1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tex stuff from stuff 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: works dot com either and welcome to text stuff. I'm 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, and today joining me in the studio is 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: my esteemed colleague and UH conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Ben Bolan. 5 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: Now I would say that I use critical thinking. I know, 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: I think conspiracy theorists is a little bit of a pejorative. 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: Nowadays I appreciate it. Yeah, there are a lot of 8 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 1: other pejoratives I often used to describe you. I could 9 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: rely on some of those if you prefer. Yeah, I've seen, 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: I've seen, we hate been dot blogspot dot com, and 11 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: I appreciate. No, we're we're kidding ladies and gentlemen. Uh, 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: it's always fantastic to be on the show with one 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: of my favorite UH colleagues, and uh, we're actually friends 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: outside of the shows. That's absolutely true. Yeah, if you 15 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: ever hear us beating each other up, I want to 16 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: assure you that it's even worse off the air. But 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: it's all man in good fun. So we decided I 18 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: had talked about doing an episode about Area fifty one 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: for years. Threatening might be the better word for it. 20 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: I've been threatening to do an episode about Area fifty 21 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: one for years and just it was one of those 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: things that we kept on putting off because it's a 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: it's a big topic and it's so big that Ben 24 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: has been very generous with his time and he and 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: I are going to be doing three episodes about this subject. 26 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: So the first two episodes are a history of this 27 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: facility and what what is actually documented as having happened there, 28 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: the real history, mind you. The third episode will be 29 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: the mythology of Area fifty one and some of the 30 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: stories that have been attributed to that area, some of 31 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: which border on um whacka doodle. I think it's a 32 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: good way of putting in. Yeah. So yeah, So we're 33 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: gonna cover all of that. So this episod So we're 34 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: gonna look at the history and if you've heard the 35 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: term Area fifty one, but you've only seen the depictions 36 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: in pop culture, like in science fiction, you probably aren't 37 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: entirely sure what it is now. First of all, Area 38 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: fifty one isn't necessarily the the proper designation for this facility. 39 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: It's the popular one, but really it's more often referred 40 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: to within within UM documents official documentation as Groom Lake 41 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: and that's because there's a big dry lake bed in 42 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: Nevada called Groom Lake, and this facility is built right 43 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: on there, right, and it's built there for a reason. 44 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: It's in Nevada. And you you've got some great notes 45 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: on this all the way down to latitude and longitude. Yes, yeah, 46 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: because because this was the thing, you know, for years 47 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: and years and years, the government would would very very 48 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: carefully disavow any inform any knowledge of such a facility. 49 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: They would say, no, you know, nothing out there exists 50 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: Groom Lake. What what is that? Why would you groom 51 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: a late That's what purpose a dry lake? You are 52 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: speaking crazy talk. So yeah, but but one of the 53 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: big reasons why it's out there is cause a dry 54 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: lake bed in Nevada tends to be pretty darn flat. 55 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: And if you want to say have a remote location 56 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: where you can develop and test secret aircraft and you 57 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: need that space in order to take off and land 58 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: the aircraft, a big dry lake beds a pretty good 59 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: you know location, right, Yeah, it's fantastic. It's also far 60 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: enough inland that the any foreign observers at the time 61 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: of Groom Lakes construction would have a really difficult time 62 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: observing anything to happen there without being noticed. First absolutely, 63 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: because at the time, this is before we get into satellites, right, 64 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: So if you are trying to spy upon the construction 65 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: of Area fifty one it was built back in the fifties, 66 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: then you essentially had to have a spy plane flying 67 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: over the United States, which was a pretty risky thing 68 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: to do. But meanwhile, that's exactly what was going on 69 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: at Area fifty one was the development and testing of 70 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: spy planes. So it's also known as Homey Airport. That's 71 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: more that's a more recent moniker over there. Um and 72 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: it's uh, it's probably I have it in my notes. 73 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: I have it as the most famous secret facility, worst kept. Yeah, 74 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: it's the it's the secret facility everyone has heard of, 75 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: which is kind of funny, but but they still managed 76 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: to keep the actual activities within the the facility itself 77 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: largely secret. There's been some reports that have come out. 78 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: Some of them are credible, some of them are less so. 79 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: But it's it's one of those things that that secrecy 80 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: has also led to some serious issues that will get 81 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: to more in the second part. Some things that have 82 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: happened that that bring up the question of accountability, like, 83 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 1: how can you be accountable if you can't acknowledge the 84 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: stuff that goes on at that site? Right? And it's 85 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,119 Speaker 1: no wonder we know that whenever there is a lack 86 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: of transparency, we find a plethora and I'm using that 87 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: word correctly of speculation. Absolutely, because we have to fill 88 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: in the gaps. Right. Yeah, it's like a Hitchcock movie. 89 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: The monster you don't see is always going to be 90 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: worse than the monster on screen. Absolutely, But let's go 91 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: to uh as, as they say in Alice in Wonderland, 92 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: let's start at the beginning. What do you say? Absolutely, 93 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: So let's say that you are uh you are a 94 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: country that is involved in a little altercation called World 95 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: War two, and as a result, you need to start 96 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: building out your own military capabilities. Well, the United States 97 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: was very much concerned with s and started to look 98 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: for all sorts of places where they could build various airport, 99 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: landing strips, or military purposes. So they identified this one 100 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: spot and you mentioned I had the latitude and longitude. 