

Area 51 'declassified' in U-2 spy plane history - mumbi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23731759

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showerst
In 1994 there was a court case where some workers who were poisoned working at
Groom Lake sued the gov't. [1]

Apparently at one point a government lawyer, in using the state secrets
privilege to deny examination of relevant witnesses referred to "The alleged
facility, if it indeed exists", at which point the opposing council offered to
load up his car and drive everyone to the damn base =).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51#Environmental_lawsuit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51#Environmental_lawsuit)

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brymaster
Stories like this always remind me that large groups of people can work on
unknown projects without the public finding out.

'Project Oxcart' known as the A-12 was the first stealth plane built in
Burbank, CA by thousands at Locheed and kept in secrecy - then later
transported to A51/Groom Lake. It was the predecessor to the Blackbird.

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mehmehshoe
Here are pictures of the A-12 being driven by cargo truck from LA to Groom
lake in the early 60's. Quite a hoot if you are familiar with the freeway
system out here.

[http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.h...](http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html)

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defen
That's fascinating. Can anyone explain what is going on here:
[http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12_v...](http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12_v2/image018.jpg)

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adestefan
The truck was crawling along while a guy was out in front probably just
checking out the road or getting stuff out of the way. If you've ever seen a
house or large sections of bridge being moved the same thing happens.

~~~
defen
The weird thing is that it looks like he's running, and he doesn't show up in
any of the other pics.

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richadams
Reminds me of BT Tower in London, built in the 60s. Despite being quite a tall
and recognisable structure that obviously exists, it was considered an
official secret and didn't appear on any maps until the mid-90s.

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gonzo
I drilled several of the water wells at Area 51 and TTR.

I guess I can talk about it now. :-)

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vex
Tell us about it!

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willvarfar
I'm reading a fun book at the moment about the true story of how the USAF had
a squadron of MIGs for aggressor training there too...

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olympus
Red Eagles? I'll second the "fun book" comment. I'd recommend it to anyone who
has ever enjoyed a Tom Clancy novel.

~~~
cdjk
It looks like there are two books with similar titles - which one are you
reading?

Blind Man's Bluff is good, as another poster suggests.

Another fun one is "The theory that would not die," about the history of Bayes
rule.

~~~
willvarfar
I'm reading the one by Steve Davies. Its not really written as a page turner
but the content makes it so!

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pcunite
Excellent ... now show us "Area 50" ...

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cruise02
I'd be more interested in Area 52.

~~~
marklabedz
Tonopah Test Range:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah_Test_Range](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah_Test_Range)

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angelohuang
Does it mean we are alone?

~~~
dm2
In our solar system? Yes, it's just 7 billion of us, some animals, and one
green/blue rock.

In our galaxy? Maybe. There is definitely potential for there to be alien
life, it's just a long way away. Then there is always the possibility that we
are the first intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.

In the universe? Odds are that there are millions of other intelligent
civilizations. The speed of light and the amount of distance to cover is a big
reason why they probably haven't visited us and we will probably never visit
them.

~~~
tymekpavel
In our solar system? We don't know.

In our galaxy? We don't know.

In the universe? We don't know.

~~~
loqi
Indeed. I don't see how we can even get a reasonable bound on the _exponent_
of P(alien life). That kind of uncertainty behaves counter-intuitively -
multiplying it by the size of the universe leaves it essentially unchanged.

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AsymetricCom
Not really much of a secret anymore, for a plane that has had parts in Cuban
museums for the last 50 years.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Anderson#Wreckage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Anderson#Wreckage)

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simgidacav
So the Independence Day movie was lying? I'm so disappointed!

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octo_t
You mean it WASNT aliens _faints in surprise_

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Ricapar
That's just what they _want_ you to think.

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Bhel
That's what aliens want you to think.

~~~
krapp
It's never aliens.

