For the most part, no one … knew anything of Area 51 from its creation in the 1950s right up until the latter part of the 1980s
To ensure that the Russians didn’t get word of what was afoot at the base, careful steps were taken to ensure that, at any and every given moment, the numbers of people on-site were kept to the bare minimum. That meant, essentially, that hardly anyone would stay there for lengthy periods of time (all of the workers would be flown in from, and back to, the Lockheed plant), and discussion of what was going on less than one hundred miles from Las Vegas was most definitely strictly off-limits.
The secrecy level was amped up even further when, in July 1955, two things happened: (a) a small, permanent CIA presence was established and (b) the very first U-2 made its arrival at the base, having been secretly flown in aboard a large, cargo aircraft that was leased out to the CIA. Only days afterward, the first of a near-unending series of flights began between Lockheed’s Burbank facility and Area 51.
In the years that followed, such groundbreaking aircraft as the U-2, the Blackbird, and the A-12 were tested, refined, and flown at Area 51—all, largely, to try to find ways to keep the Soviet threat to a bare minimum. To cope with the concerns that the Soviets might try to figure out what was going on by making high-level flights over Area 51, just two weeks into 1962, highly classified legislation was prepared by the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure that even more airspace was denied to anyone and everyone without official clearance. A good reason existed for this: February 1962 marked the month in which the first A-12 was flown into Area 51 for testing.
By the time the 1970s were up and running, Area 51’s finest were focusing a great deal on what has since become termed stealth technology—in essence, the ability to render an aircraft practically invisible to radar. Much of the highly classified research that led to the construction and deployment of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk (more popularly referred to as the Stealth Fighter) and the Northrop B-2 Spirit (better known as the Stealth Bomber) was undertaken out at Area 51—by which time the base had grown so much that the word “vast” barely began to describe it. A countless number of aircraft hangars, underground labs, facilities built into the sides of the surrounding mountains, and new runways were part and parcel of Area 51.
For the most part, no one—aside from those elite figures in the military, the intelligence community, and the government—knew anything of Area 51 from its creation in the 1950s right up until the latter part of the 1980s. The late eighties, however, was when everything changed and Area 51 became not just a big name but a place that was forever thereafter inextricably tied to the UFO phenomenon.
Area 51 The Revealing Truth of Ufos, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies
On a now near-legendary night in March 1989, a man named Robert Scott Lazar made distinct waves among the Las Vegas media—and, ultimately, among the staff and highest echelons of Area 51, too. According to Lazar—who would only speak under the pseudonym of “Dennis”—for a few months in the latter part of 1988, he worked at what one might term a subsidiary of Area 51. Its name: S-4. George Knapp, a talk-show host on KLAS-TV, listened intently as Lazar told his story. It was one of fantastic and out-of-this-world proportions— quite possibly, literally.
Lazar claimed that at least nine alien spacecraft were stored out at Area 51, all of which were being secretly studied by a small group of scientific personnel who were having varying degrees of success—and failure, too—in understanding and duplicating the unearthly technology. As an alleged full- blown whistle-blower, Lazar was now a man both scared and sporting a target on his back, which was not a good thing—at all.
What he did see, Lazar claimed—to George Knapp, in 1989—was a veritable squadron of UFOs, sitting in hangars, some in pristine condition, one or two somewhat damaged, but still sitting there, all the same. Lazar was beginning to perceive the enormity of the situation, something that became even clearer when he was given a stash of highly classified files to read on the extraterrestrial presence on Earth. The aliens’ link to religion, their technology, reports of alien autopsies, attempts to duplicate the fantastic, nonhuman technology: it was all in there.
As all of the above shows, Area 51 is without doubt the world’s most secret and controversial base on the planet. With a history of Area 51 now in hand, let’s take a chronological look at the highlights of what has gone down at Area 51 and what may well still be happening.