Experts Reveal What Really Happened (Full Episode) | Area 51: The CIA's Secret

Using the most up-to-date information and expert interviews, Area 51: The CIA’s Secret approaches the history of the base’s development in a brand new way and answers the question of what really happened at Area 51.

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Experts Reveal What Really Happened (Full Episode) | Area 51: The CIA's Secret

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When I was a baby, my father was a CIA employee at Area 51, during the time the A12s were being transported there and tested. He was part of the security group. We lived in Las Vegas, and he flew out for the week, then he'd fly back to us for the weekends. My birth certificate lists his occupation as "Nuclear Energy", which was a common cover they used. Later in my life, I knew he had worked for the CIA but I didn't find out about the Area 51 thing until about 10 years ago. There are some interesting stories about the transporting of the planes in those trailers. They would stop sometimes and people would gather and ask what was in the trailers. My dad got tired of thinking up ways to evade the question, so finally he just started telling people, "Well I shouldn't tell you this, but it's a UFO we found". They would light up in amazement and run off to tell others. I like to think my dad was at least partly responsible for the fact that people believe there are UFOs there to this day. :)

[thorenshammer]

My father was stationed at Tinker AFB in the early 1960's, when an unknown aircraft developed a system issue and requested an emergency landing with top secret protocols to be put in place once on the ground. While the men could see the aircraft rolling into the hanger, it wouldn't be until its declassification in the late 1970's that my dad would learn that he was looking at an SR-71 Blackbird. The orders on the day that he saw it were that if anyone came within 100 yards of the aircraft, they would be shot on sight. My dad was always of the option that, by the time the general public learns of an aircraft platform, it has already been in use for a decade or two.

[StlrNtn]

My Dad worked at Area 51 with the Red Hats squadron from about 1974-1984. Today, he is dealing with many health problems, and many that he worked with have already passed.

[leoarc]

For those unfamiliar with it, the U-2 was a fairly difficult aircraft to fly.
It doesn't like to fly at low altitudes (it wasn't designed for low altitudes), and during a mission, at high altitudes, it flew in what is known as the "coffin corner". The coffin corner is a narrow range of airspeed. If you go beyond it, the aircraft will get into transonic flight (compressibility) and it may not be able to withstand the loads associated with it.

If you let airspeed get bellow it, the aircraft will stall. It will not "fall out of the sky", like many documentaries, books and articles say, but it will pitch down and the pilot will have to recover from it, again, without getting into transonic flow in the process.

One of the problems is that, even at high altitudes, air is not uniform. If the aircraft get into a pocket air of different temperature and/or pressure and/or density, that will change the speed of sound, thus shifting the coffin corner relative to your airspeed at that particular moment.
As the U-2 received better engines, it became capable of cruising in an even narrower section of the coffin corner, thereby exacerbating the problem of keeping the aircraft within it.

[kushking]

I will save you 44 mins. National Geographic got in trouble for getting WAY TOO CLOSE, So the military made them air this and gave them all this footage of what they want us to see.

[ThompterSHunson]

FYI, this originally aired 10 years ago (2014).

[wkittils]

My dad, a retired bird Colonel, was USAF Captain civil/environmental engineer working on rocket program, used to visit Groom Lake out of Edwards AFB regularly during the 1960s. It was only after he passed that i realized this was area 51.

[RalphTempleton-vrxs]

We've known for a long time about the 'where' but we will never know the 'what' about this area, no matter how many documentaries are made.

[Bobbydazzlla]

The stealth bomber and fighters were developed in the 70's/80's. You probably couldn't even imagine what they have there 40 - 50 years later.

[BOATSNAPS]

Higgins from Magnum PI! Great to see him again!

[varunthapliyal]

Thank you area 51 for letting national geographic air this show made by the video editor inside area 51 😂😂

[ecsyntric]

spying on the plane’s shadow was genius

[jarodmorris]

I can't be the only one that hears people say, "Here's what really happened...." on some old myth/conspiracy/legend and I immediately think, "Well, we can cross that of the list of how it happened."

[Starfish]

In 1990, after reading about Bob Lazar in the LA Weekly, I went to Area 51 with my boyfriend. Bob Lazar said that they flew these things on Wednesday nights because that was when there was the least traffic on the highway. We stopped at the Little Ale’Inn, met Joe and Pat Travis and got directions to the black mailbox road. We parked there all night, and around 3 am we saw a giant glowing ball of light float up over the mountains. It floated around and did some horizontal movement, and then floated back down. I think we saw them testing one of the craft. 🛸

[kman]

Funny how they can't secure the border but no one can even get close to area 51.

[jsh]

Vitamin D3 doesn't grow lung tissue, it helps build and repair bone. Vitamin D1 is synthesized in the body by exposure to ultraviolet light, D2 can be found in food, and the D3 form is synthetic.

[jwpipes]

It's hilarious that they blur that Cessna's tail number but play the radio calls with the call sign lmao.

[richardgoebel]

When the USA got that MIG-21 there was quite a bit of reverse engineering on the avionics. We figured out the USSR's transponders. Then we designed and built airborne interrogators that were installed on F-4 Phantoms. Good for finding those pesky MIGs that were not radar visible due to ground clutter.

[Melior_Traiano]

32:52 It obviously didn't fall off the pole. The radar signature of the pole was much larger than that of the Have Blue, which is why Lockheed Skunk Works had to design a stealth pole specifically for the prototype, so that they could actually measure its radar cross section.

[DanielChevalier-rhcq]

National geographic society is my friend.I am a traveller and and Explorer of my continent.thank you. For maintaining the spirit of America. And keeping the adventure alive.see you soon.Dannydanny