Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
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USAF, CIA, A-12 Oxcart pilot, SR-71 Blackbird pilot, Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Black Shield, Jack Weeks, Walt Ray.
Interviews: October 29, 2008; January 20, 2009; March 17, 2009; April 14, 2009; April 28, 2009; May 19, 2009; June 1, 2009; June 13, 2009; August 4, 2009; October 20, 2009; December 2, 2009; January 20, 2010, April 4, 2010, August 6, 2010; written correspondence: October 2008-October 2010
Lieutenant Colonel Francis J. “Frank” Murray (1930-). A-12 Oxcart pilot for the CIA.
USAF, CIA, A-12 Oxcart pilot, F-101 pilot, Vietnam War, Operation Black Shield, USS Pueblo, General Ledford, Walt Ray.
Interviews: March 4, 2009; March 5, 2009; April 28, 2009; October 6, 2009; October 7, 2009; January 6, 2010; January 13, 2010; written correspondence: March 2009-May 2010
Lieutenant Colonel Roger W. Andersen (1930-). Area 51 command post operations for Area 51 and Kadena Air Base during Operation Oxcart.
USAF, CIA, Nevada Test Site, atomic tests, Operation Black Shield.
Interviews: March 5, 2009; May 26, 2009; October 7, 2009; September 24, 2010; written correspondence: May 2009-September 2010
Robert “Bob” Murphy (1930-). Lockheed Skunk Works engineer and project airplane manager at Area 51.
U-2, A-12 Oxcart, D-21 drone, U-2 missions out of Asia, Have Blue, F-117 Nighthawk.
Interviews: July 4, 2009; July 20, 2009; September 24, 2010 William “Bill” Weaver (1930-). Lockheed test pilot for the A-12,
YF-12, SR-71, and the only pilot to survive a Mach 3 bailout at 78,000 feet in an SR-71 Blackbird.
SR-71 Blackbird, high-speed bailouts, parachutes.
Interview: June 13, 2009
Captain Donald J. Donohue (1930-). Crew captain for A-12 Oxcart at Area 51.
USAF, A-12 Oxcart.
Interviews: May 8, 2009; December 9, 2009
Frank Micalizzi (1930-). Warehouse supervisor at Area 51. USAF, CIA, Kadena Air Force Base, A-12 Oxcart camera film storage.
Interview: May 8, 2009
Florence DeLuna (1930-). Area 51 transport pilot. USAF, C-47, Walt Ray, Dreamland airspace and air traffic control.
Interview: May 8, 2009
Ernest “Ernie” Williams (1930-). Atomic Energy Commission motor pool and food services coordinator, escorted the Apollo astronauts around the Nevada Test Site.
AEC, Nevada Test Site, astronaut training.
Interviews: October 7, 2009; December 14, 2009
S. Eugene “Gene” Poteat (1930-). Pioneer of electronic
countermeasures, first CIA officer assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office.
CIA, NRO, Project Palladium, Area 51 radar tests, U-2 and A-12, Caspian Sea Monster, Project Aquiline.
Interviews: September 27, 2010; September 28, 2010; September 30, 2010
Richard Mingus (1931-). Area 51 security, Nevada Test Site Security, and Lawrence Radiation Laboratory operations manager.
Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Energy, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Federal Services, Inc., Wackenhut Security, Inc., U-2 security guard, Area 51 security, Area 52 security, Nevada Test Site, Tonopah Test Range, Project 57, Operation Plumbbob, underground nuclear testing.
Interviews: September 9, 2009; October 8, 2009; November 18, 2009; December 14, 2009; December 15, 2009; December 16, 2009; January 14, 2009; February 10, 2010; February 12, 2010; June 28, 2010; June 29, 2010
Harry Martin (1931-). In charge of the million-gallon fuel farm at Area 51.
USAF, CIA, fuels, A-12 Oxcart.
Interviews: November 13, 2008; March 5, 2009; May 26, 2009 Lieutenant Colonel Tony Bevacqua (1932-). Youngest pilot to fly U-2 at Area 51.
USAF, U-2 pilot, SR-71 Blackbird pilot, Vietnam War, Kadena Air Force Base, Gary Powers.
