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The Real Story Behind the Myth of Area 51
The Real Story Behind the
Myth of Area 51
There are no aliens at America's
most famous top-secret military
base, but what is there is just as
interesting.
By Matt Blitz
In the middle of the barren Nevada desert,
there's a dusty unmarked road that leads to the
front gate of Area 51. It's protected by little
more than a chain link fence, a boom gate, and
intimidating trespassing signs. One would think
that America's much mythicized top secret
military base would be under closer guard, but
make no mistake. They are watching.
Beyond the gate, cameras see every
angle. On the distant hilltop, there's a white
pickup truck with a tinted windshield peering
down on everything below. Locals says the base
knows every desert tortoise and jackrabbit that
hops the fence. Others claim there are
embedded sensors in the approaching road.
What exactly goes on inside of Area 51
has led to decades of wild speculation. There
are, of course, the alien conspiracies that
galactic visitors are tucked away somewhere
inside. One of the more colorful rumors insists
the infamous 1947 Roswell crash was actually a
Soviet aircraft piloted by mutated midgets and
the wreckage remains on the grounds of Area
51. Some even believe that the U.S. government
filmed the 1969 moon landing in one of the
base's hangars.
For all the myths and legends, what's
true is that Area 51 is real and still very active.
There may not be aliens or a moon landing
movie set inside those fences, but something is U-2 testing began in July 1955, and
going on and only a select few are privy to
what's happening further down that closely-
monitored wind-swept Nevada road. "The
forbidden aspect of Area 51 is what makes
people want to know what's there," says
aerospace historian and author Peter Merlin
who's been researching Area 51 for more than
11
three decades. by commercial airline pilots who had never seen
"And there sure is still a lot going on an aircraft fly at such high altitudes as the U-2.
there." Whereas today's airliners can soar as high as
The Origins of a Mystery 45,000 feet, in the mid-1950s airlines flew at
altitudes between 10,000 and 20,000 feet.
Known military aircraft could get to 40,000 feet,
The beginning of Area 51 is directly related to and some believed manned flight couldn't go
the development of the U-2 reconnaissance any higher than that. The U-2, flying at altitudes
aircraft. After World War II, the Soviet Union in excess of 60,000 feet, would've looked
lowered the Iron Curtain around themselves and completely alien.
the rest of the Eastern bloc, creating a near Naturally, Air Force officials knew the
intelligence blackout to the rest of the world. majority of these unexplained sightings were U-
When the Soviets backed North Korea's 2 tests, but they were not allowed to reveal these
invasion of South Korea in June 1950, it details to the public. So, "natural phenomena" or
became increasingly clear that the Kremlin "high-altitude weather research" became go-to
would aggressively expand its influence. explanations for UFO sightings, including in
America worried about the USSR's technology, 1960 when Gary Powers' U-2 was shot down
intentions, and ability to launch a surprise over Russia.
attack—only a decade removed from the What's also interesting about the most
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. recent 2013 report is that it confirms Area 51's
`In the early 1950s, U.S. Navy and Air existence. While the 1998 version does have
Force sent low-flying aircraft on reconnaissance significant redactions when referencing the
missions over the USSR, but they were at name and location of the U-2 test site, the nearly
constant risk of being shot down. In November un-redacted version from 2013 reveals much
1954, President Eisenhower approved the secret more, including multiple references to Area 51,
development of a high-altitude reconnaissance Groom Lake, and even a map of the area.
aircraft called the U-2 program. One of the first
orders of business was to track down a remote, “This Is Earth Technology”
covert location for training and testing. They
found it in the southern Nevada desert near a U-2 operations halted in the late 1950s, but other
salt flat known as Groom Lake, which had once
top secret military aircrafts continued tests at
been a World War II aerial gunnery range for
Area 51. Over the years, the A-12 and numerous
Army Air Corps pilots.
stealth aircrafts like Bird of Prey, F-117A, and
Known by its map designation as Area
TACIT BLUE have all been developed and
51, this middle-of-nowhere site became a new
tested in the Nevada desert. More declassified
top-secret military base. To convince workers to
documents reveal Area 51's role in "Project
come, Kelly Johnson, one of the leading
Have Doughnut," a 1970s attempt to study
engineers of the U-2 project, gave it a more covertly obtained Soviet MiGs.
enticing name: Paradise Ranch.
Making A Myth
(Continued on Page 12)
immediately reports came flooding in about
unidentified flying object sightings. If you read
the details in a 1992 CIA report that was
declassified with redactions in 1998 (and
subsequently released nearly in full in 2013), it's
easy to see why.
Many of these sightings were observed