Yenne - Area 51 - Black Jets: A History of the Aircraft Developed at Groom Lake, Americas Secret Aviation Base

As strange and mysterious as it appears in this image, the Bird of Prey was a real airplane that really flewand flew in complete secrecyin the skies above the place that had come to be known as Area 51. Illustration by Erik Simonsen

BILL YENNE

First published in 2014 by Zenith Press, a member of Quayside Publishing Group, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

2014 Zenith Press Text 2014 Bill Yenne

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Digital edition: 978-1-62788-129-6
Softcover edition: 978-0-7603-4426-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Yenne, Bill, 1949

Area 51-- black jets : a history of the aircraft developed at Groom Lake, Americas secret aviation base / Bill Yenne.

pages cm

Summary: An illustrated history of the U.S. military>s development of secret spy aircraft at Groom Lake, a.k.a. Area 51-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-7603-4426-2 (hardback)

1. Area 51 (Nev.)--History. 2. Aeronautics, Military--Research--United States--History. 3. Research aircraft--United States--History. 4. Airplanes, Military--United States--History. 5. Area 51 (Nev.)--Pictorial works. I. Title. II. Title: Black jets, a history of the aircraft developed at Groom Lake, Americas secret aviation base.

UG634.5.A74Y46 2014

623.746--dc23

2013033111

Editorial Director: Erik Gilg

Editor: Caitlin Fultz

Design Manager: James Kegley

Cover Designer: Matthew Simmons

Layout Designer: Diana Boger

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Looking futuristic in 1964, the Lockheed YF-12A still looks futuristic today. A product of the golden age of the renowned Skunk Works, it was one of the great signature airplanes of the place called Area 51.

PROLOGUE

WHAT IS AREA 51?

IN THE CARTOGRAPHY of our lives, our dreams, and our popular culture, certain landmarks are embodied with great meaning that transcends their identity as mere places. We travel to certain ones to see things of great cultural or historical importance. Whether we are fond of Michelangelo or Picasso, or of Winslow Homer or Warhol, we go to great museums to view and marvel at celebrated works of art. We go to the Smithsonian to see the tangible artifacts of American history, from the Star Spangled Banner to the Spirit of St. Louis.

Meanwhile we visit other iconic places, such as Waikiki or Las Vegas or any numbers of Disney Worlds or Lands or their analogues with other themes, for specific genres of fun.

And finally there are places we visit not for specific artifacts or specific amusements but for the intangible reason that we just want to be there or, arguably more importantly, to say that we have been there.

We go to such places to breathe a certain rarified air.

We go to such placesTimes Square or the corner of Haight and Ashburynot so much to see and touch specific things, but to stand there and sense an ethereal yet palpable energy or to soak up the vibe.

This genre of venues possesses an importance that is greater than the sum of its parts. Merely the mention of one word, such as Sturgis or Graceland, speaks volumes to those who venerate these places for what they represent. Of course none of these places is for everyone, and that is what makes each of them so important and so special to those for whom they do resonate. For such people, even those who have never been to these places that are the nexus of their fascination, the mere mention of the name is like a mantra that is a key to unlock an emotion.

Area 51 is such a place.

Even though Area 51 devotees cannot actually go there and stand in the gravel and fine desert dust of its epicenter, they come by the thousands every year to look at the mountains beyond which lies their field of dreams. The fact that armed guards prevent them from completing their pilgrimage only adds to the rush of excitement and the belief that this place is truly special.

This FAA aeronautical chart shows the proximity of Las Vegas to the place known as Area 51. The box at top left labeled as R-4808N with Groom Lake in the center is the restricted air space known to Air Force pilots as Dreamland. The large airfield complex at Groom Lake, originally known as Watertown and built by Lockheed and the federal government in the late 1950s, officially does not exist and therefore appears on no US government maps. By some unofficial calculations, Area 51 comprises this whole box, by others, it is a smaller box centering on Groom Lake. FAA

In the 1980s, when the term Area 51 entered the lexicon of popular culture, it was one of those legendary but not quite mythic places like Atlantis or Shangri-La or El Dorado. There are those who vociferously believe that these places truly exist while readily admitting that their precise locations are a bit vague. In turn the ambiguity and obscurity add to an excitement that is kept alive by the conspiracy theories woven by and for the true believers.

What is especially curious and paradoxical about this forbidden land called Area 51 is that it lies so close to Las Vegas, Nevada. In the cartography of our lives, our dreams, and our popular culture, few places are more visitedor more insistent upon being visitedthan Las Vegas.