In the early, 1950s us planes were conducting low-flying recon missions over the USSR but there were constant worries of them being spotted and shot down. In 1954 President Eisenhower authorized the development of a top-secret high-altitude recon aircraft dubbed Project Aqua tone the program required a remote location that wasn’t easily accessible to civilians or spies area 51 fit the bill perfectly it was in the Nevada desert near a salt flat called groom Lake no one knows exactly why it’s called area 51 but one theory suggests

It came from its proximity to the Nevada nuclear test sites the Nevada Test Site was divided into number designated areas by the Atomic Energy Commission the location was already familiar territory for the military as that it served as a world world two aerial gunnery range in the summer of 1955 sightings of unidentified flying objects were reported around area 51 that’s because the Air Force had begun its testing of the YouTube aircraft the u2 can fly higher than 60,000 feet at the time normal airliners were flying in the 10,000 to 20,000 feet range while military aircraft topped out at around 40,000 feet so if a pilot spotted the tiny speck that was the u2 high above it. They would have no idea what it was and they would usually let air-traffic-control know someone was out there which is what led to the increase of UFO sightings in the area while Air Force officials knew the UFO sightings word u2 tests they couldn’t really tell the public so they explained the aircraft sightings by saying they were natural phenomena and high-altitude weather research the testing of the u2 ended in the late 1950s but area 51 has continued to serve as the testing ground for many aircraft including the f-117 a the a12 and the tacit blue no one knows for sure what area 51 is up to these days the government never even publicly acknowledged the existence of the base until 2013 with the release of declassified CIA reports but if you’re ever at the Las Vegas Airport keep an eye out for some small unmarked passenger planes in a fenced off area they’re how area 51 employees get to work from their homes in Vegas