july 2016 AH 19LETTER FROM AVIATION HISTORY
LOCKHEED MARTIN
area 51 ufo
The second “Have
Blue” technology
demonstrator aircraft,
predecessor of the
F-117, flies over the
Groom Lake area in
the late 1970s.O
n April 12, 1955, legendary Lockheed de-
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a U.S. Air Force colonel in a Beechcraft
Bonanza piloted by Lockheed’s chief test
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reconnaissance plane. As recounted in a secret
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of Las Vegas. Although the strip appeared to be
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site to test the U-2 and train its pilots. Lockheed
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dubbed Paradise Ranch, later shortened to the
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its map designation—Area 51—and thus a legend
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stream in from airline pilots unaccustomed to see-QVOÆaQVOWJRMK\[W^MZ\PMLM[MZ\IJW^M NMM\
at that time an unheard-of altitude for aircraft.
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ground-attack bomber—looked like no other air-
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Area 51 Black Jets. And look for a full-length feature
on the U-2, the airplane that started it all, in an
upcoming issue. The Truth
is Out There
BY CARL VON WODTKELETTER FROM AVIATION HISTORY