The deserts of Nevada hold many secrets, including military secrets. Our state is home to some of the most highly classified military installations in the world. We've all heard of Area 51, but there's also an Area 52, and it has inspired plenty of wild stories of its own over the years, including what's going on underground.
When the Washington Post ran a cartoon in 1997 joking that Area 52 is where the government hides its elves and gnomes, it didn't realize there really is an Area 52, also known as the Tonopah Test Range. It might not house any elves, but it's where the military grapples with gremlins. For example, how to better exploit pilotless drones, or how to use parachutes to deliver nuclear bombs. The Sandia Corporation, which manages Area 52, is working on a fusion reactor, which it pointedly announced is, quote, "not from Area 51," a more secretive sister facility.
From public land, it's easy to see Area 52's large infrastructure with accommodations for thousands. The long runway was built for a fleet of pilfered Russian MiGs, which flew 15,000 missions without the public ever knowing. The first stealth wing followed the MiGs, also in total secrecy. In nearby Tonopah, residents like Jose Gonzalez say they see dozens of contrails from the base every day, most likely the transport planes carrying employees from a private terminal in Las Vegas. To work on what, though?
Jose Gonzalez told the I-Team, "When I first got here, they were talking about a plane that would go into space and land, for NASA. I don't know."
Area 52: The Secret Sister - Part 1
Designs for secret space planes have been openly discussed in aviation journals, and most look a lot like something from another planet, the kind of craft long associated with that other base, Area 51.
John Lear said, "Most people think I'm absolutely nuts. And that's okay with me."
Famed pilot John Lear, whose father developed the Learjet, helped to popularize stories about saucers at Area 51, but has also spent years poking around the perimeter of Area 52. Lear says there are other unknown facilities hidden on the test ranges. Satellite imagery tends to back him up. They're all over the place. He says the biggest secrets, though, are underground.
The John Lear Disclosure Briefing, Nov. 2003.
Lear says, "There is so much stuff underground that it's essentially all the secret stuff underground now."
Example: Lear alleges that a clean nuclear device was used to create a giant chamber under Pauite Mesa in Area 52, and that a facility capable of housing 25,000 people or troops is active out there. He says he heard part of this from a cement truck driver who worked out there.
"He said it would take four hours to get to the bottom, dump the cement, then wind his way back up. For some reason, he disappeared off the face of the earth after he told us that story," Lear continued.
Lear further alleges there's a high speed underground train that runs from Area 52 to Las Vegas, a concept that Nevada Test Site tunnel workers say is highly unlikely. And he says pilots told him there are secret runways out there that open and close like zippers.
"They'll look down and it will be forest or desert or natural landscape, and all of a sudden it will unzip like this and they will see a runway and then the landscape zips back up and it looks like normal," he explained.
There is some evidence for one of Lear's suspicions, one that harkens back to the claims of former government scientist Bob Lazar, who said he worked on flying saucers at a place called S-4, or Site 4. Nellis confirmed to the I-Team that there is more than one S-4 on the Test Range, and one of them is at TTR. Workers have claimed the S-4 inside Area 52 requires special entry. It's believed that highly advanced radar research is one project. Military watchdogs say they don't believe there's a big underground operation.
Joerg Arnu, Dreamland Resort webmaster, said, "There are underground facilities in the Nevada Test Site, but as far as I know there is no underground facilities at Tonopah Test Range."
The man who commanded the secret MiG project for ten years without any leaks says he knows of no big secret projects now but admits that such secrets can be kept at Area 52.
U.S.A.F. Colonel (Ret.) Gail Peck said, "It's the only place in the world where we can operate discreetly. Where we can do things without people watching."
The I-Team requested a tour of Area 52 but was turned down. You can get a look inside the base by checking out some declassified films produced by Sandia Labs about what goes on out there.
E-mail Chief Investigative Reporter George Knapp.
The deserts of Nevada hold many secrets, including military secrets. Our state is home to some of the most highly classified military installations in the world.
Famed pilot John Lear, whose father developed the Learjet, helped to popularize stories about saucers at Area 51, but has also spent years poking around the perimeter of Area 52.
