"...what can you find out about Area 51, Facility S4 in the Mojave desert. I know SETI is, literally, right around the corner from it but nobody's talking about what the other is for."

I have never heard of S4 but Area 51 is getting to be fairly commonly known amongst those of us who are aviation freaks. The area is shown on maps as "Groom Lake (dry)" and was known to the CIA folks as "the Ranch" for one and sometimes "Dreamland" for another nickname.

The upshot of most of the Groom Lake facility is that it is where the first U2's were tested in the 50's. It is also where the first Blackbirds, the CIA's A12's were tested and operated from. You would also find that the Lockheed Have Blue aircraft, the proof-of-concept vehicle for the F117A Nighthawk, were tested there. The Northrop TR3A Black Manta, of which we still know very little was supposed to have been tested there (really an outgrowth of both the THAP - Tactical High Altitude Penetrator - and the CSIRS, which I don't recall the meaning of).

More than likely the Lockheed Aurora is flying out of there and is probably responsible for a lot of questions - an aircraft called "the pulser" probably flies out of there as well. Lord only knows (and the USAF....) what other good shit comes tooting out of Groom Lake late at night.

Also, my friend would be interested in any new data on Hangar 21.

Right off the top of my head I'd say it is probably between hangars 20 and 22.... :-)

A friend of mine who doesn't have access to the .net asks

"...what can you find out about Area 51, Facility S4 in the Mojave desert. I know SETI is, literally, right around the corner from it but nobody's talking about what the other is for."

Also, my friend would be interested in any new data on Hangar 21.

Area 51 is a secret Air Force test range about 125 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada. It's secret in that you can't go there or fly over it but everybody knows its there. Lot's of people who live in Las Vegas work in Area 51 and make no secret about it.

The Stealth fighter and B2 bomber were tested there and Aurora is based there now. They also test new weaponry there - lasers for example. It's been alleged there's a test fusion reactor there too.

S4, or Section 4, is the location Robert Lazar said he worked in when he saw UFOs at Area 51. There is an S1 and an S2 so it may follow there's an S4 but he's the only one who I've heard mention it so far.

Hanger 21? Never heard of it. There's a science fiction movie called "Hanger 18" about a captured UFO. I think it was blown up in the movie.

... The Stealth fighter and B2 bomber were tested there and Aurora is based there now. ...

Aurora is a very high altitude recon plane?

Aurora is a name for a black project that was accidentally released in, uh, 1985 or 86 I think, in a congressional budget report. The generic information that has been slowly seeping out is that we are dealing with a high-altitude recon aircraft of some sort, possibly unmanned. It may be hypersonic in the sense that speeds could be well above the Blackbirds Mach 3.2+. There have been test vehicles that have flown in the Mach 10+ range, according to some reports, although these may not have been connected to Aurora. Keep in mind that Aurora may be just a bogus code name, but there DOES appear to be at LEAST this black aircraft (more, really.....).

Aurora is one seriously damn blackworld project and there is precious little information about it.

A number of people who have been digging around on it are reputed to have been visited by the folks in the blue suits and told to back off. I can't verify that, but that is what I have been told.

Names I can't and won't name, in part because a number of these folks actually may work in DOD-related areas, and unfortunately, this newsgroup does NOT enjoy a reputation for being a source of factual information.

I post this information in the hope of spreading about what little appears to be common knowledge and may be reasonably accurate until such time as more becomes available, rather than relying on a bunch of tabloid-based rumours.

As most of you reading this message know, the geographical area known in UFO circles as and the even more elusive S-4 or S/4 or site four, are some of the most heavily secure areas in the U.S., or perhaps even the world.

In 1984 the United States Air Force made a patently illegal land grab around the area known as Area 51. Grabbing about 89,000 acre's, the Air Force was later asked in a series of public hearings just who authorized this seizure. The spokesperson replied "I can tell you who authorized this, but I can not tell you in these open hearings." Well the rest is history. Well almost.

George Knapp, the former television journalist with KLAS TV in Las Vegas recently told me that another such grab in now in progress. Reports have been flowing into Knapp from very reliable sources stating that another grab is in the offing. Tired of all the UFO buffs haunting the area with telescopes, cameras, camcorders, AND PUBLICITY, the boys in blue plan to close off all remaining points where the secret site can be viewed.

I just returned from this area, and I purchased an updated Area 51 Viewers Guide. The author, Glenn Campbell, describes a new hill top that over looks the Groom Lake complex, and names it "Freedom Ridge" or some such, and tells us how to get there.

He describes survey markers that definately give the impression that another land grab in the name of "National Security" is in the making. A small organization has mobilized to fight another land grab, claiming the first one was unconstitutional, and did nothing to enhance Groom Lake Base security, since there are still two known locations on public lands that can overlook the base.

The emphasis is that Groom Lake is gearing up for even more covert, black projects and they want the public to stay the hell out of there back yard.

It was really funny, camping within a mile of the "No Trespassing" signs at A51. We were under survalence the entire evening and morning. New white Jeep Cherokee vehicles were running up and down the road, with Rayban dudes inside. Cameras are very verbotten in this area, I did not attempt to photograph these people.

However, the Blackhawk that bussed us in the morning did get his picture taken...

It was the first time I was ever approached by a helicopter at low altitude (30 feet) and from out of the dawn sun. It was like Apocolypse Now or some similar scenario. The chopper went over White Sides, looking for campers (a moutain on public land that allows one to view Groom Lake), then he went south to the Groom Road, then turned West, and approached us from the East. So he is in the Sun, and as he approaches us, we are blinded by the sun... Very impressive and quite intimidating. I did not wish to loose my camera to the Sheriff, so I only took his picture after he had zoomed over us.

Joe at the Little Al Le Inn, states that this has been a quiet summer at A51, and nobody has brought him in new pictures for some time.

I saw two interesting lights there:
1) a Bright yellow/orange glow from the South as I approached the A51 warning signs. This is not the Pappoose Lake area, but the Test Range to the south. I assume these were flares, as described int he viewers manual.

2) Old Faithfull - seen every Thurs. at 4:45 am, this is a light that decends into Papoose Lake area. It is far south of Groom Lake, but on the same N-S axis. This was definately too far south-west of my position to by anything other than the Papoose Lake facility.

The viewer guide sez it's most likely a jet that brings in workers from Las Vegas. I would concure it looked like slow steady incoming flight pattern of a Jet, but I saw now strobe, it must have been behind the landing lights.

It was interesting to see the bus Lazar describes go past in the morning. Blue, with blacked out windows...

Just before it entered the Groom Complex area, a Cherokee went by on a gravel road at about 80 mph! I have never seen people drive so fast on dirt in my life. They should get a ticket, that is a public road with a posted limit of 35.