Interview with Area 51 insiders

[CptStern]

http://www.latimes.com/la-mag-april052009-backstory,0,786384.story

The problem is the myths of Area 51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually happened there. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk—in fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumors. Colonel Hugh "Slip" Slater, 87, was commander of the Area 51 base in the 1960s. Edward Lovick, 90, featured in "What Plane?" in LA's March issue, spent three decades radar testing some of the world's most famous aircraft (including the U-2, the A-12 OXCART and the F-117). Kenneth Collins, 80, a CIA experimental test pilot, was given the silver star. Thornton "T.D." Barnes, 72, was an Area 51 special-projects engineer. And Harry Martin, 77, was one of the men in charge of the base's half-million-gallon monthly supply of spy-plane fuels. Here are a few of their best stories—for the record:

So, what of those urban legends—the UFOs studied in secret, the underground tunnels connecting clandestine facilities? For decades, the men at Area 51 thought they'd take their secrets to the grave.



But in talking with Collins, Lovick, Slater, Barnes and Martin, it is clear that much of the folklore was spun from threads of fact.

As for the myths of reverse engineering of flying saucers, Barnes offers some insight: "We did reverse engineer a lot of foreign technology, including the Soviet MiG fighter jet out at the Area"—even though the MiG wasn't shaped like a flying saucer. As for the underground-tunnel talk, that, too, was born of truth. Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program called Project NERVA, inside underground chambers at Jackass Flats, in Area 51's backyard. "Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground," he says.

And the quintessential Area 51 conspiracy—that the Pentagon keeps captured alien spacecraft there, which they fly around in restricted airspace? Turns out that one's pretty easy to debunk. The shape of OXCART was unprece-dented, with its wide, disk-like fuselage designed to carry vast quantities of fuel. Commercial pilots cruising over Nevada at dusk would look up and see the bottom of OXCART whiz by at 2,000-plus mph. The aircraft's tita-nium body, moving as fast as a bullet, would reflect the sun's rays in a way that could make anyone think, UFO.

In all, 2,850 OXCART test flights were flown out of Area 51 while Slater was in charge. "That's a lot of UFO sightings!" Slater adds. Commercial pilots would report them to the FAA, and "when they'd land in California, they'd be met by FBI agents who'd make them sign nondisclosure forms." But not everyone kept quiet, hence the birth of Area 51's UFO lore.

pretty fascinating

TLDR: no aliens, cover up for plane crash

 

[Raziaar]

Well... I will say this. It is not wise to simply believe nothing happened simply because a couple people there at the time talked about it. Everybody always has their own agenda and stuff... like the guys who say all that crazy shit happened in the philadelphia experiment. Some people will choose to believe it because those guys say it happened... but I don't believe it.

That being said... I do not believe aliens have ever been in contact with this planet. I doubt any are even space faring to the level that would be required to get here.

Old military farts are always interesting sources though!

 

[Reginald]

That's what the aliens want you to think.

 

[Raziaar]

That's what the aliens want you to think.

You're right, that's what I want us to think.

 

[Reginald]

 

[CptStern]

Well... I will say this. It is not wise to simply believe nothing happened simply because a couple people there at the time talked about it. Everybody always has their own agenda and stuff... like the guys who say all that crazy shit happened in the philadelphia experiment. Some people will choose to believe it because those guys say it happened... but I don't believe it.!

 

[Hobostomp]

Those stories are all fairly boring. I finished wishing I hadn't read them, because now the dream is dead.

 

[MJ12]

THEY ARE JUST MAKING THIS UP TO COVER UP THE ALIENS AGAIN

/caps

 

[CyberPitz]

Everybody knows the aliens infiltrated the main offices of Area 51, and anybody of any merit is just an alien in disguise.

 

[Barnz]

I miss that show (and its game).

 

[Sheepo]

THEY ARE JUST MAKING THIS UP TO COVER UP THE ALIENS AGAIN

/caps

Pretty much. Do they honestly think any one that did believe aliens were there will now believe this?

 

[Adabiviak]

I think a large number of people that believe in the Area 51 alien conspiracy are incapable of thinking otherwise. They're beyond the point where proven facts (not that this testimony by the previous employees qualifies) might sway them. Heck, a guided tour probably wouldn't sway them. An interview with bona fide aliens who told them that they were actually stationed somewhere else might change their mind though.

People don't believe because of facts, they believe in spite of the facts because they want to.