The BURNING Question

[azsnowman]

In view of ALL the threat, attack threads....for fun, let's ponder this question, what EXACTLY is in Area "51" in the Nevada desert? Could it be a *super secret* alien landing site??


Dennis

[stormchazer]

In view of ALL the threat, attack threads....for fun, let's ponder this question, what EXACTLY is in Area "51" in the Nevada desert? Could it be a *super secret* alien landing site??


Dennis

Area 51 is where the aliens are suppose to be. It simple really, there is a military aerospace development site called the "skunk works" in California I think. The area was initially designed for testing of aircraft that came out of the "skunk works"and such (the B1, SR-71, F-117, and just about every other prototype the air force has tested.

With the advent of satellite surveillance, most of the activity occurs at night which accounts for all the strange lights often seen in the area. Rumors still abound but I'm not sure that there is ample evidence of alien remains or otherwise at what is sometimes refered to as "Dreamland".

[azsnowman]

Odyssey to Area 51 along the Extraterrestrial Highway
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press October 15, 2000
By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RACHEL, Nev. - If you are searching for extraterrestrials or top secret black aircraft in the vicinity of Area 51, you are much more likely to have a close encounter with a cow, and that's no bull.
Or, it might be a bull, after all.

This bull stared at us. Blinked. Stared. Blinked. Stared.

Was it a sophisticated sensor system? Was it a horned alien?

No. It was what it appeared to be. Seven hundred or 800 pounds of beef on the hoof. Not abducted. Not mutilated. Just one of rancher Steve Medlin's errant herd.

We stood at the gateway to America's most famous top secret military base. The famed "Black Mailbox" at Mailbox Road stood sentry, a lonely watcher on the road, the final turning point off the main highway before heading toward the point of no return several miles down the way.

We were ready to see "black world" airplanes. We were ready for UFO encounters.

We were, well, gulp, almost ready for an encounter with the dread "cammo dudes," the faceless private contract security force that patrols the perimeter of the denied territory of Area 51.

We were ready for cattle. Well, again, almost. One of our companions, author William F. Wu, was wearing a baseball cap that was as bright a red as any matador's cape.

The bull that stared at us was big enough to enter any toreador's arena.

"I heard they're colorblind and that red cape stuff is just stuff," Wu said.

"I've heard it both ways," our companion, Daniel Carnahan, said.

We gave rancher Medlin's bull the benefit of the doubt, saddled up the old sport-utility vehicle and kept rolling toward the no man's land of the forbidden territories: Area 51, off in the distance, just beyond White Sides Mountain.


* * * *


Area 51 is a myth, a combination of lore and legend, and it's also a real place: a real military base where the nation's most advanced and secret aircraft are tested.

The myth and the legend is that Area 51 is where the extraterrestrial spacecraft are kept. Let's stick with the real-world stuff for a while.

Many of the "black world" aircraft tested at Area 51 had their origins in the Antelope Valley or are deeply connected to secret work that has been done by workers in the Valley since the coldest years of the Cold War.

The past, present and future of Area 51 is tied to legacies of the Cold War. Area 51, on an intimate basis, is profoundly linked to the prime defense contractors of the Antelope Valley, most notably Lockheed Martin and the fabled Skunk Works division that gave birth to one "black world" airplane after another.

A short definition of a "black world" aircraft: A cutting-edge plane with secret technologies developed and tested under conditions of extreme secrecy, such as the U-2, the stealth fighter or the stealth bomber.

For that matter, Area 51 apparently has another link to the Valley. Publications ranging from Aviation Week to the small press publication "Area 51 Viewer's Guide" cite the secret base as the home of Air Force Flight Test Center Detachment 3, thus affiliating the organization with Edwards Air Force Base.

There would have been no Area 51 if not for the security needs of legendary aircraft designer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, the patron saint of black aircraft programs.

