So, it seems that thanks to recent moves by the CIA to declassify some projects last year, several former staff at Area 51 have become free to step froward and speak of some of the things that went on there. Some interesting stuff in this article. Mentions of the U2, OXCART, NERVA rocket program... I would love to get a look in there.
There was never much doubt that Area 51 was a testing ground for experimental aircraft. And with the global climate being as it is, not much reason keeping it a "secret". As for the alien conspiracies, the military must have thought they struck gold as it provided a perfect cover as people chased UFO's and would never believe the truth even if it was staring them in the face (as it is now). Makes it even easier to cover up the real reason for being out there in the desert and keeping the real technology a secret form the U.S.'s enemies. Besides, everyone knows aliens hang out in crop fields and not deserts
Of course Area 51 exists, they tested experimental aircraft. However, I do not believe they are keeping alien space craft or aliens there.
Well, anyone who has read my "Shades of Gray" story pretty much knows what I think, but as it stands now, I think that Area 51 is basically a facility for the manufacture and testing of black ops military craft. I think that we DO have remains of an alien ship there, but we were able to use VERY little of what we found, and what we did use, we reverse-engineered, to the best of our ability. But this day in age, I think everything that comes out of Area 51 is human-made, either by our own design, or using what we learned from the alien technology.
I've heard that Aurora never really existed. However, that secret space plane launched from beneath a modified XB-70 is another story. I've heard that it was suborbital only but could launch small satellites weighing only a few hundred pounds on into LEO.
Actually, the best story I've heard is that it did, but it wasn't a plane - it was a set of procedures/protocols and the related engineering to make automated inflight refuelling a lot quicker and easier for a wider variety of conditions. AURORA was apparently the acronym, though I forget what it stood for. It's suggested in an excellent book called Travels In Dreamland
Got to say, there stories were amusing, but the whole thing was boring and still reaked of of lies and hidden information.
Typical "nothing buttery", as in Roswell was nothing but crash dummies and weather baloons, righhhht!
Of course there's hidden information. It was classified for a reason, after all. Specifically, by definition Top Secret material is that which may cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security if made publicly available. In practice, simply marking information as TS is often not enough----the most secure information has additional restrictions slapped on it for compartmentalization. Most people probably wouldn't bother lying, they'd just stop talking at the right times to avoid disclosure.
Man...there's so much about life beyond earth of late. It was a headline story on CNN a couple days ago. Even one notable Astronaut has come out and says that off-course Area51 happened and there were so many witnesses. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24070088-13762,00.html http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/phenomena/cooper_questioned_000929.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwE0vDuTm48&feature=related http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1114_031114_setisearch.html http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/02/25/galaxy.planets.kepler/index.html
And Mitchell's since backed-off/clarified those interviews. He says he's repeateding what he was told by "old timers" he clearly thinks are credible. That's all. etc., etc. "A friend of mine told me..." Blah blah.
It usually takes 20-30 years before most really 'black' programs are announced/admitted. (Remember that the U-2, SR-71 and F-117 were nearly 'antiques' before they were outed...) And the further we are ahead of everyone else, the less anxious the Generals are going to announce the existence of those programs. I'd doubt those programs will see the light of day before 2020....
Wright Pat AFB - Hangar 11 for the creatures from outer space. Area 51 is just the public cover up. In today's era, individual aircraft corps have their own black works sites.
It just seems like hogwash to me. If these people were to hear that some project they were working on was now declassified, it wouldn't clear them to talk about it. There's no official memo that goes out saying, "Feel free to talk about this now". How would they even know it was official? It seems like they're lying or they'll soon be in jail.
CIA confirms Area 51 is real & a base for secret spy planes (my bolding) CIA confirms the world's worst kept secret: Area 51 is real 407-page document explains the site as a base for secret spy planes Source National Security Archive at George Washington University (66MB PDF) The Atlantic Wire The X-Files mythology sure was fun though.
I thought the 'evidence' for Aurora was pretty good - radar traces, photo's of the donut like contrails, retirement (and reintroduction) of the Blackbird... Not an avid enthusiast - just casual observations. Also, what of another facility at Papoose Lake ?