The Real Name Of The Facility At Groom Lake

The official name of the facility at Groom Lake is, and always has been:

Watertown Federal Airfield

It was Watertown only when it was a CIA base, and used for the development and operation of
the U-2 and SR-71.

Watertown I think was Allen Dulles' (a big CIA director in late 50's--early 60's) hometown.

Now I think it is

"Detachment 3, Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base" which
operates the facility near Groom Lake.

They don't talk much about "detachment 3" in public, but I remember seeing on a
DOD web page, where they had biographies and resumes of high-up generals that
a number of them, especially in the space program (including Shuttle personnel) had
prior tours of duty as AFFTC.

In some ways that makes sense---if you are a shuttle pilot, you have to be really good and able to make a "dead stick" landing of an unpowered rock, coming in at very high speed, on a very long runway.

Where else would you have similar experience? Obviously, high performance high-altitude aircraft, e.g. SR71, U-2, and whatever else. They are designed for high performance and speed at altitude, and are a bitch to fly at low altitude.

In the early 1990's Glenn Campbell, then running the Area 51 Research Center, based in Rachel, NV made it known that he had obtained a copy of an operations manual used by those employed at the Groom Lake site. In this manual the term "AFFTC Detachment 3" was used several times. After some digging Glenn concluded that the facility was in all actuality a sister station of Edwards AFB in California. That was the first time that the term Detachment 3 had become available to the general public. In 1951 Allen Dulles was made Deputy Director of the CIA, he was born in Watertown, NY in 1893, and thus the facility at Groom Lake, erected in 1955, was given that name in honor of his hometown. As for my earlier original thread on the official name of the base, it really depends whom you ask. You ask the average UFO believer and he'll more than likely tell you "Area 51". You ask the average aviation enthusiast and he'll probably tell you "Groom Lake". And lastly you ask a worker at the facility itself and they'll tell you "Watertown Federal Airfield." I guess it all comes back to credibility, and this info is credible.

[edit on 19-6-2004 by Chris_H]

Originally posted by mbkennel

It was Watertown only when it was a CIA base, and used for the development and operation of
the U-2 and SR-71.

Watertown I think was Allen Dulles' (a big CIA director in late 50's--early 60's) hometown.

Now I think it is

"Detachment 3, Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base" which
operates the facility near Groom Lake.

They don't talk much about "detachment 3" in public, but I remember seeing on a
DOD web page, where they had biographies and resumes of high-up generals that
a number of them, especially in the space program (including Shuttle personnel) had
prior tours of duty as AFFTC.

In some ways that makes sense---if you are a shuttle pilot, you have to be really good and able to make a "dead stick" landing of an unpowered rock, coming in at very high speed, on a very long runway.

Where else would you have similar experience? Obviously, high performance high-altitude aircraft, e.g. SR71, U-2, and whatever else. They are designed for high performance and speed at altitude, and are a bitch to fly at low altitude.

Watertown is the correct name for the base. Although the base has changed hands, the name has never been changed. DET 3 AFFTC is the name of the unit that runs the base, NOT the base itself. It just like the Air Force facility out in the California desert where the US Air Force does most of its flight testing from is called Edwards Air Force Base, and the the Air Force Flight Test Center. Second, Groom Lake/Area 51 houses much more then just a flight test center, it also houses intelligence facilities of various types. I'll compile a thead on this topic later.

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

It has been said....

....."Where else would you have similar experience? Obviously, high performance high-altitude aircraft, e.g. SR71, U-2, and whatever else. They are designed for high performance and speed at altitude, and are a bitch to fly at low altitude......."

Sorry, but you might be correct about the sr-71 being unstable at low atltitudes...for example...if the Sr-71 was to make a 180 turn at cruising speed...it would require the entire width of the Island of the United kingdom to do so. When it lands in California...it has been rumored to call for clearance when it still is in New York. During one of the 1973 war of the state of Israel...the Israelis armed their jericho missiles with nukes...ready for the last final strike...the US Presidential Moscow hotline went off and informed the president what was going on...and ordered an sr-71 from California to overfly Israel (it refueled over spain) to verify the russian claims of Israel was preparing to use nukes...(a satellite was not in position at the time to provide real time data...) Israel sent up two F-4's for intercept....(hey...didn't we sell those to them in the first place?) of course they could not even get near it.

pictures were on the presidents desk in a matter of hours. Nixon then told Brezhnev have their egyptian buddies arm their Russian made Scuds with nukes to have a balance of power. basically, at the time...MAD was the policy...mutual assured destruction...(this information is from a book called Intelligence warfare) By the time the ship left Russia with nukes (10/13/73)
and arrived in Egypt....the war ws already over.
(excerpted from Intelligence Warfare page 132.)


but the U-2 is very versatile and has what i believe to be the highest rate of climb than any other aircraft in the inventory. It is very versatile at lower altitudes, and flys like a glider. I did not believe my eyes when I first seen one take off. the angle of attack ont he Horizontal Situation Indicator must have been either 60 or 70 degrees in reference to the Horizon. It climbed so high so fast, that i believe it would dissappear from being too high rather than being too far...

In fact, you have heard many times that the US was accused of violating the Soviets Airspace during the cold war....well...of course we were...because the Sr-71 started to turn while it was STILL in legal airspace...and by the time it finished turning...it was in soviet territory, and of course...if it were picking up valuable intel...it would continue to monitor.
that is why they decided to have the TR-1 and the Sr71 work in Tandem.
When the sr71 started its turn....the TR1 can continue what it started monitoring. so...the performance at low atltitude is not a problem for the U2 or TR-1 for that matter.

According the the 9th Circuit, and Sheila Widnall, former Secretary of the Air Force, it's simply known as "The operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada." It was operated by the Air Force circa 1998. Kasza v. Browner, 133 F.3d 1159 (9th Cir. 1998). As cliche as it sounds, the place really is so classified it has no official name.

-koji K.

[edit on 25-6-2004 by koji_K]