Area 51 - not just for aliens anymore!

I don't know if you all know a bunch about Area 51, but I have been a geek for a number of years on the subject. Allow me to wax on - maybe you will learn something!

In the 50's, right next to the Nevada Test Site (home of US Atomic Testing) there is a dry lake bed known as "Groom Lake". (Other than Area 51 and Groom Lake, the facility is also called Watertown, The Ranch, The Box or Dreamland or even Dreamland Resort) It was long and flat, and if you have ever seen salt flats like Bonneville - it is like that. This is about 100 miles from Las Vegas. So the Lockheed people under famed aircraft designer Kelly Johnson picked Groom as a place where they could test secret planes in secret. Secretly.

Originally a few huts and tents, the Groom Lake Forward Operating Facility is one of the biggest test areas on the planet, and until recently had a 23,000 foot runway, one of the longest in the world.

Originally the location tested the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star (America's first jet fighter) but nosey pilots from nearby Nellis would occasionally catch a glimpe of the small jet and told their friends at the bar about a plane with no propellers whizzing about. In order to stop the rumors, officers made the test pilots wear gorilla masks when another plane approached them. You know when that pilot told his friends at the bar that he just saw a propellerless plane being flown by a monkey - they would think he was drunk or unstable - or both!

Stories like that help perpetuate the cover stories for the activities that happen at Groom today. Groom was the testing site for the U2 spyplane (sorry Bono) and the SR-71 as well as the F-117 Stealth Fighter and the B2 Stealth Bomber. Given the shapes of the latter two - you can see why people kept seeing "flying saucers" near the base. And the gov't did little to dispel the rumors. Remember the gorilla masks!

Who knows what is being tested today? Rumors of a Mach 7 spyplane called Aurora abound as do persistent stories about a Stealth Blimp and Flying Black Triangles. Curious onlookers have reported seeing stealthy type drones and planes that fly making a noise like a buzzsaw (plasma drives?) as well as vehicles that seem to be travelling along a beam of light.

Well, these curious onlookers must have good eyes, because the closest you can get to the facility is 26 miles (Tikaboo Peak). However there are a few ways you can interact with the site. Highway 375 in Nevada through the town of Rachel is the closest road, and a dirt road turn off will get you to the main security gate of the base. Be warned - they have the right to use deadly force, and will arrest anybody that crosses the marked boundaries. I can't tell you enough - these guys (the Camo Dudes) are for real, and they aren't fooling around, so don't mess with them. You can also climb Tikaboo Peak (there are lots of maps and GPS coordinates on the web) but it isn't an easy climb, and you want to stay overnight to catch some of the action.

Lastly if you want the easy Area 51 experience, you can check into the Tropicana or the Mandalay bay hotel and ask for a room with a view of the airport. You will see a small building/terminal that holds about 800 cars directly across the street from the hotel at the airport. Look for 5 white 737s with a single lengthwise red stripe on them and NO other markings. Those are the "JANET" airplanes that take the workers out to area 51. They take off and leave many, many times a day, so you will see them land and takeoff and load people/workers on them. Same rule, look but don't touch.

So, if you have a couple of days, lemme know - and we can head up to the range. Bring along beef jerky and water. You are gonna need both. Check out the best website on the subject:

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/