101 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and give it. It's at thirty 102 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: seven degrees fourteen minutes north latitude and one fifteen degrees 103 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: forty eight minutes west longitude, which means it's right, it's 104 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: within a hundred miles or hundred sixty one kilometers of 105 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: Las Vegas. Uh, that's that's to the south of Area 106 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: fifty one. And then the closest town is actually called Rachel, Nevada, 107 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: and that's about twenty five miles or forty kilometers to 108 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: the north. And uh, the the original purpose of the facility, 109 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: which wasn't really even a facility, was just a couple 110 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: of landing strips, like more like a little compound or 111 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,799 Speaker 1: small airport. Yeah, it was meant to be a training 112 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: place for gunner schools, for for people who are actually 113 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: working on on gunner positions within aircraft. So it's a 114 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: training facility. And uh it was created by the Army 115 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: Air Corps. Notice we didn't say Army Air Force. Yeah, 116 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: this is before the Air Force was ever a thing. 117 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: So yeah, it was Army Air Corps. Uh. They ended 118 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: up using it, like I said, during the forties. By 119 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: the end of it, they essentially they didn't formally decommission 120 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: it because there wasn't really enough there to do that. Yeah, 121 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: they just sort of stopped using it. Yeah, they're kind 122 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: of like, well, wars done, let's pack up and go, 123 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: and they left it kind of where it was. Now, 124 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: that didn't mean that that was the only you only 125 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: organization to use that area. Uh, there was something else 126 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: that happened. So in the nineteen fifties, and this is 127 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: jumping around a little bit because I don't actually have 128 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: it right here in my notes, But in the nineteen fifties, 129 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: two things are going on. One is you have the 130 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: rise of the Cold War, which means that now we 131 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: no longer have an active armed conflict going on, but 132 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: we do have an escalating political conflict between the United 133 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: States and the Soviet Union. And bunch of spine, yes, 134 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: a bunch of spine, which would factor in heavily. We 135 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: also had that same time on both sides. Both the 136 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: United States and Soviet Union had an era of developing 137 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons, right, So the part of the developing them 138 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: was testing them to make sure that one they worked 139 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: and two you you wanted you wanted other countries to 140 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: know you had them without knowing specifically what your armament was, right, 141 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: and without you explicitly admitting that you had them either, right, 142 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: It was tricky stuff. So the the waste lands of 143 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: Nevada were often areas that UH, the Atomic Energy Commission 144 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: would use to test this stuff. And there was this 145 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: grid of land that they were using to test various 146 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: types of atomic weapons, including some that were developed by 147 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: Edward Teller. UH. Joe McCormick and I recorded an episode 148 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,439 Speaker 1: about five technologies that were supposed to bring it into 149 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: World War but didn't and were Teller is the father 150 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,079 Speaker 1: of the hydrogen bombs, so several of his designs were 151 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: tested in this area. That grid had thirty squares in it, 152 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: and each square was called an area alright, so he 153 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 1: had areas one through Area thirty. This particular parcel of 154 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: land where the former Army Air Corps facility was, it 155 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: was more or less adjacent to a square known as 156 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,560 Speaker 1: Area fifteen. So it's possible that the Area fifty one 157 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: name comes from transposing the one in five and saying, 158 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: all right, well that was the area fifteen. This is 159 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,559 Speaker 1: Area fifty one. It was not part of the grid originally. 160 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: In fact, when when the facility was constructed, the grid 161 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: had not expanded. It did expand gradually. I think it 162 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: eventually had something like two squares to it. Testing increased 163 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: and they built the fake towns and everything, right, right, yeah, 164 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: and then you see Indiana Jones getting the refrigerator. I knew, 165 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: I knew we were going to say that. Yeah, that's 166 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: the new Jump the Shark, isn't it. Yeah. Yeah, there's 167 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: Jump the Shark and Jump in the Fridge, which which 168 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,080 Speaker 1: did not work out for Punky Brewster but did work 169 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: out for Indiana Jones. Um. So, I mean, while we've 170 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,520 Speaker 1: got this testing going on in this remote part of Nevada, 171 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: which I don't know if you're aware of. This turns 172 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: out that if you're testing lots of nuclear weapons in 173 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: an area, it tends to be a deterrent for people 174 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: to come snooping around. Oh that's what we did wrong. 175 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: We weren't we weren't actively testing new devices around the office. 176 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so yeah, that's true. There's a there's a 177 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: profound effect. And I know it sounds like we're jokingly 178 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: noting something that is glaringly obvious. But even at that time, 179 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: before there had been the before we had had such 180 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: extensive research on the effects of this sort of weaponry. Uh, 181 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: everybody kind of saw the writing on the wall. Yeah. Right, 182 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: So at that same time, like you were saying with 183 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,439 Speaker 1: all the spine going on, and there was a lot 184 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: of it. We've we've done episodes on tech stuff about 185 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: spy tech before, and we've even done episodes on specific 186 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: spy planes, like the the YouTube plane being one of 187 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,679 Speaker 1: the most famous. There needed to be some way of 188 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: developing this technology and testing it without people being aware 189 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: of it, so that we can maintain that superiority of 190 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: folks not knowing what we're we are and are not 191 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: capable of doing so. That led to the Central Intelligence 192 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: Agency trying to find a good spot for this. And 193 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:29,719 Speaker 1: you might say, wait, the c i A. Aren't they 194 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,440 Speaker 1: for an intelligence They are foreign intelligence. So these were 195 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:35,959 Speaker 1: going to be mostly spy plane spying on other places, 196 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: not the United States. We have plenty of agencies that 197 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: are here to spy on us, and it isn't the 198 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: Air Force already involved? So that's what you would think, right, like, 199 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: why why the CIA? Why not the Air Force? Well, 200 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: it comes down to and Ben, I know you've heard 201 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: this term black budgets, the idea that you need to 202 00:11:55,720 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 1: have a budget that is impenetrable people. People are prove them, 203 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: but they cannot see what the budgets are actually for. 204 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: And it's all under the umbrella of national security. And 205 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: the reason that this exists now, I know these get 206 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: a tough time nowadays, and they should. There's a great 207 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: argument for the transparency at this time. Just to be 208 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: fair we have to play devil's advocate and say that 209 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: the argument against transparency is, of course, during the Cold War, 210 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: when people are trying to mask their capabilities, anyone with 211 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: the right amount of subterfusion influence could find uh something 212 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,040 Speaker 1: that wasn't a black budget all the way down to 213 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: individual components, the literal nuts and bolts. So at the 214 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: time their argument will be that this is necessity and 215 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: if you want something secret, you put it under At 216 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: this time in American history, you put it under the CIA, 217 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,959 Speaker 1: because the Air Force would end up having a budget 218 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: that was reviewable by Congress, right exactly, and so this 219 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: would at least mean that everyone in Congress and plus 220 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: all the congressional aids would have access to those budgets, 221 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: which could mean that that's a security risk that that 222 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: information could leak out and it would get into the 223 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: hands of of of foreign agents that would end up 224 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,319 Speaker 1: having the advantage because now they know what we were 225 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: capable of by having it as a black budget. You 226 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 1: take that out, it also means that again you don't 227 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,839 Speaker 1: have that transparency and you leave the world wide open 228 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: to just speculate on what's actually going on. So there's 229 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: a there's another edge to that sword. So the CIA 230 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,319 Speaker 1: is in charge of this. They work with the Air Force. 231 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: But I mean when we talk about testing these planes, 232 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: it was CIA pilots that we're doing the testing, right, 233 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: not Air Force pilots. It's very important distinct. So they 234 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 1: were civilians who then got uh classification of top secret 235 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: access through the CIA. I think I've talked about this before, 236 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: way way back. But top secret, by the way, does 237 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: not mean you automatically have access to everything that's classified 238 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,599 Speaker 1: top secret right spot on intelligence at that level is 239 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: often what they call compartmentalized altely. Yeah, so you have 240 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: access to one specific branch, but anything outside of that 241 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: you don't. So you may be able to go to 242 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,959 Speaker 1: the very furthest links in that branch, but it doesn't 243 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: mean you have access to everything. It doesn't mean, for instance, 244 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: So then just to illustrate this, the c I a pilot. 245 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: Let's call him Mr. Smith because that's not a sketchy name, 246 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: that's perfect. Mr Smith might be They call it being 247 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: read onto a program, So Mr Smith might be read 248 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 1: onto a program for a particular plane, or even something 249 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: as small as just a particular engine or design of 250 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: a plane. Everything else about that is a mystery, and 251 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: it is understood that he is not even supposed to 252 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: pretend that he thought of asking everyone who was working 253 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: at VERA fifty one, whether you're a pilot or an engineer, 254 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: you were only really allowed to know about whatever it 255 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: was your specific project was was concerned with, right, yeah, yeah, 256 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: even if you're in the private industry, which also was 257 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: involved with this. A couple of people are familiar with 258 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: this story. You're probably waiting in there saying, Jonathan Ben Sure, 259 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: the CIA, the Air Force, but why aren't you talking 260 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 1: about the people who actually built the planes. So you're 261 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,640 Speaker 1: talking about Lockheed hold On one. So Lockheed is a 262 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: military contractor among other things, but they do a lot 263 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: of work with the United States military, and so Lockheed 264 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: was going to be the company that was largely responsible 265 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: for building the planes that we're going to be tested 266 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: at Area fifty one. So when we get down to 267 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: this point where the CIA is ready to find a 268 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: site for this, they work with Lockheed And there is 269 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: a designer at Lockeed who is absolutely famous in the 270 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: spy world, Clarence Kelly Johnson. Yeah, it's you if you've 271 00:15:55,880 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: heard some of the stories about this stuff. Is definitely 272 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: famous in the spy world. But he is a I 273 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: think we're a family show here, so I'll just say 274 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: he is a gosh darn good designer. Absolutely. Yeah. As 275 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: a matter of fact, he's the top dog at Lockey. 