Some of the history of Kelly Johnson's most secretive work is chronicled in author David Darlington's "Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles - The Legend of America's Most Secret Military Base."

During his research, Darlington interviewed Tony LeVier, the former chief test pilot for Lockheed before LeVier died in 1998.

Additional information on Area 51's origins is chronicled in author Curtis Peebles' "Dark Eagles - A History of Top Secret U.S. Aircraft."

According to LeVier, both Johnson and LeVier scouted the location in 1955 when they were seeking out a site for test flights of the then-top secret U-2 spy plane.

A location was needed that was "remote, but not too remote," according to Kelly Johnson's needs.

The site needed to be far out of the sight of prying Soviet eyes, and in those days of the mid-1950s, overhead satellite surveillance was not yet a factor. That was why a plane like the U-2 was needed in the first place.

Nearly a half-century later, dozens of international satellite reconnaissance flights sweep over Area 51 annually under the international "Open Skies" treaty. Most of the satellite passes are done by Russia, but even little Portugal is permitted a couple of peeps, along with third-rate powers like Romania.

U.S. citizens are denied similar access, but that's another part of the story. Recently, Russian photos of Area 51 went up for sale on the Internet. Interest and customer demand was so high that it crashed the Web site.

Back in the 1950s, the land that encompasses Area 51 looked like a moonscape with Joshua trees. That view hasn't changed much in the intervening decades. No encroaching suburbs out on this range. The Mars Mini-Rover would be at home out here.

Satellite photos reveal a base that looks like many others in the Southwestern United States military complex.

From high above, and from the photographs taken by amateur enthusiasts of Area 51, the base looks less like a top secret James Bond-style destination than a kind of cousin or clone of Edwards Air Force Base.

There are good reasons for that. From a distance there are more similarities than differences between Edwards and "the Ranch" at Groom Lake. Long runways, reputedly the world's longest - allegedly for takeoffs of a black world aircraft popularly known as Aurora, something so fast and so loud it makes the Earth rumble and leaves space shuttle-style sonic cracks in its wake.

Big hangars at this base, and big microwave dishes. The radars at Area 51 are reputed to be among the Pentagon's most powerful for the testing of the many kinds of radar-evasive aircraft that are tested from the super-long runways at Area 51.

For many years of its existence, before it became a pop culture icon, Area 51 was called "The Ranch," also "Watertown." And for military pilots who are told to stay away from the restricted air space, it's "The Box," according to the Viewer's Guide written by Glenn Campbell - a UFO researcher, not the singer.

The Ranch ultimately grew like Topsy, but began because of the expanding needs of the ultra-secret U-2 project in the early 1950s.

The Cold War years prior to satellite surveillance produced a lifeand-death need for the United States to be able to spy on the military installations of the Soviet Union. Fear of a so-called "missile gap" between the United States and USSR remained a heated topic all the way through the election of John F. Kennedy.

But Kennedy's predecessor in the White House, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, already knew that there was no missile gap. He knew, but couldn't tell, because Eisenhower used the ultrasecret asset of Kelly Johnson's creation, the U-2.

The U-2's high-flying eye in the sky provided the ability to probe the mysteries of Soviet military production until it was shot down, crashing the 1960 summit between Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

In his book, "Dark Eagles," author Peebles recounts how Kelly Johnson's crew from Skunk Works searched out and discovered Area 51.

The need for secrecy flowed from the U-2 being midwifed as a CIA, rather than an Air Force, project.

The "client" at CIA believed U2 should not undergo its crucial tests because Lockheed's Palmdale facility, and even the relatively remote base in the Mojave Desert at Edwards, might not be able to keep the project hidden from prying eyes.

At the behest of the CIA, Lockheed chief test pilot LeVier and Skunk Works foreman Dorsey Kammerer scouted up to 50 sites across the Southwest, Peebles wrote. To maintain secrecy, the pair donned hunting apparel and told their friends at work they were headed for a hunting vacation in Mexico.

