The Proving Ground for Secret Aircraft
Area 51 is the facility's designation on older Atomic Energy Commission maps, but its official name is Homey Airport (KXTA), located at Groom Lake within the vast Nevada Test and Training Range. The CIA established the site in April 1955 for Project AQUATONE, the development of the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The remote, dry lakebed provided a secret location to test an aircraft designed to fly at 70,000 feet, far above Soviet air defenses. The first U-2 arrived from Burbank, California, on July 24, 1955.
Following the U-2, the base was the development site for other advanced, top-secret aircraft. Project OXCART, which began in 1959, developed the Lockheed A-12, a spy plane capable of flying at speeds exceeding Mach 3.3. This project led to the creation of the SR-71 Blackbird. To accommodate these advanced programs, the base's infrastructure was significantly expanded. A new runway, 14R/32L, was constructed that today measures nearly 12,000 feet (3,657 meters) long. In the 1970s and 1980s, Area 51 was central to the development of stealth technology. The Have Blue prototype demonstrator was tested here, leading directly to the F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft, which had its first flight at Groom Lake in June 1981. The facility hosted secretly obtained Soviet MiG fighters for analysis and combat training during the Cold War.