Are aircraft "built" at Area 51?

I've always wondered if aircraft or other high tech stuff like radar, avionics etc.. is actually built or constructed at area 51? I was under the impression that it's a test facility and was originally created for the U2 so nothing is really built there, maybe assembles and fine tuned? I know Lockheeds skunk works is at plant 42 in palmdale so is that where the aircraft is built and then tested at A51?

As far as I know, aircraft are built at the manufacturers plant whether that is Lockheeds Plant 42 or Northrop or Boeings equivalent, and then transported in pieces for convenience to Groom Lake by air or land and then assembled in a hangar there.

I know that this was true for the A-12, HAVE BLUE, SENIOR TREND and the U-2 (OXCART).

Here is an image of the A-12 being transported by road to Area 51. As you can see its "vertical" control surfaces are not yet attached, these may be what are being transported in the second smaller cargo:


Here is an image of the first U-2 being delivered to Groom Lake by air. Its wings clearly aren't attached:


Some maintainence is done at the base on the test craft. It would be pointless to have to dissemble them and transport back to california each time any repairs were needed.

Thanks gfad, thats what I thought but wasnt really sure. I was looking at A51 in google earth and noticed lots of 18 wheeler trucks parked so they probably do truck a lot of stuff in, and maybe fly the really sensitive stuff in with cargo planes.

That first link to the A12 picture doesnt seem to work but I would like to see it

Here's an image showing an A-12 mid transport:

Large image

Aircraft have been transported by C-5 to the Groom lake facility. Occasionally they were even flown to there, like when the F-117s were sometimes flown from Burbank to Groom, even while still secret.

All of the F-117A airframes were transported to Groom lake inside a C-5 cargo plane. At Groom they underwent final assembly and checkout.

Each F-117A made its initial contractor and customer acceptance test flights at Groom before being assigned to Tonopah Test Range.

All the evidence seems to suggest that A51 is for testing and testing only. Most of the projects tested there (at least the declassified ones) went on to be based at other locations. With Grooms location being so remote it doesn't seem likely that anything could be produced in a large scale. Maybe "one-offs" of a new platform but not much else. From the google earth images of A51 it's hard to imagine a "fleet" of anything would be based there. Most likely, just for the simple fact that we're all speculating on this, A51 is near obsolete and alot of the emerging tech is getting checked out elsewhere. Until the next "official disclosure" of a black project aircraft and it's history we'll just have to speculate.

The Groom Lake facility is a test site, not a production facility or base for operational aircraft.

It is a thriving facility for test and evaluation of new technologies and prototypes. The base has been expanding in recent years, with the addition of hangars, support facilities and infrastructure. It is far from obsolete.