Inside Area 51 | Bill Yoak's Time With Lockheed and Skunk Works in Groom Lake

Bill Yoak tells his story about working in Area 51, meeting Kelly Johnson and working on secret programs, followed by an original documentary about the U-2 Spy plane, and a documentary about Kelly Johnson, the mastermind behind Skunk Works.
Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport (ICAO: KXTA, FAA LID: XTA)or Groom Lake (after the salt flat next to its airfield). Details of its operations are not made public, but the USAF says that it is an open training range, and it is commonly thought to support the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems.The USAF and CIA acquired the site in 1955, primarily for flight testing the Lockheed U-2 aircraft.

The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore. It has never been declared a secret base, but all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). The CIA publicly acknowledged the base's existence on June 25, 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2005 and declassified documents detailing its history and purpose.

Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada, 83 miles (134 km) north-northwest of Las Vegas. The surrounding area is a popular tourist destination, including the small town of Rachel on the "Extraterrestrial Highway".
The origin of the name "Area 51" is unclear. It is believed to be from an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) numbering grid, although Area 51 is not part of this system; it is adjacent to Area 15. Another explanation is that 51 was used because it was unlikely that the AEC would use the number.According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the correct names for the facility are Homey Airport (XTA/KXTA) and Groom Lake, though the name "Area 51" was used in a CIA document from the Vietnam War. The facility has also been referred to as "Dreamland" and "Paradise Ranch", among other nicknames, with the former also being the approach control call sign for the surrounding area. The USAF public relations has referred to the facility as "an operating location near Groom Dry Lake". The special use airspace around the field is referred to as Restricted Area 4808 North (R-4808N).

Lead and silver were discovered in the southern part of the Groom Range in 1864, and the English company Groome Lead Mines Limited financed the Conception Mines in the 1870s, giving the district its name (nearby mines included Maria, Willow, and White Lake). J. B. Osborne and partners acquired the controlling interest in Groom in 1876, and Osbourne's son acquired it in the 1890s. Mining continued until 1918, then resumed after World War II until the early 1950s.

The airfield on the Groom Lake site began service in 1942 as Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field and consisted of two unpaved 5,000-foot (1,524 m) runways.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established the Groom Lake test facility in April 1955 for Project AQUATONE: the development of the Lockheed U-2 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Project director Richard M. Bissell Jr. understood that the flight test and pilot training programs could not be conducted at Edwards Air Force Base or Lockheed's Palmdale facility, given the extreme secrecy surrounding the project. He conducted a search for a suitable testing site for the U-2 under the same extreme security as the rest of the project.  He notified Lockheed, who sent an inspection team out to Groom Lake. According to Lockheed's U-2 designer Kelly Johnson:

We flew over it and within thirty seconds, you knew that was the place it was right by a dry lake. Man alive, we looked at that lake, and we all looked at each other. It was another Edwards, so we wheeled around, landed on that lake, taxied up to one end of it. It was a perfect natural landing field as smooth as a billiard table without anything being done to it.

#skunkworks #airplane #aircraft

[patyzinowiew]

Worked at Locheed in Burbank Calif in the 1980s. Was an electronic installation mechanic. Worked on the stealth fighter program. Moved to Rockwell after that and worked on the B1 bomber program as well as installing electronics on the Endeavor shuttle. Top of the list of my favorite jobs over my lifetime.

[raysmith]

My Great Grandfather worked for Lockheed skunk works a long time ago!! He was mechanical engineer. He build parts for the SR-71 among others! What’s interesting is my Grandfather was a full bird colonel and he had the honor of actually flying the SR-71!! I have the pictures of him in air flying the Blackbird!!! He served 37 years in USAF He was a brilliant man and a proud officer. God rest his soul!!🇺🇸

[lmundiclan]

My dad worked at Lockheed for 20 years as Senior Aeronautical Engineer up till 1973 on the Syealth Bomber. He designed the cockpit and fuselage. Excited to hopefully see him in this . He worked Liaison with the pilots. He died in 1982, I miss my dad.

[kevinkelker]

That was amazing!!! Enginerring at its finest. Using drafting tables, slide rulers, and wind tunnels to create masterpieces of aviation. Hats off to all those men & women who made this possible.