276 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: Jonathan earlier mentioned the YouTube spy playing that is our 277 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: boy Kelly. Yeah. He also ended up largely defining skunk 278 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: Works at Lockeed, and we've done an episode on Tech 279 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: Stuff about skunk Works as well. Skunk Works now is 280 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: just a general term that a lot of companies used 281 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: to describe their secret R and D projects that aren't 282 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: aren't meant for public consumption. This is stuff that is 283 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: going to end up becoming part of products maybe five 284 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: or ten years down the line, right, But that was 285 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: defined at Lockeed. That was the top secret development lab 286 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: where anyone outside of that lab was not aware of 287 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 1: what was going on, and even people within the lab 288 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: may only be aware of very small parts of what 289 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: is going on. So uh, with you two and unk works. Obviously, 290 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: he had already kind of developed this reputation of being 291 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:06,640 Speaker 1: the go to guy when it comes to this kind 292 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:08,919 Speaker 1: of thing. So the CIA consulted with him as well 293 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: as some other military folks, and they started looking around. Now, 294 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: Johnson had said that the facility needed to be remote 295 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: enough to escape casual attention, so you couldn't have it 296 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: close to any kind of metropolitan area or or settlement. 297 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: Um it also had to be close enough to a 298 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: major city so that you could get supplies for all 299 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: the stuff you need in order to do the testing, 300 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,439 Speaker 1: the building and and all of that kind of stuff. Now, 301 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,640 Speaker 1: a lot of these vehicles were not actually constructed at 302 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: Area fifty one. They'd be built in another facility and 303 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: then would be transported Area fifty one for all the testing. 304 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: But even so, like you have to get all the 305 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: food there, you have to you know, all the all 306 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: the basic the fuel that you would need, you would 307 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 1: have to have all of that shipped to Area fifty 308 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 1: one in some way. So there were a lot of 309 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 1: logistics involved, which meant that it had to be far 310 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,679 Speaker 1: enough away from a city to avoid UH notice, but 311 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:01,880 Speaker 1: not so far as to make it impossible to get 312 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: stuff there. It had to be inconvenient but not inaccessible. 313 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 1: There's a Goldilocks zone here, Uh, sort of like in 314 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: Star Trek where everybody's looking for an M class planet. 315 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 1: That's a very good way of putting it. So as 316 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,119 Speaker 1: they were looking around, uh, there was a member on 317 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: the search team named Colonel Osman Ritland who had actually 318 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,360 Speaker 1: trained at the gunnery school that had existed at Groom Lake, 319 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: and so he said, hey, you know, there was this 320 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: place that I had to work at when during World 321 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: War Two that might be worth checking out. And so 322 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: they ended up going there and as soon as Johnson 323 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: saw it, he said that that was the perfect spot. 324 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: It would mean that they would have to do obviously 325 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,199 Speaker 1: a lot of work to make it ready for it 326 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: to actually be a test facility, but he said, this, 327 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: this meets all the requirements I had in mind. So 328 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: he called it Paradise Ranch, right, which, uh, you have 329 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,640 Speaker 1: a great note about this, Yeah, it says, uh, it's 330 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: a little more attractive than quote site at jay into 331 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: a former nuclear test area indo quote Uh. In fact, 332 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,879 Speaker 1: it wasn't even former, it was a current nuclear test area. 333 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,120 Speaker 1: There were times when the Atomic Energy Commission in later, 334 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: the Nevada test site ended up having to uh evacuate 335 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: Area fifty one because they were going to be doing 336 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,159 Speaker 1: some tests and it's possible that wind could carry radioactive 337 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: particles over towards the facility. I mean, you win some, 338 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,199 Speaker 1: you lose some, right, Yeah. So the other term you 339 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: could have used is desolate hell whole, but that also 340 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: not so attractive if you're trying to get uh civilians 341 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: interested in helping out. So they actually did employ civilians 342 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: to help construct a right, Yeah, from us surrounding Las 343 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: Vegas area and from Rachel, Nevada as well. Yeah, and 344 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,719 Speaker 1: it meant it meant that people had to pass some 345 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: pretty stringent background checks, and they had to sign silence oaths. 346 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: And for the most part, people have been really good 347 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 1: at keeping those oaths. I mean, they're only been a 348 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: few people who have ever talked about Area fifty one, 349 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: which is pretty amazing because we talked about how it's 350 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,160 Speaker 1: really hard to keep secrets, especially in that that difficulty 351 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: increases exponentially the more people involved with the secret. But 352 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: in this in this part too, it's important for us 353 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: to remember that even the people who had signed the 354 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 1: secrets didn't really have that much access for me. They were. 355 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: They were limited by necessity, which meant that even first 356 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: of all, if you were to communicate outside of area 357 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,679 Speaker 1: fifty one, it would very quickly become obvious who was 358 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: talking because it would all be dependent upon what they knew. 359 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: So if you were talking about stuff that you knew 360 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,239 Speaker 1: but you didn't know other things, that narrows down that 361 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: list of suspects, and there could be some pretty serious penalties. 362 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:53,679 Speaker 1: We're talking like scary, scary penalties that could go against 363 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: you if you were to spell the beans and those people. Also, 364 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: this is a side note, but I think this is 365 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: a illustrative of the kind of scrutiny that these folks 366 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 1: were under. Afterwards, The I R. S UH keeps a 367 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: tab for on these people afterward to verify that they're 368 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: not suddenly coming into inexplicable amounts of income, to make 369 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: sure that they're not right. Even though if you, I mean, 370 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: even though, if you think about it, man, those secrets 371 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: I'm air quoting so hard here, folks. Those secrets would 372 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: be things like, um, I was paid to drive a 373 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: truck from Rachel to this location drop off fuel right, 374 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: and and I didn't you know there were three gates. 