The origin of the name "Area 51" is unclear. It is believed to be from an
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) numbering grid, although Area 51 is not part of this system; it is next to Area 15. Another explanation is that 51 was used because it was unlikely that the AEC would use the number. According to the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the facility is called Homey Airport (XTA/KXTA) and Groom Lake, though the name "Area 51" was used in a CIA document from the
Vietnam War. Nicknames for the facility include "Paradise Ranch" and "Dreamland"; the latter is the
approach control call sign for the surrounding area. Air Force public relations has referred to the facility as "an operating location near Groom Dry Lake". The
special use airspace around the field is referred to as Restricted Area 4808 North (R-4808N). Lead and silver were discovered in the southern part of the
Groom Range in 1864, and the English company Groome Lead Mines Limited financed the Conception Mines in the 1870s, giving the district its name (nearby mines included Maria, Willow, and White Lake). J. B. Osborne and partners acquired controlling interest in Groom in 1876, and Osborne's son acquired it in the 1890s. with two unpaved 5,000-foot (1,524 m) runways.
U-2 program The
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established the Groom Lake test facility in April 1955 for Project AQUATONE: the development of the
Lockheed U-2 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Project director
Richard M. Bissell Jr. understood that the flight test and pilot training programs could not be conducted at
Edwards Air Force Base or Lockheed's Palmdale facility, given the extreme secrecy surrounding the project. He conducted a search for a suitable testing site for the U-2 under the same extreme security as the rest of the project. He notified Lockheed, who sent an inspection team to Groom Lake. According to Lockheed's U-2 designer
Kelly Johnson: The CIA asked the AEC to acquire the land, designated "Area 51" on the map, and to add it to the Nevada Test Site. Johnson named the area "Paradise Ranch" to encourage workers to move to "the new facility in the middle of nowhere", as the CIA later described it, and the name became shortened to "the Ranch". This included testing at Groom Lake, which had inadequate facilities consisting of buildings for only 150 people, a asphalt runway, and limited fuel, hangar, and shop space. when A-12 test facility construction began in September 1960, including a new runway to replace the existing runway. Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company (REECo) began construction of "Project 51" on 1October 1960 with double-shift construction schedules. The contractor upgraded base facilities and built a new runway (14/32) diagonally across the southwest corner of the lakebed. They marked an
Archimedean spiral on the dry lake approximately across so that an A-12 pilot approaching the end of the overrun could abort instead of plunging into the sagebrush. Area 51 pilots called it "The Hook". For crosswind landings, they marked two unpaved airstrips (runways 9/27 and 03/21) on the dry lakebed. By August 1961, construction of the essential facilities was complete; three surplus Navy hangars were erected on the base's north side while hangar7 was new construction. The original U-2 hangars were converted to maintenance and machine shops. Facilities in the main
cantonment area included workshops and buildings for storage and administration, a commissary, a control tower, a fire station, and housing. The Navy also contributed more than 130 surplus Babbitt duplex housing units for long-term occupancy facilities. Older buildings were repaired, and additional facilities were constructed as necessary. A reservoir pond surrounded by trees served as a recreational area north of the base. Other recreational facilities included a gymnasium, a movie theater, and a baseball diamond.
D-21 Tagboard After the loss of
Gary Powers'
U-2 over the Soviet Union, there were several discussions about using the A-12 OXCART as an unpiloted drone aircraft. Although Kelly Johnson had come to support the idea of drone reconnaissance, he opposed the development of an A-12 drone, contending that the aircraft was too large and complex for such a conversion. However, the Air Force agreed to fund the study of a high-speed, high-altitude drone aircraft in October 1962. The service's interest seems to have moved the CIA to take action, and the project was designated Q-12. By October 1963, the drone's design had been finalized. Its name was changed as well, to D-21, to distinguish it from other A-12-based projects. "Tagboard" was the project's code name. A number of D-21s had already been produced, and rather than scrapping the whole effort, Johnson again proposed to the Air Force that they be launched from a
B-52H bomber. This was not a new mission; the Army Air Forces had tested foreign technology during World War II. After the war, testing of acquired foreign technology was performed by the
Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC, which became influential during the
Korean War), under the direct command of the Air Materiel Control Department. In 1961, ATIC became the Foreign Technology Division and was reassigned to
Air Force Systems Command. ATIC personnel were sent anywhere that foreign aircraft could be found. , a MiG-21F-13 flown by
United States Navy and
Air Force Systems Command during its 1968 exploitation The focus of Air Force Systems Command limited the use of the fighter as a tool with which to train the service's pilots. The command recruited its pilots from the
Air Force Flight Test Center at
Edwards Air Force Base, California, who were usually graduates from various test pilot schools.
Tactical Air Command selected its pilots primarily from the ranks of the
Weapons School graduates. In 1968, the USAF and U.S. Navy jointly formed a project known as
HAVE DOUGHNUT in which Air Force Systems Command, Tactical Air Command, and the U.S. Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4) flew this acquired Soviet-made aircraft in simulated air combat training.
Iran hostage crisis On April 20, 1980, media nationwide reported on "Area 51", described as a "secret sector" where US forces trained to rescue the hostages in Iran.
Have Blue/F-117 program The
Lockheed Have Blue prototype stealth fighter (a smaller proof-of-concept model of the
F-117 Nighthawk) first flew at Groom in December 1977. In 1978, the Air Force awarded a full-scale development contract for the F-117 to Lockheed Corporation's Advanced Development Projects. On 17 January 1981 the Lockheed test team at Area 51 accepted delivery of the first full-scale development (FSD) prototype
79–780, designated YF-117A. At 6:05 am on 18 June 1981
Lockheed Skunk Works test pilot Hal Farley lifted the nose of YF-117A
79–780 off the runway of Area 51. Meanwhile,
Tactical Air Command (TAC) set up a group-level organization to guide the F-117A to an initial operating capability. That organization became the 4450th Tactical Group (Initially designated "A Unit"), which officially activated on 15 October 1979 at
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, although the group was physically located at Area 51. The 4450th Tactical Group also operated the A-7D Corsair II as a surrogate trainer for the F-117A, and these operations continued until 15 October 1982 under the guise of an avionics test mission.
Tonopah Test Range Airport was selected for operations of the first USAF F-117 unit, the
4450th Tactical Group (TG). From October 1979, the Tonopah Airport base was reconstructed and expanded. The 6,000-foot runway was lengthened to 10,000 feet. Taxiways, a concrete apron, a large maintenance hangar, and a propane storage tank were added. By early 1982, four more YF-117As were operating at the base. On 17 May 1982, the move of the 4450th TG from Groom Lake to Tonopah was initiated, with the final components of the move completed in early 1983. Production FSD airframes from Lockheed were shipped to Area 51 for acceptance testing. As the Baja Scorpions tested the aircraft with functional check flights and L.O. verification, the operational airplanes were then transferred to the 4450th TG at Tonopah. In 1995, the federal government expanded the exclusionary area around the base to include nearby mountains that had hitherto afforded the only reasonable overlook of the base, prohibiting access to of land formerly administered by the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management. ==Legal status==