July 24 1955:
The first U2 prototype is shipped via C-124 transport plane from the Lockheed Skunk Works to Groom Lake.

August 4 1955:
The first flight of the U2 took part at Groom Lake.

August 19 1955:
President Eisenhower signs the Executive Order 10633 restricting airspace over Groom Lake.

November 17 1955:
A C-54 transport plane crashes into Mt. Charleston en route to Groom Lake resulting in the death of the 9 civilian workers and 5 military.

Fall 1956:
6 Pilots from SAC start training in the U2 at Groom Lake.

April 4 1957:
A U2 (#6696) equipped with radar spoofing equipment crashes during testing near Groom lake, killing the pilot.

June 20 1958:
Public Land Order 1662 is enacted by Roger Ernst resulting in 60 square miles being withdrawn for use “by the Atomic Energy Commission in connection with the Nevada Test Site”.

November 1959:
A fuel scale mockup of an A-12 is shipped to Groom Lake for radar signature testing.

September 1960:
A major expansion of the Groom Lake facility begins in order to accommodate the A-12 (OXCART) program. This construction would not be completed until mid 1964.

September 7 1960:
Work begins on lengthening and strengthening the existing runway which was 5,000′ to 8,500′. The work was completed by November.

Late 1961:
Colonel Robert J. Holbury is named commander of the Groom Lake base.

Early 1962:
The fuel tank farm is completed with a capacity of 1,320,000 gallons.

January 15 1962:
The restricted airspace over Groom Lake is expanded due to a request from the Air Force citing an immediate and urgent need due to a classified project.

February 26 1962:
The first A-12 Blackbird arrives at Groom Lake for testing.

April 26 1962:
First flight of the A-12.

February 1963:
The first 5 CIA pilots arrive.

July 20 1963:
During testing an A-12 reaches Mach 3.

August 7 1963:
The first flight of the YF-12A.

July 9 1964:
An A-12 crashed while on the final approach to Groom Lake. The pilot managed to eject at an altitude of 500′.

Early 1965:
The OXCART construction was completed and the base population has reached 1,835.

February 27 1965:
First test of the D-21 drone launched from an A-12.

December 28 1965:
An A-12 cashed immediately after takeoff. The pilot ejected and survived.

March 5 1966:
First free flight test of the D-21 near Point Mugu launched from an A-12.

July 30 1966:
A D-21 launched from an A-12 over Point Mugu hit the A-12 destroying it. Both pilots ejected but one drowned before being rescued.

1967:
The Defence Intelligence Agency acquired a MIG 21 which was shipped to Groom Lake for testing.

January 5 1967:
An A-12 ran out of fuel while 70 miles east of Groom Lake and crashed. The pilot was killed.

January 10 1967:
It is decided to phase out the A-12 in favor of the SR-71. The phase out was set to be complete by 1968.

June 21 1968:
The last flight of the A-12 s from Groom Lake to Palmdale. The entire fleet was put in secret storage.

August 28 1968:
The US Geological Survey takes an aerial photo of the Groom Lake base as part of a routine high altitude survey. This photo was available until 1994 when the government withdrew it.

November 16 1977:
” Have Blue” the F-117A Stealth fighter prototype was shipped to Groom Lake.

December 1 1977:
First flight of the “Have Blue”.

May 4 1978:
The first “Have Blue” crashed after its landing gear was damaged.

July 20 1978:
The first flight of the second “Have Blue” prototype.

July 11 1979:
The second “Have Blue” prototype crashed 35 miles NW of Groom Lake due to an engine fire.

June 18 1981:
First flight of the production F-117A stealth fighter.

February 1982:
First flight of “Tactic Blue”.

April 1982:
The existence of the A-12 was declassified.

April 20 1982:
The first production model of the F-117A crashed during tests.

October 15 1982:
Beginning of tests with second F-117A production model.

Late 1982:
The first Stealth fighter squadron begins moving from Groom Lake to new facilities at the Tonopah Test Range.

June 1983:
First flight of HALSOL, which was a solar powered high altitude UAV. These tests ran for 2 months.

Early 1984:
The Air Force takes another 89,000 acres north and west of Groom Lake.

April 26 1984:
General Robert Bond was killed when the MIG 23 he was traveling on crashed into Little Skul Mountain.

1985:
“Tactic Blue” program ends.

