Area 51
Area 51 is the popular name for the highly restricted flight-test installation at Groom Lake, Nevada.
For years the place existed in an odd position: obviously real, obviously active, and barely discussed in public. That made it almost perfect for rumors.
The less mysterious history is already interesting enough. Groom Lake was used during development and testing of some of the most remarkable reconnaissance aircraft of the Cold War, including the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART.
A very short history
1955 — U-2 testing
Groom Lake was selected as a remote testing location during development of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. The dry lakebed, surrounding mountains and extreme isolation were useful for a program that depended on secrecy.
1960s — OXCART
The site later became associated with testing of the A-12 OXCART, a titanium reconnaissance aircraft capable of sustained flight at extraordinary speed and altitude.
People outside the program sometimes saw aircraft that looked and behaved unlike ordinary airplanes while being given little or no explanation for what they had seen.
That does not explain every UFO report ever made near Nevada, but it certainly gave the mythology a very good place to start.
Aircraft
Lockheed U-2
The U-2 was designed to operate at altitudes far above ordinary aircraft of its era. Its extremely long wings make it immediately recognizable.
The airplane first flew in 1955 and became one of the best-known reconnaissance aircraft ever built.
If somebody in the 1950s looked up and reported a strange object at an altitude where they did not believe airplanes could fly, they were not necessarily imagining things.
A-12 OXCART
The A-12 was developed as a faster successor to the U-2. Its shape, materials and performance were extraordinary even by military-aircraft standards.
The program produced an aircraft capable of sustained Mach 3-class flight at extreme altitude.
It also looked like the sort of thing somebody in 1962 might have described very badly after seeing it from miles away.
OK, what about the aliens?
This is where the documented history stops being the whole story.
Area 51 has been associated with nearly every kind of modern UFO folklore: recovered spacecraft, reverse-engineered technology, underground complexes, alien bodies, secret propulsion systems and unexplained lights over the desert.
None of those claims becomes true simply because an actual secret aircraft facility exists nearby.
the proven history goes in the history section.
the weird stories can stay weird stories.
That said, half the fun of Area 51 is that the real history and the folklore grew up next to each other.
The Extraterrestrial Highway
Nevada State Route 375 runs through the sparsely populated country north of the restricted area and is officially promoted as the Extraterrestrial Highway.
This is the part of the Area 51 story you can actually visit: enormous skies, desert roads, Rachel, roadside alien kitsch and a great deal of empty Nevada.
The military installation itself is restricted. Stay on public roads and respect posted boundaries.
Things I still want to add
- better aircraft timeline
- Groom Lake satellite-image history
- old news coverage
- JANET flights
- Rachel / Highway 375 photos
- some of the better UFO stories
- book list
If I ever get around to all of that, this page is going to become much too large.