375 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,719 Speaker 1: I got into one or something like that. Um, and 376 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: that's you know, that's for sake of example. I don't 377 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: know if there was a number of tiered gates. Quote, 378 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: don't come after us. We have not been there, nor 379 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: have we tried to look. Um. So the Yeah, during 380 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: the lifetime of the the test site, which again bordered 381 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 1: Are one, it was pretty active. They did a hundred 382 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: and five above ground explosions and more than eight hundred 383 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: underground explosions. They would do their last test in nine two, 384 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,919 Speaker 1: So this was kind of a just a fact of 385 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: life at Area fifty one, is that nuclear testing was 386 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: going on. I mean several miles away. I don't want 387 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: to give the implication that it was like just outside 388 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: the gates, but it was certainly close enough for it 389 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:30,920 Speaker 1: to be concerned. Yeah. Because and also a lot of 390 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: people are probably surprised to hear that that continued until 391 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: nineteen two. So, you know, most people will place the 392 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 1: end of the Cold War in the late eighties. But 393 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: this doesn't mean that the testing would stop completely. Because, uh, 394 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: just as a Cold war has kind of a hazy 395 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: conflict zone, it also has a hazy beginning and end. 396 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,640 Speaker 1: Whereas we can trace World War Two with some concrete dates, right, yeah, 397 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: I mean, if nothing else, so you can go with 398 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: the declaration of war and the treaties that ended it. 399 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,119 Speaker 1: But when you get down to this, you also have 400 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: the first acknowledgement that there was actually something there, which 401 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: comes in a booklet that the Atomic Energy Commission put 402 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: outs that was titled Background on Nevada Nuclear Tests, and 403 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 1: it came out in nineteen fifty seven, and it mentions 404 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: a facility at Groom Lake. But in that one it's 405 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: called the Watertown Project and that it was meant to 406 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: study the weather. And ladies and gentlemen remember that last 407 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: fact because it comes into play later. Right. In two episodes, 408 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,920 Speaker 1: we will cover the the weather part of the mythology 409 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,920 Speaker 1: of Area fifty one. It's interesting, though, because it gives 410 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: you yet another name for this place. You know, I 411 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: tend to call it Area fifty one when I mentioned 412 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: it to other folks, I usually say Groom Lake because 413 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,760 Speaker 1: that's the official designation. But Area fifty one, being probably 414 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,439 Speaker 1: the popular term, is the one that I tend to 415 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 1: say in this in my notes here. Yeah, Area fifty 416 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: one is sort of the street name for Groom Lake nickname, 417 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: but there's uh. I think one thing that we should 418 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: talk about real quick is the nature of secrecy, because 419 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,479 Speaker 1: we we mentioned a little bit about how people who 420 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: are helping, even in a small way, had things that 421 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,679 Speaker 1: are essentially gag orders for life, and again that this 422 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,880 Speaker 1: comes under the curtain of national security or the purview rather, 423 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: and which gives the the acting government agencies tremendous powers 424 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: in pursuit of that goal. So one of the big 425 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,440 Speaker 1: questions is, you know, if Area fifty one was first 426 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: publicly acknowledged they'll be under another name in nineteen fifty seven, 427 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,200 Speaker 1: then clearly the people at least in Rachel, Nevada, knew 428 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: something was there, just like the people uh in the 429 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 1: town surrounding oak Ridge knew something was there. Yeah, And 430 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: the fact that you had people commuting in from places 431 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: like Las Vegas or from California who are flying in 432 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: the struction crews who are coming in to build out 433 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: the facility meant that there's some folks who know that 434 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: something is going on. They may not know the full 435 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: extent of what the purposes. But it's what's really interesting 436 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,360 Speaker 1: is that a lot of the documents that have come 437 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 1: out since then, most of them avoid naming the facility 438 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: at all, or the name has been redacted, it's been 439 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: blacked out. Um, And a lot of the information I've 440 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: read has suggested that in the two or three times 441 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,640 Speaker 1: that it hasn't been that it's been in an official document, 442 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,120 Speaker 1: they think that it was an oversight that someone had 443 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:40,399 Speaker 1: failed to black it out exactly. Yeah, they were like, 444 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: do you have another sharpie? And no one's gonna be so. Yeah, 445 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,359 Speaker 1: it's funny that the only reason why we really have 446 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: a lot of information on it at all is because 447 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: it could just have been an oversight from someone who 448 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: failed to mark that part out. Thank you for being 449 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,359 Speaker 1: in a hurry at work, uh, the Uncle Sam employees. 450 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: But but with this idea about privacy, one of the 451 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 1: big questions is, well, of course we know it's near 452 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: Las Vegas, right, Las Vegas at this point already big 453 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: airport hub. Right, So so how do they keep these 454 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,520 Speaker 1: planes from figuring out what's going on? Yeah, they ended 455 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:22,439 Speaker 1: up creating a restricted air zone where not even military 456 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: aircraft were allowed to pass through without authorization. And by 457 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: authorization I usually mean that the military aircraft probably took 458 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 1: off from Area fifty one went on some sort of 459 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,639 Speaker 1: test flight which could go outside the restricted airspace, but 460 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,879 Speaker 1: then we'd be allowed to come back in if it 461 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: were any other military flight. Let's say it's a training 462 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: exercise from Nellis or something along those lines. They expressly 463 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: were told they could not fly through this particular zone, 464 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 1: which originally was five by nine nautical miles, which is 465 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 1: about nine by seventeen kilometers, and the UH it went 466 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: all the way up to space. So not the time. 467 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: Your commercial aircraft tended to fly at an altitude of 468 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:09,199 Speaker 1: around twenty feet, and your military aircraft might go up 469 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,719 Speaker 1: to forty feet, but we're talking spy planes that were 470 