It seems so astounding just to think that in the past 25 years or so, AREA 51 has transformed itself from an obsure R & D and testing facility at Groom Lake, Nevada, to the world's most well-known 'secret base', bar none!!
In the mid to the late 1950's, this location so remote and unknown to the world was not even officially CLASSIFIED initially, according to military aviation historian, Peter Merlin. It was then a CIA managed operating base.
The term AREA 51 was not even officially used by the Air Force even later on (and even to this day) because it was simply a designation initially created by the Atomic Energy Commission (today's Department of Energy) to describe various parcels in the Nevada Test Site.
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