December 1987:
Congress authorizes the Air Force’s land seizure.

July 17 1988:
A photo of Groom Lake was taken by a Soviet spy satellite which are destined for publication in a number of publications.

May 1989:
Robert Lazar’s first interview on KLAS-TV in Las Vegas. He stated that he worked at Papoose Lake, southwest of Groom Lake to reverse engineer captured extraterrestrial craft.

October 18 1993:
The Air Force files a notice in the Federal Register seeking to take another 3972 acres from public use in order to hamper views of Area 51 from Freedom Ridge and Whitesides Peak.

April 10 1995:
Freedom Ridge and Whitesides Peak are closed to the public.

January 1996:
It was reported that the Bechtel Corporation begun work to lengthen the second runway by 5,000′.

August 1999:
A large fire took place on the mountainside just north of Groom Lake.
photos & info from Dreamland Resort

October 1999:
Air Force takes official ownership of Area 51 in a land swap deal, signed by President Clinton.

The white Jeep Cherokee security vehicles driven by the Cammo Dudes are being replaced by Ford F-150′s, and later Chevy 2500 4×4 pickup trucks.

2000:
The Transient Parking ramp (JANET ramp) was excavated and re-paved.

January 31, 2000:
President Clinton exempts Area 51 from disclosure to the EPA.
read more…

August 2000:
Col. David W. Eidsaune assigned as commander of DET 3, AFFTC.

October 2000:
Area 51 North Gate (Back Gate) is upgraded with a chain link fence, double gate and a new guard shack.

F-22A (91-4004) was flown through the Dynamic Coherent Measurement System (DYCOMS) airborne RCS range (known on-site as Project 100 or simply P-100) to verify the low-observable characteristics of the Lockheed Martin F/A-22A Raptor.

All but two of the original tanks in the fuel farm were removed and two new large tanks were installed.

April 2001:
The South Delta Taxiway was marked as Runway 12/30. It is approximately 5,420-feet-long and 150-feet-wide, with convenient access to the Southend ramp. Runway 14R/32L was closed in its entirety.

December 2001:
DET 3 security personnel from EG&G Technical Services went on strike for two days, citing low wages and excessive amounts of overtime in the three months since the terrorist strikes in September. Supervisors were forced to man posts vacated by the 70 striking guards.

June 2002:
Col. Thomas J. Masiello assigned as commander of DET 3, AFFTC.

Early 2003:
Construction of the two new fuel tanks is completed.

A new Center Taxiway, providing access to Runway 14L/32R, is constructed. It includes a new access way to Hangar 19 (the “Scoot-n-Hide shed”). Construction is completed by July 2003.

Mid-2003:
The Southend ramp in front of Hangars 9 through 16 was similarly replaced in the summer of 2003.

March 2004:
A Beech 1900 (N27RA), operated by EG&G, crashed on a flight from Groom to TTR. The civilian pilot, David D. Palay, and passengers Derrick L. Butler, Michael A. Izold, Daniel M. Smalley, and Roy A. Van Voorhis (contractors with JT3 LLC) perished.

“The Air Force Materiel Command Beech 1900 crashed while on a routine support mission from a remote classified airstrip on the Nellis range to the Tonopah Test Range. It departed at 03:43 for Tonopah. After reporting the runway lights in sight, the pilot configured the airplane for the approach and initiated a circling maneuver to the right for a visual straight-in approach to runway 32. During the turn the pilot suffered a sudden cardiac death. Half way through the turn the airplane began a gradual descent until it impacted the ground. The airplane broke up and burst into flames. Investigation revealed that the pilot had violated federal policy and directives, willfully deceived flight medical examiners, suppressed significant medical information and ingested inappropriate medications for a deteriorating and dangerous health condition. The pilot had high blood pressure and failed to report it, and denied taking medications to his Federal Aviation Administration flight physical examiners.”

May 2004:
The 413th Flight Test Squadron was inactivated as part of a consolidation and realignment of EW assets.

Spring 2005:
50th Anniversary of establishment of Groom Lake test facility.

source: Dreamland Resort & vectors.usc.edu

He was born in Fremont, Nebraska and grew up in Aurora, Nebraska. Edgerton attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he received a bachelors degree in electrical engineering. After graduating, he married Esther Garret in 1928. During their marriage they had three children: William, Robert, and Mary Lou.

