Area 51 'declassified' in U-2 spy plane history

[This Guy]

"The CIA has officially acknowledged the secret US test site known as Area 51, in a newly unclassified internal history of the U-2 spy plane programme."

BBC Link

"It notes that testing of the U-2 plane in the 1950s - at altitudes much higher than commercial aeroplanes then flew - provoked "a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs)"."

 

[desertgal]

Why do they always refer to it as a secret? The fact that there was a military installation/test site there has never been a secret. At least, not to anyone driving along I-80 by the big fence with the "US GOVERNMENT/MILITARY INSTALLATION/DO NOT ENTER" signs posted every 100 feet.

It was kinda obvious.

 

[fromdownunder]

If you read the comments in Wiki in it's super secret article and map showing the exact location of area 51, and Google Earth pictures of the place, there is a Baseball Diamond in there somewhere. Given the Roswell incident, it gives "If you build it, he will come" a whole new meaning.

Norm

 

[GT/CS]

Why do they always refer to it as a secret? The fact that there was a military installation/test site there has never been a secret. At least, not to anyone driving along I-80 by the big fence with the "US GOVERNMENT/MILITARY INSTALLATION/DO NOT ENTER" signs posted every 100 feet.

It was kinda obvious.

It's not as much secret as much as it legally doesn't exist.
If the US government admits it exists they then may be liable for all the illegal things they've done there.

 

[desertgal]

It's not as much secret as much as it legally doesn't exist.
If the US government admits it exists they then may be liable for all the illegal things they've done there.

Don't be ridiculous. The U.S. gubmint never "admits" to nothin'. They "declassify". That's not illegal, and if it was illegal, they wouldn't admit to it.

 

[Checkmite]

It's not as much secret as much as it legally doesn't exist.
If the US government admits it exists they then may be liable for all the illegal things they've done there.

Like what?

 

[LTC8K6]

The baseball diamond is the roof of the real secret hangar.

 

[LTC8K6]

And don't forget the A-12 / SR71 secret ops there. This is how they were transported to Area 51.

http://www.roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html

 

[GT/CS]

Like what?

Mainly polluting the air and water.
Many people who worked there claim to have illnesses due to exposure to nasty chemicals, most of which were burned in open pits (the chemicals were burned in the pits, not the people).

http://cryptome.org/area51-lie.htm

 

[This Guy]

Mainly polluting the air and water.
Many people who worked there claim to have illnesses due to exposure to nasty chemicals, most of which were burned in open pits (the chemicals were burned in the pits, not the people).

http://cryptome.org/area51-lie.htm

See! If they had burned the people, they wouldn't have to be defending themselves from the claims!

 

[dudalb]

Like it was not painfully clear that Area 51 in Nevada was the Air Force's "Skunkworks" for Hi Tech Classified Projects.....

 

[Cuddles]

Why do they always refer to it as a secret? The fact that there was a military installation/test site there has never been a secret. At least, not to anyone driving along I-80 by the big fence with the "US GOVERNMENT/MILITARY INSTALLATION/DO NOT ENTER" signs posted every 100 feet.

It was kinda obvious.

I think the secret was more about what exactly was being done there and who was doing it. Obviously you can't really hide a huge military base, but there's an important difference between a regular military base and one designing and testing the most advanced aircraft in the world that you don't want anyone else to know about.

There's also an important difference between the common usage of the word "secret" and government classification. Everyone has known about Area 51 and what went on there for ages so it wasn't a secret, but official information about it was still classified secret and that's what has now changed. "Everyone knowing" something isn't quite the same as official confirmation that what everyone knows is actually correct.

 

[Information Analyst]

"The CIA has officially acknowledged the secret US test site known as Area 51, in a newly unclassified internal history of the U-2 spy plane programme."

Does it also finally acknowledge that many U2 missions were flown by British RAF pilots?

 

[desertgal]

I think the secret was more about what exactly was being done there and who was doing it. Obviously you can't really hide a huge military base, but there's an important difference between a regular military base and one designing and testing the most advanced aircraft in the world that you don't want anyone else to know about.

There's also an important difference between the common usage of the word "secret" and government classification. Everyone has known about Area 51 and what went on there for ages so it wasn't a secret, but official information about it was still classified secret and that's what has now changed. "Everyone knowing" something isn't quite the same as official confirmation that what everyone knows is actually correct.

I was merely referring to the quote "secret US test site". And being a little facetious at the expense of people I've come across who really do think, no small thanks to Hollywood, that the existence of Area 51 has long been denied by the government. It hasn't, nor has the fact that it was a flight test facility.

That's all. I understand the rest.

 

[This Guy]

Does it also finally acknowledge that many U2 missions were flown by British RAF pilots?

Not mentioned in the BBC article. The "Internal History of the U-2 Spy Plane" might. Don't know if there is an online version out there already or not.