Area 51 Black Jets: A History of the Aircraft Developed at Groom Lake, America’s Secret Aviation Base
by Bill Yenne, Zenith Press, Minneapolis, Minn., 2014, $40
Don’t look for little green men from another planet between these covers. But if you’d like a terrific overview of “black” programs at the secret government airfield at Groom Lake, Nev., Bill Yenne’s attractive and authoritative reference belongs on your shelf. As you’d expect, most of it is devoted to the clandestine development of Lockheed’s U-2, SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 Nighthawk. But there is more.
Yenne takes us back to the nuclear tests in Nevada in the mid-1950s, when American soldiers stood in the desert and soaked up radiation while mushroom clouds blossomed above them. Opening chapters cover the early history and geography of the Nevada test range and Groom Lake, a one-time dirt patch transformed into an airfield, initially to enable Lockheed and the CIA to test early U-2s far from prying eyes—or Soviet spies. The author combines narrative, charts and maps to provide the best explanation I’ve seen of the origin and meaning of the term “Area 51.” And yes, the CIA really did call it that, right from the very beginning.
Like books about Navy SEALs or the Kennedy assassination, volumes on the black jets of the Nevada desert seem to have a built-in audience that can never get enough. Not all of them are as good as this one. A deft wordsmith who makes it all seem fresh, Yenne has somehow managed to find a few details and pictures that haven’t been seen before. Area 51 Black Jets is beautifully designed and printed. It’s also entertaining reading and makes a great gift.
Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here.
