Area 51 Timeline

Dynoman

Dynoman

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I thought it would be a good idea to place known Area 51 (a.k.a., Groom Lake, Station-D, Homey, etc.) projects in a timeline where some context could be acquired regarding the interaction between known aircraft programs (e.g. various versions of the A-12, such as the YF-12/SR-71/M-12 etc.) and the evolution of technology, such as stealth. If this is duplicated elsewhere, moderators please delete.

Aircraft /Area 51 First Flight
U-2 1955
A-12 1962
YF-12A 1963
SR-71 1964
AQULINE 1965
M-12 1968
HAVE BLUE 1977
CONSTANT PEG 1977
SENIOR PROM 1978
SENIOR PEG Circa 1980
F-117A 1981
HAVE GLASS 1982
TACIT BLUE 1982
HALSOL 1983
F.T. Birk Demonstrator 1983
YF-24 Circa 1992
YF-113G 1995
Bird of Prey 1996
X-44 Manta 2001
P-175 2005
RQ-170 2005
Stealth Helicopter Circa 2010
RQ-180 2010
NGAD Demo (YF-220?) 2020

If there are any other know aircraft, please add to the list. There are some big gaps in time between projects, such as 1968-1977 and 1983-1992.
 
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Any better dates for SENIOR PEG or stealth helicopter?
 
The YF-24 is an unknown aircraft identified with, then Col. Joseph Lanni, whose official USAF biography listed the aircraft as one that he flew. It was later removed. When questioned about the designation he wouldn't comment. The timeframe (in this list) for the YF-24 was correlated with his bio, indicating the period he served either with 6513th Test Squadron (Red Hats 1992-1994) or as a Classified Test Squadron Commander (1995-1997).
 
If these RESUMINT (resume-intelligence) findings are allowed, I would say that the redacted YF-220 and the X-273 of Col. Dan Javorsek's bio would also be considered for inclusion in the list. His later bio identified the aircraft as a demonstrator and an experimental aircraft.
 
Remove SR-71 (not tested at Area 51) and replace with M-21 1964. (Delete M-12 1968).

Delete AQUILINE 1965 (first flight of the Mk.1 vehicle was in 1967 at NWC China Lake, California.

Change SENIOR PROM to 1979

SENIOR PEG didn't fly.

The YF-24 should probably be attributed to circa 1997

Add:
YF-110B (MiG-21F-13) HAVE DOUGHNUT 1968
YF-113A (MiG-17F) HAVE DRILL 1969
YF-114C (MiG-17F) HAVE FERRY 1969
AQUILINE Mk.2 1970
YF-113E (MiG-23MS) HAVE PAD 1978
YF-114D (MiG-17PF) HAVE GLIB 1972
YF-110B (MiG-21F-13) HAVE GLIB 1972
Su-22M HAVE UP 1978
MiG-23ML HAVE LIGHTER 1980
MiG-23BN HAVE BOXER 1980
MiG-21MF HAVE COAT 1981
MiG-23UB HAVE FIREMAN 1983
Northrop "classified test bed" 1984
Lockheed "classified UAV" 1986
AGM-137 TSSAM 1990
YF-110E
YF-110L
YF-110M
YF-113H
YF-116A (MiG-29) HAVE LOAN 1991
YF-112C (Su-22M4) 1993
YF-112D (Su-22M4) 1993
Su-27P
Su-27UB
 
Dynoman said:
Any better dates for SENIOR PEG or stealth helicopter?
Click to expand...

There is no evidence that SENIOR PEG was built or tested at Groom Lake.
CONSTANT PEG was at TTR, not Groom Lake. The Red Hats program was at Groom Lake, I do not know the date the specific program was started. Various MiG exploitation programs at Groom Lake started in the 1960s.
X-44 was also not tested at Groom Lake (it was tested in California)
 
Aircraft /Area 51 First Flight
U-2 1955
A-12 1962
YF-12A 1963
M-21 1964
AQULINE 1965
YF-110B (MiG-21F-13) HAVE DOUGHNUT 1968
YF-113A (MiG-17F) HAVE DRILL 1969
YF-114C (MiG-17F) HAVE FERRY 1969
AQUILINE Mk.2 1970
CIA Quiet One OH-6A 1971
YF-114D (MiG-17PF) HAVE GLIB 1972
YF-110B (MiG-21F-13) HAVE GLIB 1972
HAVE BLUE 1977
CONSTANT PEG 1977
SENIOR PROM 1978
YF-113E (MiG-23MS) HAVE PAD 1978
Su-22M HAVE UP 1978
SENIOR PEG Circa 1980
MiG-23ML HAVE LIGHTER 1980
MiG-23BN HAVE BOXER 1980
MiG-21MF HAVE COAT 1981
F-117A 1981
HAVE GLASS 1982
TACIT BLUE 1982
MiG-23UB HAVE FIREMAN 1983
HALSOL 1983
F.T. Birk Demonstrator 1983
Northrop "classified test bed" 1984
Lockheed "classified UAV" 1986
AGM-137 TSSAM 1990
YF-110E ?
YF-110L ?
YF-110M ?
YF-113H ?
YF-116A (MiG-29) HAVE LOAN 1991
YF-112C (Su-22M4) 1993
YF-112D (Su-22M4) 1993
Su-27P ?
Su-27UB ?
YF-113G 1995
YF-118G Bird of Prey 1996
YF-24 Circa 1997
P-175 2005
RQ-170 2005
Stealth Helicopter Circa 2010
RQ-180 2010
X-273 2015
YF-220 Possibly 2020
YF-45D 2018 - 2021?
NGAD Demonstrator 2020
NGAD Demonstrators, two others, were flown by 2023