Interviews: June 12, 2009; June 13, 2009; October 8, 2009; written correspondence: June 2009-October 2010
Colonel Charles E. “Charlie” Trapp (1933-). Area 51 helicopter search-and-rescue pilot.
USAF, C-47, Walt Ray, Dreamland airspace and air traffic control. Interview: June 4, 2010; November 18, 2010; November 24, 2010
Troy Wade (1934-). Longtime Nevada Test Site official, former assistant secretary of energy for defense programs, ran Operation
Morning Light for the Department of Energy, Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation.
Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Energy, Nevada Test Site, Operation Morning Light, underground nuclear testing.
Interviews: September 9, 2009; October 8, 2009; December 15, 2009
Wayne E. Pendleton (1935-). EG&G radar expert. Lockheed Skunk Works, EG&G radar range, National Reconnaissance Office, Have Blue, Howard Hughes.
Interviews: October 3, 2009; October 7, 2009; April 22, 2010 Thornton “T.D.” Barnes (1937-). Radar expert on multiple Area 51 projects.
CIA, EG&G, Atomic Energy Commission, NASA, Project Palladium, A-12 Oxcart, MiG, X-15 rocket plane, Apollo 1, NERVA, Nike missile system, Hercules missile system, Have Blue.
Interviews: November 3, 2008; November 13, 2008; December 20, 2009; December 21, 2009; January 7, 2009; March 4, 2009; March 5, 2009; March 6, 2009; April 24, 2009; April 25, 2009; May 7, 2009; May 8, 2009; May 26, 2009; June 12, 2009; June 13, 2009; June 24, 2009; June 25, 2009; July 14, 2009; September 7, 2009; September 9, 2009, October 7, 2009; October 8, 2009; October 9, 2009, December 14, 2009; December 15, 2009; December 16, 2009; January 13, 2010; January 14, 2010; February 11, 2010; February 12, 2010; March 6, 2010; June 29, 2010; written correspondence: November 2008-October 2010
Ken Swanson (1937-). Electronic warfare, electronic countermeasures expert, Red Dog/Blue Dog ECM System.
Interview: June 17, 2010
Sherre Lovick (1960-). Lockheed Skunk Works engineer. Lockheed Skunk Works, radar signature, defense contracting.
Interviews: February 7, 2008; March 6, 2008; April 3, 2008; April 29, 2008; May 29, 2008; June 6, 2008; July 2, 2008; July 23, 2008; July 30, 2008; August 6, 2008; August 21, 2008; June 28, 2009
Colonel Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut and the second man on the moon
Dr. Robert B. Abernethy, Pratt and Whitney engineer; invented the Oxcart’s J-58 engine
Joseph C. Behne Jr.: Former test director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Arthur Beidler, 67th Reconnaissance Tactical Squadron, Japan Colonel Adelbert W. “Buz” Carpenter, SR-71 pilot Harold B. Finger, former manager of AEC-NASA Space Nuclear
Propulsion Office
R. Cargill Hall, historian emeritus, National Reconnaissance Office
Milton M. Klein, former manager of AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Office
Darwin Morgan: National Nuclear Security Administration, spokesman (current)
Dennis Nordquist, Pratt and Whitney mechanical engineer, J-58 engine
Grace Weismann: Joe Walker’s widow Charles “Chuck” Wilson: U-2 pilot
Changti “Robin” Yeh: U-2 pilot, Chinese Black Cat Squadron
Secondary Interviews and Correspondence
Steven Aftergood
Joerg Arnu
Doris Barnes
Stacy Slater Bernhardt Tim Brown
Fred Burton Lee Davidson Martha DeMarre Jeanne Donohue Stanton Friedman Norio Hayakawa Bill Irvine
George Knapp Tony Landis Eunice Layton
Colonel Ronald “Jack” Layton Bob Lazar
Ken Leghorn Jim Long
Dr. Craig Luther Tom Mahood Mary Martin
Millie Meierdierck Peter W. Merlin Martha Murphy Mary Jane Murphy Stella Murray
David Myhra James Oberg Ruth O’Donnell Thomas O’Donnell Major General Jude Pao John E. Pike
Gerald Posner Gary Powers Jr. Dr. Jeffrey Richelson Dr. David Robarge Louise Schalk P. W. Singer Barbara Slater Peter Slater
Peter Stockman Sharlene Weeks Stephen M. Younger G. Pascal Zachary
Current and former employees from the following organizations, agencies, and corporations were interviewed, some on the condition of anonymity.
