

To convince workers to come, Kelly Johnson, one of the leading engineers of the U-2 project, gave it a more enticing name: Paradise Ranch.

Known by its map designation as Area 51, this middle-of-nowhere site became a new top-secret military base. They found it in the southern Nevada desert near a salt flat known as Groom Lake, which had once been a World War II aerial gunnery range for Army Air Corps pilots. One of the first orders of business was to track down a remote, covert location for training and testing. In November 1954, President Eisenhower approved the secret development of a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft called the U-2 program. Air Force sent low-flying aircraft on reconnaissance missions over the USSR, but they were at constant risk of being shot down.

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Books, TV shows, and even massive online “raids” have tried to glimpse beyond its stark signs, warning against trespassers. For decades, Nevada’s Area 51 Air Force facility has represented the eye of a conspiratorial hurricane that swirls around “evidence” that aliens (and their technology) exist and are hiding behind its walls.
