Question of the Day - 24 November 2017

Yes, as a matter of fact there has, though by now it's not especially new. 

Up until 2013, all we knew, or thought we did, was that there's an airfield next to the dried-up salt flat that was once Groom Lake in a remote region of Lincoln County in southern Nevada, roughly 135 miles north of Las Vegas. We knew that it's claimed by the United States Department of Defense and the United States Air Force.

Then in June of that year, eight years after a Freedom of Information Act request was filed by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, the CIA officially acknowledged the existence of Area 51 by revealing details of the development of the U-2 and A-12 spy planes between 1954 and 1974. It was the first time the intelligence agency had ever declassified documents containing the history and purpose of Area 51.

We now know that the Groom Lake test facility was established in 1955 by the CIA in order to facilitate the development of Lockheed's U-2 ultra-high-altitude reconnaissance airplane. Due to the extreme secrecy surrounding the U-2 project, the aircraft couldn’t be flight-tested at Edwards or Nellis Air Force bases or Lockheed’s testing facility in Palmdale, California.

During a search of the Nevada Test Site, the dry bed of Groom Lake was spotted, then selected, as an ideal landing strip; the surrounding desert and mountain ranges and remote location also protected the place from prying eyes.

In addition to the U-2, it’s believed that the airfield's primary purpose has been the testing of experimental military aircraft, such as the A-12 Oxcart, D-21, D21B, F-16, F-117, and F-22, as well as a hypersonic stealth aircraft known as Aurora (though reports on the Aurora are highly contradictory and controversial). It’s also believed that captured enemy aircraft, such as the Soviet MiG-17 and 21, have been reverse engineered, analyzed, and stored at Area 51, now called Homey Airport.

Of course, Area 51 is also a magnet for UFO and ET conspiracy theories. Some people claim that the Air Force is not only in possession of extraterrestrial aircraft, but alien beings themselves.

Many individuals, especially residents of and visitors to the nearby town of Rachel, Nevada, have reportedly seen aircraft with highly unusual designs and/or capabilities leaving the base, particularly at night. Claimants report sightings of planes, if they are planes, that are able to accelerate at amazing speeds and make rapid changes in direction far beyond any technology currently employed or even known.

Speaking of Rachel, Deke Castleman took a trip along NV 375, a.k.a. the Extraterrestrial Highway, and through the desert town and popular tourist destination recently; you can read his blog about and see several photos of the place here.