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Area 51 vets break silence: Sorry, but no space aliens or UFOs
The Seattle Times ^
| 3/27/2010
| Erik Lacitis
Posted on 03/28/2010 8:18:46 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
After nearly five decades, guys like James Noce finally get to tell their stories about Area 51.
Yes, that Area 51.
The one that gets brought up when people talk about secret Air Force projects, crashed UFOs, alien bodies and, of course, conspiracies.
The secrets, some of them, have been declassified.
Noce, 72, and his fellow Area 51 veterans around the country now are free to talk about doing contract work for the CIA in the 1960s and '70s at the arid, isolated Southern Nevada government testing site.
Their stories shed some light on a site shrouded in mystery; classified projects still are going on there. It's not a big leap from warding off the curious 40 or 50 years ago, to warding off the curious who now make the drive to Area 51.
The veterans' stories provide a glimpse of real-life government covert operations, with their everyday routines and moments of excitement.
Noce didn't seek out publicity. But when contacted, he was glad to tell what it was like.
"I was sworn to secrecy for 47 years. I couldn't talk about it," he says.
In the 1960s, Area 51 was the test site for the A-12 and its successor, the SR-71 Blackbird, a secret spy plane that broke records at documented speeds that still have been unmatched. The CIA says it reached Mach 3.29 (about 2,200 mph) at 90,000 feet.
But after September 2007, when the CIA displayed an A-12 in front of its Langley, Va., headquarters as part of the agency's 60th birthday, much of the secrecy of those days at Area 51 fell away.
Advance warning to UFOlogists: Sorry, although Noce and other Area 51 vets say they saw plenty of secret stuff, none make claims about aliens.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: area51; cia; coldwar; groomlake; langley; mystery; nellisafb; nevada; planecrash; surveillance; ufo; usaf
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To: AlexW
Whenever I hear the overnight radio show you refer to I can’t help but wonder what sort of ‘kook sauce’ the callers and guests must be imbibing-!!
41
posted on
03/28/2010 9:40:47 PM PDT
by
imjimbo
(The constitution SHOULD be our "gun permit")
To: Steve Van Doorn
Yeah, but just how do you explain those lights flying around the desert in the dark, huh?
42
posted on
03/28/2010 9:50:46 PM PDT
by
phredo53
(Caution: This post does not comply with White House standards.)
To: sonofstrangelove
Dude has done nothing but stir up the conspiracy nuts hornets nest........=.=
43
posted on
03/28/2010 9:53:22 PM PDT
by
cranked
To: DaxtonBrown
“I worked with George Knapp, one of the kookologists”
Well, Art Bell sure made a pile of cash from the kooks.
We became ham radio operators at about the same time in the late 50s.
He is semi retired here in the Philippines, but I have never met him.
44
posted on
03/28/2010 10:09:06 PM PDT
by
AlexW
(Now in the Philippines . Happy not to be back in the USA for now.)
To: Beowulf9
Just agree with the CommiecRATs that the released COLB forgery, is his true bc, and stop questioning it.
It shows Dad to be Barack Hussein Obama, therefor Junior is NOT a Natural Born Citizen and is the Resident, not the President.
45
posted on
03/28/2010 10:20:31 PM PDT
by
ASA Vet
(Iran should have ceased to exist Nov 5, 1979, but we had no president then either.)
To: Red Steel
I always thought that the A-12 was an interceptor version of the SR-71.
It was deemed unnecessary after it was determined that we didn't need specialized interceptors in future conflicts and it was impractical as at speed the pilot would only get one shot at a target due to the A-12's immense turning radius of several hundred miles.
46
posted on
03/28/2010 10:21:15 PM PDT
by
Hillarys Gate Cult
(The man who said "there's no such thing as a stupid question" has never talked to Helen Thomas.)
To: SaxxonWoods
If that's as wild as the CIA got, that's awfully tame...or lame. But anything this guy says we must believe, because...he worked for the CIA ya know. (((Muhuhahahahahahahahahaha)))
47
posted on
03/28/2010 10:30:31 PM PDT
by
SaxxonWoods
(Gone Galt and loving it)
To: Red Steel
***I wonder if this guy was ever featured in the Popular Science magazine?***
More along the style of the old 1960s magazine SCIENCE AND MECHANICS. They had lots of weird stuff about unprovable “facts”.
48
posted on
03/28/2010 10:39:48 PM PDT
by
Ruy Dias de Bivar
(Obama's vision for America...Green shoots and skittles, where pancakes grow on fritter trees.)
To: sonofstrangelove
Rachel, Nevada is the little setlement on the "Extraterrestral HIghway" just north of Area 51, where all the UFO watchers hang out. Look at the junction of Groom Road and Old Mill Road in Rachel, to see what some wierdo has painted on the desert for overflying aliens (and others) to see... ;-)
Rachel, Nevada
49
posted on
03/28/2010 11:21:49 PM PDT
by
TXnMA
(D'Aleo re Hansen's "GISS" temperature database: "Non Gradus Anus Rodentum!")
To: Hillarys Gate Cult
To: HerrBlucher
If the Alien abduction stories people tell are true, Aliens are definitely not our friends and they are evil.
Stephen Hawking has said something to the effect of, "If there is life out there, we need to stop broadcasting to it and keep our heads down. We could be calling down some bad juju."
51
posted on
03/29/2010 12:02:04 AM PDT
by
Rastus
To: sonofstrangelove
Sure, it's just a coincidence that a flying saucer allegedly crashed in Roswell in 1947 and Bell Laboratories came up with the first transistor that very same year. No, there was no reverse engineering. Noooo.. It was all just a coincidence.
To: sonofstrangelove
If anyone is interested, here is a link to a detailed satellite picture of the Groom Lake base. No saucers warming up on the tarmac I’m afraid.
http://i28.tinypic.com/if4d35.jpg
53
posted on
03/29/2010 12:48:20 AM PDT
by
tlb
To: alfa6

Just for fun.....ping
54
posted on
03/29/2010 12:54:57 AM PDT
by
BIGLOOK
(Keelhaul Congress!)
To: BIGLOOK
55
posted on
03/29/2010 1:16:03 AM PDT
by
alfa6
To: Red Steel
The A-12 was featured in a picture in a 1967 National Geographic magazine. I think the "secret" of the A-12 was let out about 30 40 years before September 2007.
56
posted on
03/29/2010 4:03:50 AM PDT
by
Yo-Yo
(Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
To: Vroomfondel; AlexW
Well of course it is just part of the disinformation campaign!
You can't handle the truth!!!!
57
posted on
03/29/2010 5:21:41 AM PDT
by
starlifter
(Sapor Amo Pullus)
To: tlb
I seen the satellte picture but what you expect. Its a pic nothing else. Anyways, they probably know the time when a satellite is coming overhead and put everything inside their hangars.
58
posted on
03/29/2010 7:48:50 PM PDT
by
ErnstStavroBlofeld
("I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution."-Dr.Wernher Von Braun)
To: HerrBlucher
59
posted on
06/09/2010 4:42:48 PM PDT
by
Redcitizen
(Tagline out- use detour)
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