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Radeoaktv's Area 51 Command Post
Area 51, UFOs, Special Operations, Store
Official Name : Lockeed Martin
Created :
Aircraft Built : A-12, SR-71, Have Blue, D-21, F-117a, F-22, Tier III Minus DarkStar
Testing Locations : Area 51, Palmdale, Nellis AFB, Edwards AFB, Tonopah TR,
Famous People : Ben Rich, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, Tony LeVier
Partners : Pratt and Whitney, Boeing
Specialty : Reconnasance and Stealth Aircraft
History :
References :
Miscleaneous :
The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works was the company that discovered and created Area 51. In 1954, the Skunk Works sent out test pilot, Tony LeVier to find an ideal secluded testing location for their U-2 spy plane that they just created. LeVier searched all across Arizona, Nevada and California to find a location. Since then, Lockheed, with the CIA, have built and tested numerous classified programs.
Lockheed built the U-2 and most of it's flights at the new base that they created. When that program ended, Lockheed temporarily abandoned the base. Later in the early 60s', Lockheed needed a place to test their A-11 spy plane. When they decided Groom Lake again (one of their last choices), they completely redesigned the base. The runway that was once on the dry lake, was moved south of the lake and was made of tarmac. Dormitories and other basic base facilities were built. The base now employed around 1,800 people for the A-11 program. A RCS facility was built at the western shore of Groom Lake and it was used to perform RCS tests on the A-11. After a few weeks of redesigning, the A-11 was designated the A-12. A-12 and SR-71 tests began at Groom Lake and lasted for years. Lockheed transported the A-12s' directly from Groom Lake after testing to Kadena AFB in the captured island of Okinawa. A-12s' and SR-71s' flew missions over the borders of the Soviet Union, China and North Vietnam. All aircraft were untouched despite the thousands for SAMs fired at them. Lockheed later tested their D-21 drone at Groom Lake.
The biggest breakthrough for Lockheed was stealth. In 1977, Lockheed's two Have Blue stealth demonstrator's were completed and tests were ran on them using the best radars in the world. Lockheed's Have Blue was so successful in it's testing, DARPA gave them the contract to built 5 full-scale models. Lockheed had the first on F-117a SN#780 ready on July 18th, 1981 for it's first flight. That day also happened to be Skunk Works President Ben Rich's birthday. The flight went perfect and more testing at Groom Lake continued. After a few weeks, the Skunk Works rebuilt Tonopah Test Range to the north for testing of all the stealth fighters. They formed the 4450th Tactical Group and performed hundreds of tests without revealing Groom Lake's secret existanse to the south. Lockheed eventually got the contract to built 59 stealth fighters. Today, 54 still are flying. The first one (780) is kept at Nellis AFB's museum for display. One crashed outside of Bakersfield, Ca. One crashed right off of the Groom runway. One disintegrated in an airshow due to structural integrity problems. Recently, one was shot down by machine gun AA fire over Serbia.
Lockheed continues to this date to produce aircraft that amaze us all. Most of their current projects are classified.