Area 51
A highly classified USAF facility in the Nevada desert, shrouded in secrecy and central to UFO folklore.
Area 51 is a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range in southern Nevada, 83 miles (134 km) north-northwest of Las Vegas. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport (ICAO: KXTA, FAA LID: XTA) or Groom Lake. Details of its operations are not made public, but the USAF says it is an open training range, and it is commonly thought to support the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons.
- type
- Secret military base
- affiliation
- U.S. Government
- notable_features
- Alien containment, research labs, hangars
- role
- Alien research and storage facility
Lore & Background
The USAF and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) acquired the site in 1955, primarily for flight tests of the Lockheed U-2 aircraft. All research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). The CIA publicly acknowledged the base's existence on 25 June 2013. The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore.
In Their Own Story
The alarms blared as Duke kicked open the blast door. The air stank of ozone and alien blood. He'd been here before—the same gray corridors, the same flickering lights. But this time, the cages were empty, and the scientists were gone. A low growl echoed from the containment bay. Duke grinned, cocking his shotgun. 'Time to teach these lizards some manners.'
Reader's Guide
The surrounding area is a popular tourist destination, including the small town of Rachel on the so-called 'Extraterrestrial Highway'. The original rectangular base of 6 by 10 miles (10 by 16 km) is part of the 'Groom box', a rectangle of restricted airspace measuring 23 by 25 miles (37 by 40 km). The area is connected to the internal Nevada Test Site (NTS) road network.
Did You Know?
- The origin of the name 'Area 51' is unclear; it is believed to be from an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) numbering grid, although Area 51 is not part of this system.
- Groom Lake is a salt flat in Nevada used as runways by the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport (XTA/KXTA) on the north side of Area 51.
- The airfield on the Groom Lake site opened in 1942 as Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field with two unpaved 5,000-foot runways.
- Lead and silver were discovered in the southern part of the Groom Range in 1864, and mining continued until the early 1950s.
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