In 1926, Edgerton entered the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) and began using strobe lights to study rotor engines. He earned an S.M. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1927. Edgerton used stroboscopes to study synchronous motors for his Sc.D. thesis in electrical engineering at MIT, awarded in 1931. He credited Charles Stark Draper with inspiring him to point stroboscopes at everyday objects: the first was a stream of water coming out of a faucet.

In 1937 he began a lifelong association with photographer Gjon Mili, who used stroboscopic equipment, particularly a “multiflash” strobe light, to produce strikingly beautiful photographs, many of which appeared in Life Magazine. Edgerton was a pioneer in strobe photography, subsequently using the technique to capture images of balloons during their bursting, or a bullet during its impact with an apple, for example. He was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Photographic Society in 1934, and the National Medal of Science in 1973.

He was a cofounder of the company EG&G, with Kenneth Germeshausen and Herbert Grier, in 1947. EG&G became a prime contractor for the Atomic Energy Commission and had a major role in photographing and recording nuclear tests for the United States through the fifties and sixties. For this role he developed the Rapatronic camera, which was supplied by EG&G.

The photograph of an atomic blash was shot by a Rapatronic camera built by EG&G.

His work was instrumental in the development of side-scan sonar technology, used to scan the sea floor for wrecks. Edgerton worked with the undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, by first providing him with underwater stroboscopes, and then by using sonar to discover the Britannic. Edgerton participated in the discovery of the American Civil War battleship USS Monitor. While working with Cousteau, he acquired the nickname he is still known by in photographic circles, “Papa Flash”. In addition to having the scientific and engineering acumen to perfect strobe lighting commercially, Edgerton is equally recognized for his visual aesthetic: many of the striking images he created in illuminating phenomena that occurred too fast for the naked eye adorn art museums worldwide. He was especially loved by MIT students for his willingness to teach and his kindness: “The trick to education,” he said, “is to teach people in such a way that they don’t realize they’re learning until it’s too late.” One of the graduate student dormitories at MIT carries his name. Edgerton’s work was featured in an October 1987 National Geographic Magazine article entitled, “Doc Edgerton: the man who made time stand still.”

“Doc” Edgerton died January 4. 1990 at the age of 86. On July 3, 1990, in an effort to memorialize his accomplishments, several Aurora community members decided to construct a “Hands-On” science center. It was designated as a “teaching museum,” that would preserve Doc’s work and artifacts, as well as feature the “Explorit Zone” where people of all ages could participate in hands-on exhibits and interact with live science demonstrations. After five years of private and community-wide funding, as well as individual investments by Doc’s surviving family members, the Edgerton Explorit Center was officially dedicated on September 9, 1995.

sources: Wikipedia.org & MIT Edgerton Timeline (pdf)

Sandia Corporation conducts operations at TTR in support of the DOE/ NNSA’s Weapons Ordnance Program. Sandia Corporation’s activities involve research and development and testing of weapon components and delivery systems. Many of these activities require a remote test range with a long flight corridor for air drops and rocket launches. Other activities include explosive tests and gun firings.

TTR is located within the boundries of the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) withdrawal. The principal DOE activities performed at TTR are stockpile reliability testing, research and development (R&D) testing support of structural development; arming, fusing, and firing systems testing; and testing nuclear weapon delivery systems.

The JANET planes that leave from Las Vegas and land at Groom Lake also have regular flights to the TTR. The official cover story is ALL the JANET flights go to the TTR, even if they go to Groom Lake.

For more info & photos visit: lazygranch.com

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This rumor is based on the orientation of the runway being similar to that of Groom Lake. Rather than perpetuate this rumor, consider two things:

First, the runway at Basecamp was built by the Atomic Energy Commission, which has nothing to do with the operating location near Groom Lake.

Second, runways are designed to be in the direction of prevailing winds, not aligned with unrelated runways far away.

Basecamp is located by highway 6 at roughly these coordinates: N38 18 47.2 W116 16 25.0 . From Area 51, take the ET highway towards route 6 (Warm Springs), then turn right until you see the Base Camp sign.

source: lazygranch.com

History
The Wackenhut Corporation is a United States-based private security and investigation firm, and is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Wackenhut was founded in 1954, in Coral Gables, Florida, by George Wackenhut and three partners, all former FBI agents. After early struggles — including a fistfight between Wackenhut and one of his partners — he took sole control of the company in 1958, naming it for himself. After working all day in the office, he sometimes worked as a security guard at night. By 1964, he had contracts to guard the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s nuclear test site in Nevada; the company had an initial public offering the next year. In 2002, the company was purchased by Danish corporation Group 4 Falck (now Group 4 Securicor) for $570 million. At the time, the company operated in 54 countries, had $2.8 billion in revenue, and its founder still controlled more than 50% of its stock.