[Fleetwoodjohn]

Hearing a narrator describe the stats of the sr71 still gives me goosebumps. Kelly was an amazing guy 😎

[PaulDostie]

My dad worked at the Lockheed Skunk Works for many years in Burbank. He was a Design Engineer. We lived in Granada Hills. Sometimes dad would have to leave for a week or two. We were little kids then and we never knew where he went. Lockheed had a emergency phone number mom could call if she had a home emergency. When Dad would come back from one of his trips he would give us kids silver dollars. I kept them all this time and I still have them. Of course they flew into Las Vegas and then on to a unmarked plane that went to Area 51. It wasn't until 1964 that President Johnson announced the existence of the SR-71. He worked on a lot of things there. One of the things he helped design was a periscope that was operated the rear seater. The purpose of this was to see if the mini SR-71, that was actually a drone, launched properly. The rear seater launched the drone.

When I was in Junior high Dad took me to a lecture at the Skunk Works about the shoot down of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto. Yamamoto was the architect of the Peral Harbor attack that started WW2. He was shot down by a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. The pilot's last name was Barber as I recall. He shook my hand after the lecture. When I got back to school I told all the guys that I shook the hand of the pilot who shot down Yamamoto.

[bigal]

My grandfather started at Lockheed in 1937 sweeping the floors on the Electra assembly line in Burbank he even said he got to meet Amelia Earhart when her Electra was getting some repairs before she disappeared. He was able to climb to better positions because of a aeronautical workers strike before the U.S. entered the war. He primarily worked on the P-38’s during the war and after Was sent to west Germany to help start the F-104 program the Germans were manufacturing them under license in Germany in the 50’s and 60’s. He also helped customize president Eisenhowers constellation Air Force One. The first 4 engine plane with that designation. He retired in 1972 from the research and development department at the empire plant Burbank California. And miss him very much. George W. Coombs

[stubryant]

Normally any manager who was this extremely hands on would utterly sabotage anything he/she was involved with. So how did Kelly Johnson pull off this absolute magic? He surrounded himself with dedicated talent, then he actually listened to his people. Imagine that! I cannot think of any other who has accomplished what he did. Much less given his level of control- which is most often counterproductive. Kelly Johnson was as unique as the aircraft he and his teams designed.

[billotto]

This is the best video I've ever seen that spells out just what an incredible engineer Kelly Johnson was. He was always many years ahead of the men around him. I don't know if it will be possible to ever surpass him. He was a man of vision that surpassed anything from anyone in his profession. RIP sir 🫡🇺🇸 🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️

[rossmeldrum]

I have a cousin who worked at Lockheed from the early 60's until her retirement in 2012. She was a manager over all the working drawings for all the projects Lockheed was working on. She kept them safe and controlled who had access to see or work on those drawings.

[nightowl]

Man, those guys had really cool jobs. I always thought those Northrop Grumman B-2 Stealth planes were so cool. Can you imagine being allowed to fly in one as a passenger. They really were awesome-looking aircraft. You could see how well-made they were gliding in the sky. Makes ya proud to be an American! 🇺🇸

[Wombats-]

Imagine being the man who tried calling Kelly out on his advice to improve airplanes. Telling him to make it better if your such a genius, and he comes back to show you what time it is. He was incredibly gifted at engineering that I don’t see anyone ever coming close to again. Modern day computers couldn’t hold a candle to the knowledge he had back in those days. If I could go back in time meeting Kelly would be my top choice to meet. Man he was amazing

[ltipst]

Very very cool man, I'm very very grateful for his small insight. An obvious team player. He holds resentments for how secretive he had to be but he did an excellent job.

[Wombats-]

Man how amazing it would have been to meet Kelly before he passed He was a one of a kind genius.

[gohan]

This video is the holy grail of what little we know about Area 51 and I love it more then I do the u-2 and sr-71

[ZacVaper]

Bill Yoak did work at Lockheed and he did a wonderful job at moping the floors. He always had a wild imagination but that's why we liked him. He was one of Jerry's kids and if you're old enough, you get the meaning.

[christopherjohnson]

When you don't have much life left, life imprisonment doesn't scare you as much.

[jamesborden]

NO BS HERE! Look at the way the man speaks! Just simple, straightforward and matter-of-factly!

[julesverne]

If it weren't for these guys no one would believe aliens exist. Thanks a lot for

[TechnikMeister]

Kelly Johnson said this: "I'm not here to build the possible, but to overcome the impossible."
When the first F35s were delivered to our Airforce in Australia, the aircrews and ground crews who had trained in the USA, were told when they first got to touch one, that "Kelly Johnson's dna is in this plane."