Any evidence of the SENIOR PEG demonstrator having flown? A photo of the demonstrator (either real or mockup) has circulated extensively. YF-220 may possibly be the NGAD demonstrator, which flew approximately 2020.
 
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Was going to say Raymond Marshall's YF-45D but we don't have enough info on it.
 
Ninja said:
Raymond Marshall's YF-45D but we don't have enough info on it
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According to his own account, he flew the YF-45D for the US Navy's VX-9 while on Detachment at Nellis AFB from March 2018 through December 2021. He supported activities at NTTR including experimental test and supported training flights.
 
Possible candidates for the YF-45D could be an FME, F/A-XX, or something else.
 
Dynoman said:
HALSOL 1983
Northrop "classified test bed" 1984
Lockheed "classified UAV" 1986
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Never heard of these aircraft before, mind explaining them? Any resources/links to them? I was also going to suggest Have Phoenix but I don't think we know much about it either.
 
Oh, dont forget the demonstrator Daniel R. Vanderhorst flew from 1984 to 1985.
 
Ninja said:
Oh, dont forget the demonstrator Daniel R. Vanderhorst flew from 1984 to 1985.
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The only demonstrator flown by Dan Vanderhorst was TACIT BLUE. Reports to the contrary were erroneous. Somebody put an "official" bio together and published it without consulting Mr. Vanderhorst. The bio stated that he had flown "seven classified aircraft" but the truth was he flew only one classified aircraft (TACIT BLUE) over the span of seven months in two blocks of several consecutive months each.

There is an excellent history of project HAVE RASH (also known as HALSOL) in Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51. That book also briefly mentions the unknown Northrop and Lockheed UAV projects.
 
Whisperstream said:
The only demonstrator flown by Dan Vanderhorst was TACIT BLUE.
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Oh my bad. I read it incorrectly in a page about him.
Whisperstream said:
Somebody put an "official" bio together and published it without consulting Mr. Vanderhorst. The bio stated that he had flown "seven classified aircraft" but the truth was he flew only one classified aircraft (TACIT BLUE) over the span of seven months in two blocks of several consecutive months each.
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I am aware of this false info, very bogus indeed. I am planning to buy a book from Peter Merlin, that being the Archives book. I should try to get a hold of his Area 51 book sometime. Every week I learn something new here, now to see if there's picture of said UAV.
 
Ninja said:
Oh my bad. I read it incorrectly in a page about him.

I am aware of this false info, very bogus indeed. I am planning to buy a book from Peter Merlin, that being the Archives book. I should try to get a hold of his Area 51 book sometime. Every week I learn something new here, now to see if there's picture of said UAV.
Click to expand...

HALSOL:
en.wikipedia.org

NASA Pathfinder - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
The YF-24 must be the most mysterious aircraft ever that has been tested at Area 51, ever since the Whale and Bird of Prey.
 
FighterJock said:
The YF-24 must be the most mysterious aircraft ever that has been tested at Area 51, ever since the Whale and Bird of Prey.
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And the one with the most conflicting stories, too. Some say it's a modified F15, others say it looks like an F22, others say it's based on the conceptual Boeing Model 24. I believe its a modified weather balloon.
 
I'm curious if the Northrop "classified test bed" 1984 is the same aircraft as the Classified Advanced Demonstrator linked to Frank T. Birk of 1983.

There was supposed to be an aircraft that was designed to work in conjunction with TACIT BLUE. That aircraft companion aircraft, I believe, was the Northrop AP-2 Shark. However, I don't believe there is any evidence to suggest that it ever flew.

Whisperstream, any idea where the information of the Northrop "classified test bed" 1984 originated?
 
So who actually designed and built the YF-24? I think that it was Northrop and perhaps that the YF-23 was actually testing stealth technology for the YF-24. That could quite possibly explain why the YF-23 was much stealthier than the YF-22.
 
FighterJock said:
So who actually designed and built the YF-24? I think that it was Northrop and perhaps that the YF-23 was actually testing stealth technology for the YF-24. That could quite possibly explain why the YF-23 was much stealthier than the YF-22.
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That is under the assumption that the YF-24 isn't just an captured foreign aircraft.
 