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,640 Speaker 1: designed to fly at sixty ft or higher. So these 471 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: altitudes meant that, you know, you didn't want aircraft coming 472 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: in and seeing something flying above them. They could actually 473 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: have a pretty good view of that. In fact, that 474 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,240 Speaker 1: did happen quite a few times, which lent UH some 475 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: It ended up being not as big an issue because 476 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,720 Speaker 1: a lot of people assumed it was something otherworldly that 477 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 1: they were seeing. Right. Yes, and this this is one 478 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 1: of the big facts that later will later we'll see 479 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: UM provides an explanation to some of this because at 480 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,880 Speaker 1: this time, for people surrounding the area right, who were 481 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: just you know, just your regular civilians. They would they 482 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: would eventually turn to one another and say, what the 483 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: heck is going on up there? Did you see that? Well, 484 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: especially since a lot of these test flights took place 485 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 1: at night, so instead of being able to actually see 486 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: an aircraft, all you see are the lights. And some 487 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,359 Speaker 1: of these aircraft were designed to travel at remarkable speeds, 488 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: particularly compared against the state of the art aircraft in 489 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,439 Speaker 1: other fields, like a commercial aircraft could not hope to 490 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,359 Speaker 1: keep up with some of the Some of these were 491 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: going mock three. I mean we're talking supersonic speeds here, 492 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: and at that speed, seeing a light travel that quickly 493 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: could be a real head scratcher if you didn't know that. 494 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 1: In fact, this was a spy plane developed by the 495 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: United States government, right. And that's how these things, that's 496 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: how these things can evolve. Just imagine if you will, 497 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: and this is hypothetical and ex airline pilot saying well, 498 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: I flew planes, or a World War Two veteran saying, 499 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:57,080 Speaker 1: you know, I was a pilot in the Pacific theater 500 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,959 Speaker 1: and there is no earthly craft that could do this. 501 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: So that's where we see people making the leap and 502 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: again in the absence of transparency, going with what they 503 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 1: think is the I want to say, the most probable idea, 504 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: but really it's the most exciting and the coolest. Yeah. 505 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: And it's one of those things where if you can't 506 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,960 Speaker 1: conceive of people being able to accomplish that, then what 507 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: else could it be? Right? So it's one of those 508 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 1: things where you think, I have never in my life 509 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 1: traveled in a vehicle that is capable of moving at 510 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: that speed. I don't know of anything that humans have 511 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: built that could do it. Then you start saying, well, 512 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: if humans didn't build it, who did? And then you 513 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: go to the little gray men or a little green men? Right, 514 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: And it's weird because we you know, if I could 515 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: do a little bit of a sidebar here, man. We 516 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: see this kind of reasoning pop up throughout history, right, yeah. Yeah, 517 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:52,880 Speaker 1: Like no one could build the pyramids because look at 518 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: how big they are. There's no way they have the technology. Therefore, 519 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: aliens had to do it right exactly, And in a 520 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 1: lot of times that situation wation is bound up in 521 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: assumptions about human potential. Absolutely, and we don't want to 522 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: we don't want to take away from right, now the 523 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: frankly astonishing and extraordinary things that human beings were doing 524 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: at Groom Late. Yeah, the engineering was phenomenal. So that's 525 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: relatively small restricted airspace I talked about. By nineteen sixty 526 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: two when they started working on other projects besides the 527 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: U two spy plane, which again wasn't developed at Groom Lake, 528 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: but it was. It was tested there quite a bit. Um. 529 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: They would expand it to an area of twenty two 530 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 1: by twenty nautical miles which is forty one by thirty 531 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: seven kilometers, and it became known as Groom Box or 532 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: just the box. That you were not allowed to enter 533 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: the box unless you were expressly told to. So there 534 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 1: were a few times where pilots might accidentally or perhaps 535 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: cheekily skirt the box and we're told in no uncertain 536 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: terms to get the heck out of it before they 537 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,120 Speaker 1: might be fired upon. Yeah. Yeah, like be forced to 538 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: the ground or fired upon. I mean, we're this serious business. 539 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: So the first spy plane they started to really work 540 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,800 Speaker 1: on at Groom Lake after the U two was the 541 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,479 Speaker 1: A twelve. You're gonna get a lot of letters numbers 542 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: in these episodes. Um, this was part of Project ox Cart. 543 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: So in nineteen sixty two, the first A twelve spy 544 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: plane arrives at Groom Lake and it wouldn't be until 545 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: I think the following year that CIA pilots would actually 546 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: be able to fly it. So it had been at 547 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,400 Speaker 1: Groom Lake for about a year before it was being 548 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:41,080 Speaker 1: flown in tests. So it was meant to be a 549 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: more capable spy plane than the U two. And it's 550 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,959 Speaker 1: major difference was that it traveled way faster, right, and 551 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: this this was I mean, clearly there's an advantage there, 552 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: but also uh, while it was traveling faster, it was 553 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: reducing the footprint that it leaves on a radar. Yeah, 554 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: so it is partly to try and find a way 555 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: because the YouTube has very very wide wings, right, It's 556 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: it's very long and very wide. It's also from why 557 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: I understand a true bear to fly like it's it's 558 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: supposed to be one of the hardest planes to fly 559 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,040 Speaker 1: in land. Yeah. I like that you added and land. 560 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: That's a really good point because it was built for 561 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 1: the specs for which was built, and the expectations of 562 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: this plane are in some ways contradictory to what makes 563 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,040 Speaker 1: a good