OctoIn a letter to Bissell, now the CIA's Deputy Director of Plans, CIA Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick writes that Area 51 appears to be "extremely vulnerable in its present security provisions against unauthorized observation."ġ974 - Skylab astronauts inadvertently take photographs of Area 51. November 1959 - A radar test facility is established at Area 51. Other aircrafts are also tested at the site later, including the OXCART (a supersonic reconnaissance A-12 aircraft) and the F-117 stealth ground attack jet. July 1955 - The CIA begins using Area 51 to develop the high-altitude U-2 reconnaissance plane. Osmund Ritland and Kelly Johnson, Director of the Lockheed Corporation's Skunk Works, agree that the area would "make an ideal site for testing the U-2 training pilots" and request the Atomic Energy Commission add the area to its real estate holdings in Nevada. In June 2019, a poll conducted by YouGov found that 54% of US adults think it is likely the government knows more than it's telling about UFOs.ĪpCIA officer Richard Bissell, who is overseeing the development of the U-2 plane, first sees the site that would become known as Area 51 while on an "aerial scouting mission." Bissell, along with three others, including Col. One popular UFO conspiracy is that in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, remains from a flying saucer that supposedly crashed were brought to Area 51 for reverse engineering experiments in order to replicate the extraterrestrial spacecraft. It's also impossible to enter the airspace above without permission from air traffic control.Īrea 51 has long been a topic of fascination for conspiracy theorists and paranormal enthusiasts who believe it to be the location where the US government stores and hides alien bodies and UFOs. It is restricted to the public and has armed guards patrolling the perimeter. It is located more than 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas. In 1958, under Public Land Order 1662, the 38,400-acre land area was "withdrawn from public use by the US Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor to the US Department of Energy." "Paradise Ranch" was then shortened to "the Ranch." Other nicknames include "Watertown" and "Dreamland." It was also previously referred to as "Paradise Ranch" in order to make the facility sound more attractive to those that would be working there.
Today it is used as an open training range for the US Air Force.Īccording to the CIA, the name Area 51 comes from its map designation. The US government's official name for Area 51 is the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is a unit of the Nellis Air Force Base.
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