Today
The Wackenhut Corporation is the leading provider of quality, customer focused security solutions in the United States. The company provides its industry-leading integrated security and related services to local, regional and national customers.

Wackenhut’s primary service divisions include: Security Services, Nuclear Security and Energy Consulting Services, Government Services, and Consulting and Investigations.

Wackenhut employs over 35,000 men and women in the United States. Their team members come from diverse backgrounds in private security, the military and law enforcement. Some of their employees have no security background, but thanks to extensive training and mentoring programs, they are now top-notch providers of security services.

Want to become a Cammo Dude?
Click here if you want to be a Cammo Dude (Wackenhut Security). Make sure you limit your search to Nevada if you’re serious about becoming Area 51 security. Believe it or not, they don’t list “Cammo Dude” as a position.

Sources:

On July 6, 1931, Wilbur Wright Field was renamed Patterson Field after Lt. Frank Patterson, who had been killed there in the crash of a DH-4 while flight testing the synchronization of machine gun and propeller. In 1948, the fields became one installation, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Today, as in the early 1900s, Wright-Patterson is where weapon systems of the future are conceived, tested, modified, and tested again until worthy of acceptance as part of the most responsive deterrent force in the history of military aviation.

Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow. That is what Wright-Patterson is all about. A heritage of a legendary past spurs aerospace logisticians, engineers, and scientists in a quest to “keep?em flying”, faster, higher, further, and safer than man has ever flown before.

Recently, Wright-Patterson AFB has become very well-known among UFO researchers and theorists due to its connection with the Roswell incident of July 1947. This is one of the locations, alongside the Groom Lake/Area51 installation in Nevada, where wreckage of a crashed UFO as well as alien bodies were shipped. Wreckage of the craft was shipped directly to Ohio aboard a B-29 after the mysterious crash and placed in the infamous Hangar 18.

The crash of a 100ft in diameter saucer with 16 dead aliens aboard near Aztec, New Mexico in 1948, had its remains sent to Wright-Patterson AFB shortly thereafter.

Wright-Patterson has become a haven for UFO folklore and stories, mainly due to its history with the controversial subject of alien landings, sightings and government conspiracy.

From 1947 to 1969, the Air Force investigated Unidentified Flying Objects under Project Blue Book. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was terminated 17 December 1969. Of a total of 12,618 sightings reported to Project Blue Book, 701 remained “unidentified.”

Some believe Wright-Patterson to be a top-secret UFO monitoring and research station, which considering its past programs, doesn’t seem unreasonable at all.

Interesting points relating to Wright-Patterson AFB

* In a book by Jean-Charles Fumoux in 1981 entitled “Preuves Scientifiques OVNI”, the author relates how Leon B. Visse, an alleged expert on histons (elements connected with cellular genetic material) was invited in 1959 to a military compound at Wright-Patterson AFB, where he was asked to perform an experiment on the histonic weight of particular cells. Visse was later taken into a special room where he viewed two humanoid corpses.

* A researcher known as Tommy Blann interviewed a Colonel “X” who said, “In the earlier years they had taken some bodies to this base, but later it depended on where they were found. They had a hell of a time setting up procedures for this operation, as well as getting craft out of the area without it being observed. Usually this was done at night time.” Colonel”X” also told Blann that he believed that in more recent years the bodies were flown outside the U.S. to a secret naval installation on an island in the Pacific.

* Senator Barry Goldwater was denied access into a building at Wright Patterson AFB because it was classified Above Top Secret

sources: AboveTopSecret.com & Wright-Patterson AFB

The decision to discontinue UFO investigations was based on an evaluation of a report prepared by the University of Colorado entitled, “Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects;” a review of the University of Colorado’s report by the National Academy of Sciences; previous UFO studies and Air Force experience investigating UFO reports during 1940 to 1969.

As a result of these investigations, studies and experience gained from investigating UFO reports since 1948, the conclusions of Project Blue Book were:

No UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force was ever an indication of threat to our national security;

There was no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as “unidentified” represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge; and

There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as “unidentified” were extraterrestrial vehicles.

