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Groom Lake Timeline
By Tom Mahood
Latest Revision: December, 1996
Significant and interesting events in the history of Groom
Lake
Circa 1941-45:
Two dirt landing strips (one approx. 5,000' and one 7,000' long)
are scraped into the bare desert floor, on the east side of Groom Lake.
They are used as an outlying training strip for flyers based at Nellis.
The strips are abandoned at the end of WWII and quickly deteriorate.
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:
Work on "The Ranch" is complete at a cost of $800,000.
It consists of three hangars, control tower, mess hall, runway,
and numerous mobile homes. The first U-2 was shipped out on July
23. (1)
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:
First flight of the U-2 at Groom Lake. (1)
August 19, 1955:
Executive Order 10633 is signed by President Eisenhower
restricting the airspace over Groom Lake for the first time. The
rectangular airspace is an extension of the Test Site airspace
(known as "The Las Vegas Project") at its northeast
corner and measures 5 by 9 nautical miles. (8)
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:
Six pilots from SAC start training at Groom in the U-2. (1)
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:
Public Land Order 1662 is enacted by Roger Ernst, Assistant
Secretary of the Interior, withdrawing 38,400 acres (60 square
miles) for use "..by the Atomic Energy Commission in connection
with the Nevada Test Site." The area, 6 miles North/South
and 10 miles East/West, forms the first "box" around
the Groom base, beneath the already restricted airspace.
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:
A full scale mockup of an A-12 is shipped to Groom, via truck,
for radar signature testing. (4)
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 be complete until
mid 1964. (4)
September 7, 1960:
Work begins on lengthening and strengthening the existing
5,000' runway to 8,500'. It is completed November 15. (4)
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:
Colonel Robert J. Holbury, USAF, is named Commander of the
Groom base. (4)
Early 1962:
The fuel tank farm is completed with a capacity of 1,320,000
gallons. (4)
January 15, 1962:
The restricted airspace directly over Groom Lake (R-4808)
is expanded to 22 by 20 nautical miles. The basis of the expansion
was a request by the Department of the Air Force citing an immediate
and urgent need due to a classified project. This creates the
"Groom box" as it exists today. (8) (27 FR 205)
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:
First flight test of the A-12 Blackbird (#121) at Groom Lake. (4)
February, 1963:
The first 5 CIA A-12 pilots (Collins, Ray, Skliar, Sullivan and Walter)
arrive at Groom Lake. (9)
May 24, 1963:
An A-12 (#123) crashes due to pitot icing 14 miles south of
Wendover, Utah. The pilot, Collins, survives. (4)
July 20, 1963:
An A-12 finally achieves Mach 3 in testing. (9)
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:
An A-12 (#133) crashes on final approach to Groom. The pilot, Park,
ejects at an altitude of 500' and survives. (4)
Beginning 1965:
The OXCART construction project is now complete and the base
population has reached 1,835. (4)
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:
The Defense Intelligence Agency acquires a MIG 21 which it ships to
Groom Lake for testing and names the program "Have Doughnut". This is
the start of the ongoing MIG testing program that likely runs to this day. (9)
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 seperate from the seat and is killed. (4)
January 10, 1967:
The decision is made to phase out the A-12s in favor of the SR-71. The phase
out is to be completed by January, 1968. (9)
May 22, 1967:
The first of the A-12s leave Groom for Kadena Air Base on Okinawa for the
beginning of "Black Shield", their first operational deployment. "Black
Shield" involved reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam. (9)
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:
"Have Blue" (#1001), the F-117A Stealth fighter prototype,
is shipped to Groom Lake for flight testing. (9)
December 1, 1977:
First flight of the Have Blue at Groom Lake. (2)
May 4, 1978:
The first Have Blue prototype crashes at
Groom after its landing gear is damaged and was unable to land. (2)
July 20, 1978:
First flight of the second Have Blue prototype (#1002). (9)
July 11, 1979:
The second Have Blue prototype crashes 35 miles
NW of Groom, due to an engine fire. (1)
May, 1981:
First production F-117A is airlifted to Groom for testing. (1)
June 18, 1981:
First flight of the production F-117A Stealth fighter (#780) at Groom. (1)
February, 1982:
First flight of "TACITBLUE"
(demonstrator for stealth technology) at Groom . (7)
April, 1982:
The existence of the A-12 aircraft was finally declassified. (10)
April 20, 1982:
The first production model of the F-117A crashes at Groom
during Air Force acceptance tests. (1)
October 15, 1982:
Beginning of acceptance flight tests with second production
model of F-117A. (1)
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)
Congress finally authorizes the Air Force's 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:
Robert Lazar's first interviews are broadcast on KLAS-TV in
Las Vegas. Lazar states he had been hired to reverse engineer
extraterrestrial craft at a facility at Papoose Lake, just southwest
of Groom Lake. Lazar's appearance focuses the first widespread
public interest on the Groom Lake area.
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:
Freedom Ridge and Whitesides Peak are officially closed to
all public access. (3)
January, 1996:
The Bechtel Corporation is reported to have begun work lengthening
the secondary runway (14L-32R) by 5,000'. (3)
Sources:
1. Skunk Works by Ben Rich, published by Little, Brown
& Company, 1994.
2. Dreamland - the Air Force's Remote Test Site by
Peter Merlin, an article in "Aerotech News and Review"
4/1/94.
3. Groom Lake Desert Rat by Glenn Campbell, various
issues.
4. The OXCART Story by Thomas P. McIninch, a declassified
history of the A-12 program from the CIA.
5. Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1955.
6. Alien Contact, by Timothy Good, published by Morrow,
1993.
7. Air Force press release 01-04-96
8. Federal Register
9. Dark Eagles by Curtis Peebles, published by Presido Press, 1995
10. Aurora: The Pentagon's Secret Hypersonic Spyplane, By Bill Sweetman,
published by Motorbooks International, 1993.