plane. Yeah, it made it possible to fly 564 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 1: it at incredibly high altitudes, which was important for the 565 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: spying purposes and also just to evade UM things like 566 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: like missile fire. Although what was happening was missile technology 567 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: was catching up to aircraft technology, which was again the 568 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: reason why they had to start developing things like the 569 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: A twelve. So the ox Cart program required the Groom 570 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: Lake facility to expand and include more facilities just for 571 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,600 Speaker 1: military and civilians alike. So it had to had to 572 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: have more buildings, and that means you have to hire 573 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: construction crews and figure out what you're gonna do. Uh. 574 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,960 Speaker 1: The A twelve also needed a longer and stronger runway 575 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 1: than what was that Groom Lake, so they had to 576 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: reinforce the existing UM runway and extend it out further 577 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: or else this plane would not be able to take 578 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: off in land. So cleared construction workers, these are civilians, 579 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: they would take exactly, they would take either a C 580 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,800 Speaker 1: forty seven out of Burbank, California, or a D eight 581 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: teen at a Las Vegas. So both of those planes 582 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: were military transport aircraft, and uh, the secrecy around those 583 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: aircraft fueled the rumors and suspicion about what was going 584 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,080 Speaker 1: on at Groom Lake for years, because you have these 585 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 1: aircraft lining up at various airports and there'd be no designation, 586 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:51,720 Speaker 1: like you had to know about it in order to 587 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: be able to get on it and be cleared for it, 588 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: which meant that if you were paying attention, just as 589 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: a commuter going through these air airports, you think, what's 590 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: going on over there? Yeah, there's no there's no indication 591 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 1: of what's happening here. And they weren't flown back immediately either, right, 592 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,799 Speaker 1: They weren't doing this every day because that's just not 593 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,839 Speaker 1: that's just not uh, you know, efficient. So what they 594 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,400 Speaker 1: had to do was build some some uh like sleeping 595 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:22,760 Speaker 1: facilities essentially trailers originally out at Groom Lake, and people 596 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 1: would spend the week there and then over the At 597 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:26,719 Speaker 1: the end of the week they could fly back and 598 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: go home, but for the duration of the week they 599 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: would be at the facility, you know, pretty much cut 600 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 1: off from the world, working on this stuff. And you 601 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,760 Speaker 1: have a great side note that I thought was fascinating. 602 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: This is something that I did not know. So you're 603 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,879 Speaker 1: talking about how in Nevada, if you work forty eight 604 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 1: hours or longer in the state for any given project, 605 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: you are required by law to have your name recorded, 606 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:54,799 Speaker 1: so that you would have to show up on a 607 00:34:54,920 --> 00:35:00,560 Speaker 1: state document somewhere. Well, the folks over Area fifty one, 608 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: the CIA in particular, didn't really like that idea too 609 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: much because in theory, if you got hold of that 610 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 1: list and you made you cross reference and you figured 611 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: out where everybody was from what companies they worked for, 612 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: you could then start to figure out weight based upon 613 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,800 Speaker 1: what this company does. I have an idea of what's 614 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: going on at this secret facility that they're going to 615 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: uh in Nevada that you know. I know they're going 616 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 1: there because their names are showing up on the state list. So, 617 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 1: again out of the concern for national security, they had 618 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: to figure out a way, well, how do we keep 619 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,719 Speaker 1: people's names off this list, and how do we do 620 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:40,240 Speaker 1: it so it's legal, because if you start doing illegal 621 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: things and that catches up to you, it's the same problem. 622 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,799 Speaker 1: So they say, ha ha, we found a loophole. It 623 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:51,480 Speaker 1: turns out that government workers were exempt from this forty 624 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,239 Speaker 1: eight hour work rule in Nevada. If you work for 625 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,719 Speaker 1: the government, you did not have to have your name recorded. 626 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: So e re single person who worked on that construction 627 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 1: crew became listed as a government consultant. Everyone became a 628 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,560 Speaker 1: government consultant for the purposes of working at Area fifty one, 629 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:16,560 Speaker 1: which is a lot better than some of the alternatives, 630 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 1: which would just be not having a job. But also 631 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:22,719 Speaker 1: it's very it's it's strange when you think about it, 632 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:27,640 Speaker 1: because when we say construction, we also mean like the caterers. Yeah, absolutely, 633 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:31,840 Speaker 1: there are stories that that the food at Area fifty 634 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: one was actually quite good. They said that they would 635 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:39,319 Speaker 1: fly down occasionally, uh a chef from Las Vegas who 636 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: would cook, which means that someone like chefs in Las Vegas, 637 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: had to sign secrecy oaths so that they could go there. Now, granted, 638 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,399 Speaker 1: when you were when you were going there, you might 639 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 1: have a lot of secrecy, not just the fact that 640 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 1: you know you're flying on a plane that's not listed 641 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:57,840 Speaker 1: anywhere else where you're going. You might you might be 642 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: put into a transport that has curtain is all along it, 643 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:02,440 Speaker 1: so you don't get a real view of what's going on. 644 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: All the different buildings are essentially hidden from view from 645 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: each other, so you're not gonna be able to look 646 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 1: in and see what people are working on. So it's 647 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,879 Speaker 1: it's really. I mean like there were times where people 648 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:18,320 Speaker 1: were acquired to stay in their office while an aircraft 649 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:20,400 Speaker 1: was being wheeled either in or out of a hangar 650 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: because they weren't allowed to see that aircraft. Which again 651 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: makes sense because in retrospect as paranoid as this sounds 652 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:30,680 Speaker 1: in retrospect, we know, uh a little bit about the 653 00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:36,160 Speaker 1: extent of KGBS UH spine in the United States. Yeah, yeah, 654 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,719 Speaker 1: there have been KGBS KGB spies that have infiltrated the 655 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,839 Speaker 1: CIA and the FBI. I mean yeah, the their their 656 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 1: entire stories, fascinating stories about people who were able to 657 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,720 Speaker 1: do that, double agents and all this kind of stuff. 