Area 51

An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

 

Annie Jacobsen

      Having lived in Las Vegas all my life Area 51 is an interesting subject, and I looked forward to this book. I can remember my parents getting my sisters and I up in the middle of the night to "watch the bombs go off".  In the middle 1950's, above ground nuclear was a semi regular occurance and the shots would go off at 0400.  From our front yard, we could see the flash, and a few seconds later see the mushroom cloud appear on the horizon. Pretty neat for a 5 or 6 year old.  The Nevada Test Site was a major part of the Las Vegas economy, and the was little that we were not aware off.  My father was an Optometrist, and as the "test site guys" commuted by bus daily the 50 miles to the main gate and however much more to the actual work sites, their day was often 12-14 hours long. Therefore, the only day they could come into office was Saturday.  And Saturday was BUSY.  We had a liquor store across the street from the office and by 10:00 AM there was usually a party going on in the waiting room.  I worked as an apprentice Optician for my dad from about 13 years old, and those test site guys really were not fanatical about security when telling their work stories.
     We were not privy to many of the details, but we realized from the beginning that "Special " stuff was going on in that corner of the Nevada Test Site. From the mid 70's, there were 3 or 4 Boeing 737s painted white with a red stripe down the side, taking off and landing from the Las Vegas Blvd side of the Airport.  Their round trip going to and from wherever took about 1 1/2 hours.   Around town they were known as the "51 planes". Thats how the "51 guys" commuted, not by bus.
     When this book came out, it created only a minor stir here because of the familiarity in the community.  We didn't KNOW what was going on in Area 51, but we had a very good idea.  I had a good friend who worked the in mainenance in the early 80's tell me about the MIG squadron stationed there.

     Annie Jacobobsen is an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and has done a very nice job of telling the histoy of the early years of the Area 51 story.  The area, because of it's remoteness, even from the rest of the test site, was a great place to do testing of aircraft that the Air Force and the CIA wanted to protect.  The U-2, the SR71 Blackbird, the F-117 Stealth fighter, and even the B-2 were all worked up at the site.( It was common in the 1960s to have sonic booms rattle our windows all the time). She finishes her story in the late 80's-early 90's because of the security issues still in place. A lot of the unmanned drone development is being done at Creech Air Force Base at Indian Springs, Nevada, just south of the area.
She also talks about the myths of alien body storage and possible explanations of that.  The only gripe I have about this book is the lack of recent history, but it is understandable.  It is a fascinating and enjoyable read.