Area 51 - Groom Lake, NV

The Groom Lake Base is this top-secret military base located 90 miles north of Las Vegas (which is in Nevada). It's in grid number 51 of the Nevada Test Site, so it's called Area 51. The United States Air Force Flight Test Center controls the base. It's best known for testing exotic aircraft and weapons. The base was created in 1954 as a place to test the secret U-2 spyplane that was used to fly missions over the Soviet Union. Then it started to house the SR-71, A-12 and D-21 drone. The F-117A was tested there, also. In the 1980's the base increased in size, along with the runway (which increased to the present 6 miles). Then, mysterious lights began to appear, and armed guards known as the cammo dudes started patrolling the border. The government closed many viewpoints from which the Area 51 base could be seen. In 1989, a "physicist" named Bob Lazar claimed that he worked at a base south of Area 51 and also claimed that Area 51 was testing extremely advanced aircraft and UFO's they got by trading with the aliens. Since then, Area 51 has been thought to be the test center of captured UFOs because of the lights in the night sky.

Area 51 : Runway Area (Sattelite Photo)

With the arrival of the A-12 program the runway was lengthened to 8,500 feet, fuel storage tanks capable of holding up to 1,320,000 gallon of JP-7 were added, as well as three surplus navy hangars and 100 surplus Navy housing buildings. Eight hangars at the south end of the base were build to house the A-12 spy planes. By the 1980's a weapons storage area south of the main base was added, with five earth-covered igloo's, presumably to support weapons testing for the F-117 program, and possibly the advanced cruise missile program. Until recently, the facility was supported by one 12,400 long 100 foot wide hard surface runway, which extends onto the dry lake bed North, giving it a total length of 25,300 feet or 4.8 miles. Sometime in the early 1990's this runway was deactivated, and replaced by a new 11,960 foot long 140 foot wide runway.

Area 51 : Weapon Storage Area (Sattelite photo)

A small weapon storage area, occupying 32 acres, is located at the far south end of the facility. It consists of three small earth covered weapon storage igloos and two larger igloos and what appears to be a munitions maintenance building. Is is reported theat the WSA was constructed some time in the late 1970's early 1980's in support of the F-117 stealth fighter program. However the larger igloo's could possibly be related to the advanced cruise missile program.

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