It is a portion of land located in Lincoln County, an administrative subdivision of the state of Nevada in the southwestern United States. The site, culminating at an altitude of 4461 feet (1360 meters), is surrounded by high reliefs (the Groom and Papoose mountain ranges).
The surface area, which remained secret until 2013, roughly consists of a 100 square miles (155 km2) rectangle, a size comparable to that of Liechtenstein, a small country surrounded by Switzerland and Austria. The complex is part of the much larger Nellis Air Force Range, which covers more than 7,400 square miles (12,000 km2), comparable to the size of Montenegro in former Yugoslavia.
The most iconic place of the area is undoubtedly Groom Lake, an ancient, 3 mile wide dry lake (5 km) of a white color given by salt sediments.
Its initial name, “Area 51“, comes from its designation on maps, but several nicknames have been given to it over the years, such as “Watertown”, “Paradise Ranch” or “Dreamland”, thus making the site more attractive to future employees.
Today, curious tourists can see it from Tikaboo Peak at 1.5 miles above sea level (2,412 meters) located 26 miles (41 Km) east of Groom Lake.
The secret Aquatone project
The choice of Area 51 as the site for the testing of the first major secret U.S. military aircraft program, namely the U2, was made by CIA officer Richard M. Bissel Jr. This prominent figure in American intelligence took part in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was co-director of the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) in the early 1960s.
The decision was made during an overflight of the area on April 12, 1955. Accompanied by Lockheed Martin’s “Skunkworks” chief engineer team Kelly Johnson, and Colonel Osmund Ritland, Bissel discovered the site aboard a small Beechcraft piloted by the future U2 test pilot Tony Levier.
The location of the future complex, bordering on the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) nuclear test area, ideally located in a valley surrounded by high mountain ranges, and next to a perfectly flat, dry lake, was the perfect place to develop a secret and strategic program in those days of cold war.
Back in Washington, Bissel easily obtained the approval of ACS Chief Lewis Strauss and President Eisenhower to integrate the area into the local military fold.
The Aquatone project, i.e. the design of the U2 spy plane, could then begin.
The spy plane’s first flight took place in the summer of 1955, with pilot Tony Levier at the helm. The plane’s unusual capabilities made it a competitive spy weapon. Flying at altitudes up to 70,000 feet (more than 21 km), this characteristically shaped aircraft has proven its efficacy when it comes to monitoring sensitive areas, even today.
Secret program Oxcart
Before the development of the U2 was completed, another emblematic secret program was born: the Oxcart program, which would produce the A-12 and the SR-71.
The ambition of this program was to develop a reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying at Mach 3.2 (2,200 mph or 3,500 km/h) and at the whopping altitude of 90,000 feet (27 km), as well as a drone version of that aircraft.
But the facilities proved too small for the equipment, the staff and even the main runway. More adequate infrastructures were developed and a new runway was built.
The parts for the new aircraft were brought in from the Lockheed Martin factory in Burbank, California.
The first test for the A-12, a previous version of the famous SR-71, took its first flight on April 25, 1962 at Groom Lake.
The SR-71, nicknamed “Blackbird” due to its special black paint, was bigger in length and could accommodate two pilots instead of one for the A12. Its first flight took place on December 22, 1964.
As for the D-21 derived drone, its tests were not conclusive: an incident which almost cost the life of the pilots in charge of launching the platform from a modified A-12 (renamed M-21 for this purpose) was a huge blow to the program, although the D-21 was given a new life with B52 bomber as its new launching platform for a few years – without much more success.
“Have Doughnut”, “Have Drill” and “Have Ferry” and the Cold War
Area 51 was also the scene of Soviet adversary aircraft tests. A MIG-21, which an Iraqi pilot had landed in Israel after refusing a mission to kill Iraqi Kurds, was loaned for a few months to the US in 1968.
This timely gesture originated in Operation Diamond, which allowed the State of Israel to acquire a MIG-21. Considering noth the loan and the ensuing tests, dubbed “Have Doughnut”, were secret, it would only make sense that these in-flight experiments would take place within Area 51. It is of note that a USAF symbol – a blue star – was put on the sides to avoid any diplomatic incident.
The study of the Russian fighter made it possible to compare its performances with those of the F-4, F-10 or F-5 American fighters. The main conclusion was that the pilot was an important part of a flight being successful, whether it was on an American or on a Soviet fighter jet.
In 1968, two MIG-17s piloted by two Syrian air force officers landed by mistake on an Israeli base, thinking they were flying over Lebanon. Again, these two aircraft were transferred to Area 51 to be studied and compared.
Dogfights between these Mig-17s and American aircraft were organized. These programs were called Have Drill and Have Ferry. The results were decisive in the understanding of the enemy’s aeronautical potential.
The “Have Blue” secret program or the advent of stealth
In order to verify the theoretical works of physicist Pyotr Ufimtsev, the engineers at Lockheed Skunkworks conceived a stealth operational fighter.
The Have Blue program was born, with Groom Lake as the testing ground for this ultra-secret aircraft. The first flight took place in December 1977. Further development led to the F117 Nighthawk development program, which made its first flight on one of the complex’s runways in June 1981 with pilot Harold “Hal” Farley Jr. at the controls.
It is important to note that while Area 51 is one of the world’s most secretive flying machines development and testing sites, those crafts are transferred to other locations once they are operational. The Tonopah Test Range Airport located 110 km northwest of Groom Lake became one of the bases for the F117.
Several other secret planes were tested at Groom Lake and Janet’s company flights still transport employees from Harry Reid International Airport to the famous Area 51 runways on a daily basis.
The big theory born out of the total secrecy around Groom Lake
The aura of mystery surrounding Groom Lake, through the secret programs and their technical innovations (the U2, A12 and SR-71 had a much higher maximum altitude than civilian planes of the time, causing unusual observations from the pilots) led to many questions as to what was really going on there.
Also, some individuals started to speak up, like controversial figure Bob Lazar.
1989 marked the beginning of what would become one of the most sulfurous UAP-related cases. In March of that year, John Lear, a former CIA aviator with several world records in aviation on his belt, filmed himself with a group of people near Area 51. In May, the first interview of his friend Bob Lazar by KLAS TV investigative reporter George Knapp would launch the Lazar Saga. Hiding his face and using “Dennis” as a pseudonym, the self-proclaimed physicist was interviewed near Lear’s residence.
In November, he appeared once again, but this time with his face uncovered and under his real identity.
He indicated he had worked on the S4 sector located under the mountains of the Papoose range, near the eponymous Lake, located a few kilometers southwest of Groom Lake. He claimed to have worked on the reverse engineering of what he believed to be nine flying saucers. According to him, these machines would be propelled by a chemical element never seen before (its existence would be recorded in 2015), Ununpentium (or element 115 officially named Moscovium).
Many doubts have been cast on Lazar’s assertions, including regarding the universities he says he attended (particularly MIT) but Lazar claimed that the data relating to his university course has been erased.
Officialization of Area 51’s existence
The Air Force has long denied the existence of the test site, notably through an official document dated 1998. That document denied the existence of a test area named “Area 51” while admitting half-heartedly that research was being carried out in a place near Groom Lake, which was part of the Nellis Air Force Range.
It was not until August 2013 that the existence of this area was made official by documents shared by the National Security Archives site. This initiative, originating at George Washington University, indeed resulted in a 400-page document mainly dealing with the genesis of the U2 spy plane program and the location of its future tests. Area 51 thus entered the public stage.
The document, declassified on June 25, 2013, was published without mentioning reverse engineering or the presence of any exogenous devices, nor biological living entities.
Translated from French by Guillaume Fournier Airaud