Dynoman said:
I'm curious if the Northrop "classified test bed" 1984 is the same aircraft as the Classified Advanced Demonstrator linked to Frank T. Birk of 1983.

There was supposed to be an aircraft that was designed to work in conjunction with TACIT BLUE. That aircraft companion aircraft, I believe, was the Northrop AP-2 Shark. However, I don't believe there is any evidence to suggest that it ever flew.

Whisperstream, any idea where the information of the Northrop "classified test bed" 1984 originated?
Click to expand...

Back in 2017, a former Northrop program manager posted a work history involving programs with extremely hazardous materials" that took place in "very classified environments." One specific project was described as a "classified test bed aircraft" that was flown from April 1984 to June 1988.
 
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If that is the case then why the secrecy around the YF-24? Being a captured foreign fighter just does not add up Ninja, so why has it not been revealed by now?
 
A former Lockheed security manager once told me something about a project he was involved with at AF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. He said the Skunk Works had put together a briefing for the Plant 42 commander, during which they mentioned some of the chemicals (or fuels?) they were going to use. The Plant 42 commander exclaimed, "You'd better have a plan to evacuate the Antelope Valley!"

Note that he didn't say there needed to be a contingency plan to evacuate the Lockheed facility, or even Plant 42 as a whole. He was worried for the safety of the entire population of the Antelope Valley including the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster and surrounding communities.

I got the impression that the project did not move forward.
 
Sounds like Lockheed were planning on doing something like Project Suntan which used liquid hydrogen as its fuel and that also got cancled for exactly the same reasons as the classified aircraft. Quite why they would do something that used dangerous chemicals or fuels is beyond me.
 
FighterJock said:
If that is the case then why the secrecy around the YF-24? Being a captured foreign fighter just does not add up Ninja, so why has it not been revealed by now?
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I'd like to answer that but im not too sure on it. Many captured foreign aircraft are just as secret, so the YF-24 still could be something foreign, as much as I'd like for it to be a brand new aircraft. I know this patch has been often associated with the YF-24 but there is no real evidence to support that.
 

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So it could be something like the Su-27 that got recently moved to a museum, but why give it a YF designation? It should have got a standard F for fighter designation like what happened to the rest of the Soviet Fighters that were secretly tested during the Cold War.
 
FighterJock said:
So it could be something like the Su-27 that got recently moved to a museum, but why give it a YF designation? It should have got a standard F for fighter designation like what happened to the rest of the Soviet Fighters that were secretly tested during the Cold War.
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The YF-11x designations were initially given to FME aircraft like the MiG-21 and MiG-17 so that the pilots could have an unclassified aircraft designation to use in their military flight records. This custom continued for Red Hats and Red Eagles aircraft as well as for demonstrators such as TACIT BLUE and the Bird of Prey and production aircraft like the Nighthawk. Pre-production Nighthawks were designated YF-117A and the production models were designated F-117A. Designations such as YF-24 and YF-45D (and the rumored YF-43B) depart from the usual system, as does YF-220.
 
Whisperstream said:
The YF-11x designations were initially given to FME aircraft like the MiG-21 and MiG-17 so that the pilots could have an unclassified aircraft designation to use in their military flight records. This custom continued for Red Hats and Red Eagles aircraft as well as for demonstrators such as TACIT BLUE and the Bird of Prey and production aircraft like the Nighthawk. Pre-production Nighthawks were designated YF-117A and the production models were designated F-117A. Designations such as YF-24 and YF-45D (and the rumored YF-43B) depart from the usual system, as does YF-220.
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Ill try to find more info on the extremely obscure YF-43B sometime, but its strictly hearsay from what I've seen, just a random designation.
 
Can it be the Northrop "classified test bed" 1984 is related to B-2 bomber program ?
it would make sense, that they tested B-2 prototype in Groom Lake to get bug out of aircraft before productions.
either as Remote controlled UAV or piloted Aircraft
 
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Michel Van said:
Can it be the Northrop "classified test bed" 1984 is related to B-2 bomber program ?
it would make sense, that they tested B-2 prototype in Groom Lake to get bug out of aircraft before productions.
either as Remote controlled UAV or piloted Aircraft
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No. TACIT BLUE served as the demonstrator for ATB (B-2) design and development.
 
Tacit Blue was for BSAX (Battlefield Surveillance Aircraft Experimental) which worked very well, never went into production but the outcome was JTARS with a 29ft version of the Tacit Blue radar. The Tacit Blue shaping was adopted into the B-2, USN ATA, YF-23, TSSAM, X-47A/B and many other undisclosed Northrop and NG programs. The B-21 really has it's lineage all the way back to Northrop Senior Ice, so when I started at Northrop in 1986, we essentially had the beginnings of 6th back then, something to think about and consider regarding NG technology prowess.
 
Could some of those designation that you are unsure of, be for Chinese aircraft that have been 'acquired' .
 
Content removed in light of source.
 
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Certainly is a weird looking drone Dynoman, could be a possible future replacement for the Reaper.
 

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