With the termination of Project Blue Book, the Air Force regulation establishing and controlling the program for investigating and analyzing UFOs was rescinded. Documentation regarding the former Blue Book investigation was permanently transferred to the Modern Military Branch, National Archives and Records Service, and is available for public review and analysis.

Since the termination of Project Blue Book, nothing has occurred that would support a resumption of UFO investigations by the Air Force. Given the current environment of steadily decreasing defense budgets, it is unlikely the Air Force would become involved in such a costly project in the foreseeable future.

There are a number of universities and professional scientific organizations that have considered UFO phenomena during periodic meetings and seminars. A list of private organizations interested in aerial phenomena may be found in “Encyclopedia of Associations,” published by Gale Research. Interest in and timely review of UFO reports by private groups ensures that sound evidence is not overlooked by the scientific community. Persons wishing to report UFO sightings should be advised to contact local law enforcement agencies.

Point of Contact
Requests for copies of records and general information about Project Blue Book should be sent to: Modern Military Records, National Archives, 8601 Adelphi Rd, College Park, MD 20740-6001, (301)713-7250

You can also browse the Project Blue Book archives youself at the Blue Book Archive.

source: USAF

Click here for more declassified images from Project Blue Book.

It’s alleged location is at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

A film titled with the same name came out in 1980 and was about a government coverup of a U.F.O. that crashed and was hidden in Hangar 18.

Because Area 51 border security frequent this place, even though half of it is on public land, this campsite is not for the casual traveler, or the faint of heart. Though only feet from the border, this tent-camping site is only for brave, or truly stupid. While the road that security vehicles use to get to this spot is well within the base, the actual vantage point is on public land, and technically, you can camp here–though you do so at your own risk.

From this point, you can easily see the roads beyond the front gates, and also the guard shack itself–located about a mile past the warning signs.

Camping here at night, you will attract a lot of attention, and you will likely make the border security both very angry and very nervous. And because you are so close to the border, as in, you can reach out and touch it with your hand, it is crucial that you are very careful in getting to this location. Any false step over the border–which is not clearly marked–and you will be held at gun point and find your lodging in the Lincoln County sheriff’s department instead of camping on a hill.

Directions: Take Hwy 375 to Lincoln County mile marker 34.6, where an unmarked-well-maintained-dirt road intersects with the Highway (37° 24.892′ N, 115° 24.586′ W).

If you are using a GPS this road may be marked “Groom Lake Road” or simply “51 Road”. In either case, follow the road about 13 miles until you reach the warning signs at the front gates of Area 51. If you are standing at the warning signs, the immediate hill to your left will have cameras and other surveillance equipment on it, and most of this hill will be beyond the border.

Guardshack Hill will be the second hill to your left.

If you have trouble finding the hill, simply follow the border, marked with orange posts every 50 yards, until you get to a vantage point where you can see the Guard shack.

IMPORTANT: Always keep at least two posts in your field of vision, to make sure that you do not cross the border, and never ever climb around the border at night–it is way to dark to see what your doing, and chances are great that you will end up in jail.

In addition, you should not park your car here over night, as something might happen to it. There is a good place for parking about a mile-and-a-half before the warning signs: take the fork to the right and park in the gravel below campfire hill.

Note: This is not an official camping location, and you will not likely find reference to this place anywhere else. The administrators of this site have been to this spot, and found it to be an excellent, albeit nerve-racking, place for camping out. This spot was named “Guardshack Hill” because of its view, and proximity, to the Guard Shack that lies about a mile past the famous warning signs.

GPS Location: 37° 21.09606869728708 N, 115° 36.383056640625 W

Accessibility: Any two-wheel-drive vehicle in good condition should be able to make it to the warning signs. But once here you will have to hike up to this location, carrying your camping gear, and anything else you would need for a night’s stay. It is also recommended that you do not park your car at the base of the hill, instead, park it 1.7 miles before the warning signs, at the base of campfire hill.

Amenities: Nothing, and once it gets dark, you will not want to move from this location.

Distance from Area 51: 0 Miles

Distance from Rachel: 33 Miles

Distance from Ash Springs: 29 Miles

Related External Information:

• A list of camping sites from the Rachel, NV website
• Area 51 sky watcher’s etiquette guide