The vacation took them over dozens of sites in a Lockheed Beech V-Tail Bonanza.

"When Richard M. Bissell Jr., the CIA official selected to direct the program, and his Air Force liaison, Col. Osmond J. `Ozzie' Ritland, reviewed the list, they felt none of them met the security requirements," author Peebles wrote. He continued: "Then Ritland recalled a `little X-shaped field' in Nevada he had flown over many times while involved with U.S. nuclear testing. He offered to show it to Bissell and Johnson."

Ritland said later, "We flew over it and within thirty seconds, you knew that was the place ... it was right by a (dry) lake. Man alive, we looked at that lake, and we all looked at each other. It was another Edwards, so we wheeled around and landed on that lake, taxied up to one end of it, and Kelly Johnson said, `We'll put it right here, that's the hangar.' "

Groom Lake became another Edwards - only this air base, even to this day, does not officially exist.

Military maps of the area do not even note the presence of the super-long runways.

The numerical map designation appears to refer to an old site map reference from the Nellis Bombing and Gunnery Range, which encompasses the area where the nation's most secret military air base is maintained.

Nowadays, Area 51 is a teeshirt slogan, a bumper sticker, the occasion of pop culture reference in movies such as "Independence Day."

The summer 1996 blockbuster movie propagated the science-fiction myth that the forces gathered at Area 51 are studying dead aliens and are "reverse engineering" extraterrestrial spacecraft - taking 'em apart to see how they work.

Michael Adams, a local college trustee and city economic planning official, formerly was an investigator with the Air Force Office of Security Investigation. Information about Area 51 has always been buried, he noted.

Back in the 1970s, Adams said he weighed whether to consider application for assignment, but was advised by an Air Force mentor that such duty would involve a kind of career disappearing act. "You might know somebody from school, but they'd never be seen or heard from again," he said.

Even though people who go there "vanish," they just as often reappear, coming home on the commuter flights that go out to the area.

Until 1995, the base was visible to viewers who scrambled atop a rocky hill known as "Freedom Ridge." The hill offered a good sightline perch that opened the base to the kind of peeking and photography common to a Cold War border.

The Air Force, irritated at the continued observation, expanded its territory in a hotly contested annexation of several thousand acres that was challenged in court and finally approved on national security grounds. So, the Freedom Ridge viewing perch vanished behind the nearly invisible departure line that divides the denied area from free grazing range.

What really happens at Area 51?

Some of the mysteries are known. Some of the mysteries solved are now part of this nation's politico-military history. And some mysteries still lie out there, only to be guessed at.

Doubtless, many residents of the Antelope Valley have direct knowledge, but they do not tell tales. To follow the dictums of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu, "Those who talk don't know. Those who know don't talk."

But among the projects that passed through a top secret crucible were many of the aircraft that became signature history of the Antelope Valley.

First, there was the U-2; later, the A-12 and its variants, including the SR-71 that became known as the "Blackbird" triple-mach spy plane. First flown in the early 1960s, the Blackbird still holds records for fastest known flight by an "air-breathing" aircraft.

Also on the Area 51 honor roll are Northrop's B-2 stealth bomber and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. Some of the code names are known now. Oxcart. Have Blue. Aurora? Well, some of the code names are also still code names.

For some in the Antelope Valley and the Las Vegas environs, Area 51 is a work destination. Workers shuttle out to "The Ranch" in Nevada aboard mysterious jet transports the way Valley commuters board a bus or Metrolink to head to work "down below" in Los Angeles.

Such residents of the inner circle of defense security can be seen flying from the Valley aboard what black world watchers call "Janet flights."

The unmarked 737-200s are rust-red-striped commuter haulers. Sometimes, early in the morning, they can be seen departing from Air Force Plant 42.

Such flights also depart daily from a special terminal in Las Vegas. The special flights carry the workers to the extra-long runways and the big hangars in the hills behind Steve Medlin's ranch.

