The 50th Anniversary celebration of Area 51 on May 28, 2005  -  The Public
Invited !!

     Marking the 50th Anniversary of "the operating base near Groom Lake"
(official name of the popularly known Area 51 base), several celebrations will
be held in the month of May, 2005.  The construction of this sprawling complex
in Nevada, the world's most well-known but misunderstood "secret base", began
in the month of May of 1955. 

     Needless to say, the "official" celebrations, closed to the public, will
all be held at the base itself, including the Base Headquarters (or,
officially, Building #269, according to the the Security Manual of the base
entitled DET 3 SP), the Administration Building (Bldg. #265), the Dining Hall
(Bldg. #267) and at Building #170) which contains the officers' lounge/bar
known as "Sam's Place",  the gymnasium and the swimming pool.

     However, there will be other "private"celebrations at diverse aerospace
facilities both in Nevada and in Southern California, including the Air Force
Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, whose Detachment 3 operations are
allegedly tied in with the Nevada base. 

     Aside from these private gatherings, there will be several "public"
festivities marking the Golden Anniversary of Area 51.  On Saturday, May 28,
the largest of these gatherings will be held adjacent to the eastern boundary
of the base alongside Groom Lake Rd.  and will be headed by Joerg Arnu,
webmaster of www.dreamlandresort.com, the world's largest online source of
information on Area 51.

     Several hundred "aficionados" of Area 51, including military aviation
enthusiasts , are expected to celebrate outside the eastern boundary of the
base  with a camp-out, barbecue and live music entertainment along with various
speakers.  

      According to Arnu, May 28 was selected because it coincides with the
Memorial Day weekend and thus it would be easier for the public to make it to
the celebrations.

     The news media is expected to cover the event and the Bureau of Land
Management is also expected to participate by helping in the coordination of
parking and other logistics needed to make the event a success.
For more info, go to:
The 50th Anniversary celebration of Area 51 on May 28, 2005 - public invited !!

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/campout.html

     For the past 16 years or so, Area 51 has been popularly, erroneously and
"conveniently"associated with false rumors of "alien technology", etc.  
According to Norio Hayakawa, ( Civilian Intelligence Network  
http://www.hometown.aol.com/groom51s4/index.html)  who, at one time was a
proponent of conspiracy theories but now an ardent supporter of the importance
of this vital base for our national defense, "the operating base near Groom
Lake" is a real complex which had never been a top secret base.
It only became a "secret" base to those who were taken in by misinformation and
false rumors which began
in the late 80s.  

     Area 51 today is a vibrant aerospace R & D conglomerate test base,
employing anywhere from 1800 to 2400 defense contractor employees, working in
shifts on diversified projects.  Some of the contractors include Raytheon,
Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, TRW, E..G. & G and General Atomics, 
One of the best recent color satellite photo of the base was taken on Sunday,
July 25, 2003:

Color Satellite Photo of Area 51 taken on Sunday, July 25, 2003
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/area51/Area51-072503-LG.jpg


     Finally, perhaps the best history of Area 51 was recently compiled by
Peter Merlin, an aerospace historian who resides near Edwards Air Force Base in
California:

Area 51 Was Never A Secret, Classified Base 
http://www.dreamlandresort.com/pete/no_secret.html


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