National Security Agency (NSA)
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Department of Energy (DOE) Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA)
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) United States Air Force (USAF)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) EG&G Special Projects Group Lockheed Martin Corporation Northrop Grumman
Raytheon
General Atomics Aeronautical Hughes Aircraft Company Summa Corporation
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Aldrin, Buzz, with Ken Abraham. Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon. New York: Harmony Books, 2009.
Anders, Roger M., Jack M. Holl, Alice L. Buck, and Prentice C. Dean. The United States Nuclear Weapons Program: A Summary History. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy, 1983.
Ball, Desmond. Politics and Force Levels, the Strategic Missile Program of the Kennedy Administration. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. New York: Anchor Books, 2002.
Berlitz, Charles, and William Moore. Roswell Incident, the Most Important UFO Encounter of Our Century. New York: MJF Books, 1980.
Bissell, Richard M., with Jonathan E. Lewis and Francis T. Pudlo. Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
Bower, Tom. The Paperclip Conspiracy: The Hunt for the Nazi Scientists. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1987.
Bradley, David. No Place to Hide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948.
Broad, William J. Teller’s War: The Top Secret Story Behind the Star Wars Deception. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
Brugioni, Dino A. Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Random House, 1990.
Brzezinski, Matthew. Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age. New York: Henry Holt and
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Burrows, William E. By Any Means Necessary: America’s Heroes Flying Secret Missions in a Hostile World. New York: Penguin Putnam, 2002.
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— Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. London: Osprey, 1993.
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Fehner, Terrence R., and F. G. Gosling. Battlefield of the Cold War: Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing 1951–1963.
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— Origins of the Nevada Test Site. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy, 2000.
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Nevada: U.S. Department of Energy, 1978.
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Graham, Richard H. SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales, and Legends. Minneapolis: Zenith Press, 2002.
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Harford, James. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the
Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
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Heaps, Leo. Operation Morning Light: The True Story of Canada’s Nuclear Nightmare. New York: Ballantine Books, 1979.
Helms, Richard, with William Hood. A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency. New York: Ballantine Books, 2003.
Hewlett, Richard G., and Oscar E. Anderson. The New World: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
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Hoffman, David E. The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy. New York: Doubleday, 2009.
Hua, Mike H. Lost Black Cats: Story of Two Captured Chinese U2 Pilots. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2005.
Hunt, Linda. Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
Jenkins, Dennis R. Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Monographs in Aerospace History, 2000.
Johnson, Clarence L., “Kelly,” with Maggie Smith. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Johnson, Leland. Sandia Report: Tonopah Test Range Outpost of Sandia National Laboratories. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Energy, 1996.
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Jones, R. V. The Wizard War: British Scientific Intelligence, 1939–1945. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1978.
Jung, Carl. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
Kaplan, Fred. The Wizards of Armageddon. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.
Keegan, John. Intelligence in War: The Value and Limitation of What the Military Can Learn About the Enemy. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.
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Kirkpatrick, Lyman B. The Real CIA. New York: Macmillan Company, 1968.
Korda, Michael. Ike: An American Hero. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.
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Khrushchev, Nikita. Khrushchev Remembers. Translated and edited by Strobe Talbott. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970.
Mallick, Donald L., with Peter W. Merlin. The Smell of Kerosene: A Test Pilot’s Odyssey. Washington, DC: Nation
al Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2003.
Marks, John. The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control. New York: Norton, 1991.
McAuliffe, Mary S., ed. CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962. Washington, DC: CIA History Staff, Central Intelligence Agency, 1992.
McPhee, John. The Curve of Binding Energy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973.
Merlin, Peter W. Mach 3+ NASA/USAF YF-12 Flight Research, 1969–1979. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002.
Michels, Juergen, and Olaf Przybilski. Peenemuende und seine Erben in Ost und West. Bonn: Bernard and Graefe, 1997.
Miller, Richard L. Under the Cloud: The Decades of Nuclear Testing. New York: Free Press, 1986.
Moran, Barbara. The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Disaster. New York: Presidio Press, 2009.
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Oberg, James. UFOs and Outer Space Mysteries. Virginia Beach: Donning Press, 1982.
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