* * * *


To follow the road to Area 51 is to engage on a journey between light and darkness, between the white world and the black, to skirt the borderland where visitors can roam freely in the wilderness of federal range land into a place where freedoms do not exist and strictest military security prevails.

Signs posted along the perimeter area advise: "WARNING: It is unlawful to enter this area without permission of the installation commander. Photography of this area is prohibited. Use of Deadly Force Authorized."

We saw the sign. We believed it.

[stormy]

thanks dennis, very interesting reading. gosh i was hoping for aliens, but will we ever know????

[GalvestonDuck]

IMO -- did I ever think there were aliens? No, give me a break. Could it be a top secret military testing facility? Yep. I'm all for it. I agree with you guys -- it's just a big wide open secure space for testing ammunitions, vehicles, artillery, spy and communications equipment, and whatever the heck the military wants to test. I don't need to know about it and I don't care to know about it. Let them make all the cool toys they want to make and then, if they want to, they can tell us about it later when they bring it out and use it in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. That's probably where smart bombs, bunker busters, and MOABs were first developed.

[mf_dolphin]

The mission of Area 51 may be wanning. While there's no doubt of the role it's played in the testing of most of our most critical aviation breakthroughs, the next generation are rumoured to be vertical launch, hyper-sonic aircraft which are being tested in even more remote mountainous locations.

[azsnowman]

So GD.....you don't care where "YOUR" *hard earned* tax dollars go??

Dennis

[azsnowman]

Do I believe in aliens?? "YES!" WHY?? I see them crossing the Arizona border EVERY SINGLE DAY by the THOUSANDS! "LOL!"

Dennis

[stormchazer]

Do I believe in aliens?? "YES!" WHY?? I see them crossing the Arizona border EVERY SINGLE DAY by the THOUSANDS! "LOL!"

Dennis

Isn't your Governor giving them drivers licenses? They should be driving.

[streetsoldier]

No, that was Gray Davis' version of "Mexifornia"...the sad thing is that all one needs to VOTE in CA is a valid driver's license.

Mebbe Governator Schwarzenegger hass a plan to take care of ze zituation, vons und fur all...otervise, der Californicators vill zuffer more in '04.

[Corona]

No, that was Gray Davis' version of "Mexifornia"...the sad thing is that all one needs to VOTE in CA is a valid driver's license.

Mebbe Governator Schwarzenegger hass a plan to take care of ze zituation, vons und fur all...otervise, der Californicators vill zuffer more in '04.

hehehehehe Nailed that one again.

[stormchazer]

No, that was Gray Davis' version of "Mexifornia"...the sad thing is that all one needs to VOTE in CA is a valid driver's license.

Mebbe Governator Schwarzenegger hass a plan to take care of ze zituation, vons und fur all...otervise, der Californicators vill zuffer more in '04.

[vbhoutex]

IMO -- did I ever think there were aliens? No, give me a break. Could it be a top secret military testing facility? Yep. I'm all for it. I agree with you guys -- it's just a big wide open secure space for testing ammunitions, vehicles, artillery, spy and communications equipment, and whatever the heck the military wants to test. I don't need to know about it and I don't care to know about it. Let them make all the cool toys they want to make and then, if they want to, they can tell us about it later when they bring it out and use it in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. That's probably where smart bombs, bunker busters, and MOABs were first developed.

Nope on the bombs. They were developed at Eglin AFB in North Florida. There are areas of that base that are as inaccesible and forbidden as Area 51. There is a history of the bombs at the museam there at the base and it discusses the development of them there at Eglin.

[GalvestonDuck]

So GD.....you don't care where "YOUR" *hard earned* tax dollars go??

Dennis

If it's already in the military budget, it's fine with me. Let them spend it as they see fit. As long as they're not spending $89 on a toilet seat. But yes, I do care where my tax dollars go.

