The test program could now resume. The aircraft were defueled, disassembled, cradled, and then loaded aboard the C-5 at night, flown to Lockheed, and unloaded at night before reassembly and flight testing. The USAF warned that Area 51 "is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces".It added: "The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.

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7–9 (S) (cited by "The U-2's Intended Successor")Steve Davies: "Red Eagles. Though storming Area 51, part of a real Air Force base, won't lead you to anything "alien," we know some places that can. Mr. Sam Mitchell, the last CIA commander of Area 51, relinquished command to USAF Lt. Col. Larry D. McClain. The first attempt was made on 28 September 1967, and ended in complete failure. Theories include:Many of the hypotheses concern underground facilities at Groom or at In the mid-1950s, civilian aircraft flew under 20,000 feet while military aircraft flew under 40,000 feet. The area surrounding the lake is permanently off-limits to both civilian and normal military air traffic. Speculation about the D-21Bs circulated within aviation circles for years, and it was not until 1982 that details of the Tagboard program were released.

The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of The original rectangular base of 6 by 10 miles (9.7 by 16.1 km) is now part of the so-called "Groom box", a rectangular area measuring 23 by 25 miles (37 by 40 km), of restricted airspace. The US government says there were no aliens and the crashed craft was a weather balloon.Others claim to have seen UFOs above or near the site, while some say they have been abducted by aliens, and even experimented on, before being returned to Earth.And, in 1989, a man named Robert Lazar claimed he had worked on alien technology inside Area 51. The 4450th TS, stationed at Area 51, was the first F-117A squadron, while the 4451st TS was stationed at Nellis AFB and was equipped with Although ideal for testing, Area 51 was not a suitable location for an operational group, so a new covert base had to be established for F-117 operations.By early 1982, four more YF-117As were operating at the southern end of the base, known as the "Southend" or "Baja Groom Lake". Several more tests were made, none of which met with success.

After finding a large scorpion in their offices, the testing team (Designated "R Unit") adopted it as their mascot and dubbed themselves the "Baja Scorpions". The failure was traced to a stripped nut on the forward right attachment point on the pylon. Testing of a series of ultra-secret prototypes continued at Area 51 until mid-1981, when testing transitioned to the initial production of F-117 stealth fighters. Area 51, Nevada. The first D-21B to be flown was Article 501, the prototype.

Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range. America's Secret MiGs", Osprey Publishing, 2008 "As early as 1950 the CIA developed a UFO office to deal with the sightings of unidentified flying objects over Nevada. While the "Baja Scorpions" were working on the F-117, there was also another group at work in secrecy, known as "the Whalers" working on Tacit Blue. Details of the facility's operations are not publicly known, but the USAF says that it is an open training range, and it most likely supports the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. The base has runways up to 12,000ft (2.3 miles/3.7km) long.

"The US president fuels a fringe idea, echoing his past baseless claims about Barack Obama's origins. Another explanation is that 51 was used because it was unlikely that the AEC would use the number.Lead and silver were discovered in the southern part of the Groom Range in 1864,The airfield on the Groom Lake site began service in 1942 as Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary FieldWe flew over it and within thirty seconds, you knew that was the placeThe lake bed made an ideal strip for testing aircraft, and the Emigrant Valley's mountain ranges and the NTS perimeter protected the site from visitors, about 100 mi (160 km) north of Las Vegas.Johnson named the area "Paradise Ranch" to encourage workers to move to "the new facility in the middle of nowhere", as the CIA later described it, and the name became shortened to "the Ranch".Project OXCART was established in August 1959 for "antiradar studies, aerodynamic structural tests, and engineering designs" and all later work on the Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company (REECo) began construction of "Project 51" on 1By August 1961, construction of the essential facilities was complete; three surplus Navy hangars were erected on the base's north side while hangarSecurity was enhanced for the arrival of OXCART and the small mine was closed in the Groom basin.