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Area
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Last Updated:
May 6, 2009 0:04 AM
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 - Area
51 expert Glenn Campbell discusses the
secret base.
Glenn
Campbell - devoted many years to the investigation
of UFOs, especially relating to Area 51. |
Aerial
photo of Area 51 taken on July 24th 2003.
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Click Play to listen: Glenn
Campbell compares a "Black World" with
a "free" world.
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The mail
boxes made famous by Bob Lazar when he stated
that they were a good location for observing
objects flown from Area 51. |
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 In
the aftermath of the 2nd World War the U.S. in
realisation that its intelligence gathering capabilities
had been, historically, sadly lacking and the
perceived threat from the Soviet Union, President
Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947.
This act set up the National Security Council
and the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.)
and was followed in 1949 by the CIA Act which
determined that the CIA's activities and budget
would be classified and also stipulated that
any other government agency could transfer funds
to the CIA - without regard to any provisions
of the law. The CIA Act also decreed that if
any of its activities were exposed, the U.S.
Government could "plausibly deny" any responsibility
for the CIA 's actions.
In the bid to improve methods of gathering "intelligence" regarding
the military activity of the Soviets, Major John
Seaberg, an aerospace development engineer at
Wright Patterson AFB, conceived the idea of a
very fast jet capable of over-flying Russia at
70,000ft. - well out of the range of Russian
weapons. This jet would be equipped with the
latest "intelligence gathering
"equipment, cameras etc. and would be capable
of obtaining highly detailed photographs from
a safe altitude.
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 An
unidentified craft is caught on film by staff at
Area 51 - listen to the commentary! |
Large
orb filmed by a news crew investigating reports
of strange craft being seen in the area - 1992. |
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 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". |
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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, 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 51and 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. See Aurora -
covered on this site. 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". |
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disclosure
requirements. "Information concerning activities at
the operating location near Groom Lake has properly
been determined to be classified and its
disclosure would be harmful to National Security. Continued protection of this information is ,therefore, in the
paramount interest of the United States " - President Bush wrote. This "operating location near Groom Lake " is, in fact, Area 51 .In using such terminology it is obvious that some U.S. Governmental and Military agencies refuse to acknowledge the existence of a facility that covers an area about the size of Switzerland - Groom Lake being the much smaller ,original base.
.S.
Government is abusing its secrecy powers to prevent
the release of embarrassing information about a top
secret Nevada air base relating to their previous
allegations that the plaintiffs were harmed by
inhaling toxic chemicals at the base (Area 51) in the
1980s and the base violated environmental laws that prohibit
open-pit burning of hazardous wastes.
Government agencies argue that although they acknowledge the existence of a classified installation, Presidential Orders insist on strict secrecy regarding all information relating to the
base. Turley later remarked:
