been revealed as being tested at the Area 51 installation.

So what is the truth?

Well you might as well make your own mind up, because it's going to be a long time before the truth comes out... if ever it comes out! All someone can say for sure is that they are doing something that they don't want even their own public to be made aware of, and will authorize deadly force for anyone that tries to get to close.

UFOs - Alien or Man-Made?