658 00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,040 Speaker 1: And and with that in mind, you know, yeah, it 659 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,880 Speaker 1: sounds paranoid. But if you don't take these incredible precautions, 660 00:37:56,440 --> 00:38:00,200 Speaker 1: you set yourself up. And now these precautions are oh 661 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: I never get to do this catchphrase now more than ever, 662 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: the the government was saying to various departments of the government. 663 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,760 Speaker 1: Departments were saying to one another, we have to have 664 00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:16,879 Speaker 1: this secrecy because business a groom Lake is booming. Yeah, 665 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,719 Speaker 1: they ended up uh for some of the buildings. You know, 666 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: you're trying to you have a black budget, which it's 667 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:27,680 Speaker 1: hard to tell where that money is gonna go. A 668 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,280 Speaker 1: lot of ways. It appears to be a blank check. Yeah, 669 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,799 Speaker 1: but they were still being pretty careful. I mean, they 670 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,040 Speaker 1: didn't just build state of the art facilities. It's not 671 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:39,200 Speaker 1: like if you were to go to Area fifty one, 672 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 1: especially if you went to Area fifty one back in 673 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,440 Speaker 1: nine five or so, It's not like you were going 674 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:48,240 Speaker 1: to walk into a super awesome, state of the art facility. 675 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:53,120 Speaker 1: They bought surplus buildings from the Navy. They had Navy 676 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:58,280 Speaker 1: hangars and Navy surplus housing buildings that had been disassembled, 677 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:03,279 Speaker 1: packed into cargo planes, are on on trucks shipped out 678 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,719 Speaker 1: to Groom Lake, and then reassembled on the site. So 679 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:10,800 Speaker 1: we're not talking like yeah, no, they were not cushy accommodations. 680 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,239 Speaker 1: So getting back to the ox Cart aircraft, I have 681 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:18,280 Speaker 1: an account of a test flight that explains how quick 682 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:21,360 Speaker 1: quickly this thing traveled and and sort of the extent 683 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: of the test flight. So remember I said, these test 684 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,320 Speaker 1: aircraft weren't confined to that restricted airspace. They could actually 685 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 1: leave that restricted airspace depending upon the actual requirements of 686 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,840 Speaker 1: the test. So an impressive demonstration of the ox carts 687 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:40,680 Speaker 1: capability occurred on twenty one December nineteen sixty six, when 688 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:46,440 Speaker 1: lockeed test pilot Bill Parks, flew ten thousand statute miles 689 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,880 Speaker 1: in six hours. The aircraft left the test area in 690 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 1: Nevada and flew northward over Yellowstone National Park, thence eastward 691 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,279 Speaker 1: to Bismarck, North Dakota, and onto Duluth, Minnesota. It then 692 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 1: turned south and passed Atlanta en route to Tampa, Florida, 693 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:07,920 Speaker 1: then northwest to Portland, Oregon, then southwest to Nevada again. 694 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,800 Speaker 1: The flight turned eastward, passing Denver and St. Louis, turning 695 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 1: around at Knoxville, Tennessee. It passed Memphis in the home 696 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:20,240 Speaker 1: stretch back to Nevada. This flight established a record unapproachable 697 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 1: by any other aircraft. It began at about the same 698 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,520 Speaker 1: time a typical government employee starts his work day and 699 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: ended two hours before his quitting time. So that's a 700 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: pretty interesting tour of the United States right there. That 701 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,239 Speaker 1: was literally a whirlwind tour. Yeah. No, the fact that 702 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,680 Speaker 1: it goes to just about everywhere in the US besides 703 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,840 Speaker 1: the northeast right or the the you know, the not Alaska, 704 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:48,239 Speaker 1: Hawaii obviously, but yeah, it's pretty impressive. So during the 705 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: whole history of the twelve, only thirteen were built, and 706 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:56,040 Speaker 1: out of those thirteen, four crashed in some sort of 707 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,800 Speaker 1: case or another. Um So that was that it was 708 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,520 Speaker 1: ever meant to be this is going to be the 709 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: replacement You two. It was more like we are going 710 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,719 Speaker 1: to test all of these technologies that we've developed with 711 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,520 Speaker 1: this plane and then see which ones work best, and 712 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 1: that those will inform the design of what will become 713 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 1: the You two successor. Right. So one important part for 714 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:23,279 Speaker 1: us to remember about that is that this means and 715 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:27,000 Speaker 1: the four that crashed, as well as the thirteen total 716 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:31,080 Speaker 1: that we're built, the remaining nine are all going to 717 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,080 Speaker 1: be a little bit different, their variations on a theme 718 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 1: with further improvements. Absolutely, yeah, it's not like they are 719 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:41,399 Speaker 1: cookie cutter designs that are coming out of this. Now 720 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,200 Speaker 1: we've got a lot more to say about Area fifty 721 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:48,120 Speaker 1: one and what went on there, including some interesting early 722 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: work in unmanned vehicles, and it might surprise you to 723 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,200 Speaker 1: learn how how early on in this process we're talking about. 724 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,239 Speaker 1: So I urge you to tune in for our next 725 00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 1: episode where we will continue this to discussion. Also, you 726 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:05,080 Speaker 1: should know that if you haven't already started to follow 727 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:07,320 Speaker 1: ben overt stuff they Don't want you to Know. He 728 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 1: and Matt cover lots of different topics that involve everything 729 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: from various theories about what's really going on to UH 730 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:18,799 Speaker 1: to things like just you know, the spy stuff we're 731 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:20,719 Speaker 1: talking about. That's like your bread and butter for a 732 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,919 Speaker 1: lot of your episodes. Thank you. Yeah, definitely go check 733 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:25,239 Speaker 1: them out. And if you want to get in touch 734 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 1: with us, our handle at Twitter and Facebook and Tumbler 735 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,360 Speaker 1: is tech stuff hs W, or you can drop me 736 00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: an email my addresses tech stuff at health stuff works 737 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,000 Speaker 1: dot com and we'll talk to you again really soon 738 00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,120 Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Does 739 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: it have stuff works dot com