I don't want my hard earned tax dollars going through government welfare systems and into the hands of illegals who sneak across our borders and live off our handouts nor do I want it going to aid those who don't have medical insurance and want to get abortions.

[azsnowman]

Arizonas health care system ACHSS, state run health care....is in the commode thanks to the thousands and thousands of illegal aliens flooding this state every SINGLE DAY! Last I heard, ACHSS was in the hole some 240 MILLION $$$$ and that's just THIS YEARS figure. I've always said, we NEED a health care system that's run by the government (OPPS....am I gonna hear about THAT one "LOL!") you know, like 99.99% of Europe, that's another thread!

Dennis

[stormchazer]

Arizonas health care system ACHSS, state run health care....is in the commode thanks to the thousands and thousands of illegal aliens flooding this state every SINGLE DAY! Last I heard, ACHSS was in the hole some 240 MILLION $$$$ and that's just THIS YEARS figure. I've always said, we NEED a health care system that's run by the government (OPPS....am I gonna hear about THAT one "LOL!") you know, like 99.99% of Europe, that's another thread!

Dennis

Your right...you opened a can of worms. Look at what you just said. The problem with Government run programs is there is no profit motive therefore no reason to run things in the most productive manner. You can trash the private healthcare system but the reason healthcare is so crazy is because of government intervention.

This is from Kevin Litten - a Libertarian from Iowa:

Socialized healthcare will kill you.

Proponents of big government have the same solution for all problems: create a government program to handle it. The program may start out small and with the best intensions, but eventually these programs all cause problems of their own until the situation becomes worse off than before the program began.

In America we have a robust health care system. It has been the victim of 50 years of government meddling to try and improve it. Excessive government regulations and controls have made it overly costly and less accessible than it once was, but it still serves most people well. Additional layers of government control will not help it. To scrap our working system of healthcare in this nation for one government run monopoly to cover everyone's healthcare needs is madness.

To have one single entity in control of a full 20 % of America's workforce just can not be done with any efficiency. To calculate the needs of 250 million people, for now and the future, would be an impossible task. No nation on Earth has been able to do it for their citizens without resorting to rationing. Without the discipline of the free market you get higher prices, decreased services, and less health care diversity. There would be no choice and no competition for services. One great big VA Hospital for all Americans, and if that is the way we treat our heroes, I'd hate to see the kind of treatment they have in mind for us.

To fund such a monstrous behemoth of a program, the government will need to either tax our income directly or create a national sales tax. Everyone would want to get their maximal benefits, thus driving costs up. Those providing the services would try to supply as little as possible because they lack an incentive to do otherwise.

Such a program would take money from our poorest citizen's, those families with young children, who use healthcare the least, and force them to pay for the healthcare of our wealthiest, those 65 years old or older, who use healthcare the most. There are poor, old people, because wealth isn't distributed equally, but if all we want to do is give the poorest people a helping hand, those programs already exist.

Like all government run monopolies, there is no escaping it. Even if you wanted out of the system, you would still be required to pay for it. All persons in America would be automatically covered under such a plan, legal or not, unless there was a way to tell who's who, such as a bar code tattooed onto the forearm or back of the neck, or perhaps an implanted microchip.

Socialized healthcare is not about care or compassion, it is about control. Government control over your life. A new government monopoly that offers no choices, no competition, no incentives for care. It will give the politicians and bureaucrats who run it absolute control over you. They will control your medical records. They will control which providers you see. They will control what level of care you receive and when and where you will get it. Sue the government for poor or incompetent service ? Forget it.

If socialized health care should ever become a reality, what other incentives will our government try to impose on us for your own good once they control healthcare ? Perhaps a tax on fatty foods or mandatory exercise periods each day. Maybe they will force people to wear sunscreen or reduce the alcohol content of beer ? To try and protect people from themselves is pure folly.

Government run healthcare is not only inefficient, it is wrong. It will ultimately kill you.