Groom Lake Timeline Significant and interesting events in the history of Groom Lake Circa 1942-45: April, 1955: Lockheed test pilot, Tony LeVier, under orders from Kelly Johnson, searches for remote site to test the U-2. He finds Groom Lake and returns with Kelly Johnson and a representative of the CIA. Johnson decides to place the runway at the south end of Groom Lake. Work begins on the facility there under the direction of Lockheed Skunk Works. (1) July, 1955: July 24, 1955: The first U-2 prototype is shipped via C-124 transport plane from the Lockheed Skunk Works in Burbank to Groom Lake. (9) August 4, 1955:
August 19, 1955: November 17, 1955: A C-54 transport, enroute to Groom from Burbank, crashes into Mt. Charleston killing all aboard, 9 civilian workers and 5 military. (5) Fall, 1956:
April 4, 1957: A U-2 with radar spoofing equipment (#341, the first prototype) crashes during testing near Pioche, killing the pilot. (1), (9) June 20, 1958: September 21, 1959: The USGS snaps a photo (13-146) of the Groom Lake base as part of a routine mapping program, which is still available. November, 1959:
September, 1960: Construction begins on a major expansion of the Groom Lake facility to accommodate the A-12 (OXCART) program on behalf of the CIA. This period of construction is not complete until mid 1964. (4) September 7, 1960: August 11, 1961: The newly created R-4808 restricted airspace becomes effective, covering the Test Site and Groom Lake. Use is restricted from the surface to FL600. The restricted airspace over Groom Lake remains 5 by 9 nautical miles in size. (8) (26 FR 6233) Late 1961:
Early 1962:
January 15, 1962: February 26, 1962: The first A-12 Blackbird (#121) is brought to Groom via truck for testing. (4) (Ben Rich says January 1962) April 26, 1962:
February, 1963:
May 24, 1963: An A-12 (#123) crashes due to pilot icing 14 miles south of Wendover, Utah. The pilot, Collins, survives. (4) July 20, 1963:
August 7, 1963: First flight of the YF-12A (#1001) at Groom Lake. The YF-12A was a Mach 3 interceptor, based on the A-12 design. (9) July 9, 1964: Beginning 1965:
December 28, 1965: An A-12 (#126) crashes immediately after takeoff from Groom. The pilot, Vojvodich ejects and survives. (4) March 5, 1966: First free flight test of the D-21 drone near Point Mugu launched from a Blackbird out of Groom Lake. (9) July 30, 1966: A D-21 drone is launched over Point Mugu, but strikes the A-12 (#135), destroying it. The two-crew members eject, but one drowns before being pulled from the sea. All future launches of D-21 were to be done by B-52s. (9) 1967: January 5, 1967: An A-12 (#125) runs out of fuel 70 miles east of Groom and crashes. The pilot, Ray, ejects, but fails to separate from the seat and is killed. (4) January 10, 1967: The decision is made to phase out the A-12s in favour of the SR-71. The phase out is to be completed by January 1968. (9) May 22, 1967: June 21, 1968: The last flight of an A-12, #131, was made from Groom to Palmdale and the entire fleet was put in secret storage. (9) August 28, 1968: The US Geological Survey snaps an aerial photo of the Groom Lake complex as part of a routine high altitude survey. This photo, since published in numerous places, was available to the public until early 1994, when it was withdrawn from release by the government. November 16, 1977: December 1, 1977:
May 4, 1978: July 20, 1978:
July 11, 1979:
May, 1981:
June 18, 1981:
February, 1982: First flight of "TACIT BLUE" (demonstrator for stealth technology) at Groom. (7) April, 1982:
April 20, 1982:
October 15, 1982:
Late 1982: First Stealth fighter squadron begins moving from Groom into new facilities at the Tonopah Test Range. (1), (9) April 18, 1983: Four Greenpeace protestors trespassed just south of Area 51 on a 5-day trek to sneak into the Nevada Test Site. (9) June, 1983: First flight of HALSOL at Groom Lake. HALSOL was a solar powered high altitude, UAV. The test program ran two months. (9) March, 1984: The Air Force posts armed guards along the access points to the 89,000 acres of public land to the east and north of Groom, expanding the borders. The guards request the public not to enter the area, thus effectively (and apparently illegally) closing the land to public use. (9) April 26, 1984: General Robert Bond is killed when the MIG 23 he was flying out of Groom crashes into Little Skull Mountain on the Nevada Test Site. (9) August, 1984: In Congressional hearings concerning the land seizure, the Air Force representative (John Rittenhouse) makes the statement that while the Air Force had no legal authority to seize the land (as far as he knew) the decision to do so was made at a much higher level than his. He would only go into the details in a closed session. (5) 1985:
December, 1987: Congress finally authorises the Air Forces land seizure. (2) July 17, 1988: A Soviet spy satellite takes a photo of the Groom Lake area destined for release in a number of publications, including Popular Science and The Lazar Poster. May, 1989: October 18, 1993: The Air Force files a notice in the Federal Register seeking to withdraw another 3972 acres from public use to curtail public viewing of the Groom base from Freedom Ridge and Whitesides Peak. (3) April, 1994: Popular Science magazine appears, featuring a satellite photo of the Groom Lake base on its cover and containing a lengthy article on the base and its history, thus igniting mainstream media interest in the facility. April 10, 1995:
January, 1996: Sources: 1. Skunk Works by Ben Rich, published by Little, Brown & Company, 1994. 2. Dreamland - the Air Forces Remote Test Site by Peter Merlin, an article in "Aerotech News and Review" 4/1/94.
4. The OXCART Story by Thomas P. McIninch, a declassified history of the A-12 program from the CIA.
10. Aurora: The Pentagons Secret Hypersonic Spyplane, By Bill Sweetman, published by Motorbooks International, 1993.
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