The Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame Oral History Program through collaboration with students and faculty at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada Reno has added thousands of pages to its fact sheets, biographies, and personal accounts of aviation and aerospace projects and events occurring in the state.

These include the personal bios of many of Nevada’s participants in once top-secret CIA projects occurring at Area 51 and other classified facilities in Nevada. This phase of the never-before documented oral history project has received top priority because of the high attrition rate among the aging veterans of this era. Valuable history is lost with the loss of each veteran.

From here, the NVAHOF staff and student volunteers will concentrate on documenting the little-known history of those pioneering civil and general aviation in Nevada.

Follow the links and enjoy the legacy of our nation’s secret heroes of the Cold War as we establish and record it as a vital part of our NVAHOF oral history program.’

The NVAHOF Oral History Project records and preserves the personal stories behind Nevada’s aviation history. NVAHOF founders and members participated in the award-winning Nevada Test Site Oral History Project, 2003-2008, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, directed by Dr. Mary Palevsky.” The NVAHOF has continued to work with other scholars to document Nevada’s unique place in our nation’s aerospace history.”

We encourage you to visit the excellent product of Dr. Palevsky’s interviews at https://digital.library.unlv.edu/ntsohp/.

 

The Zero-length Launch (ZELL) Program began with a launch of an F-84G in 1955. Each test utilized a USAF fighter mounted on the back of a flatbed truck and had a rocket motor attached to the airframe. The footage in the clip took place in Indian Springs, Nevada in 1958 when an F-100 was used.

Dedication of memorial for those lost at Area 51 during CIA U-2 Project Aquatone and A-12 Project Oxcart.

Jess Hartris, the Flying Sheriff

Genie Missile Test. This atomic blast in Nevada was a test of a 2-kiloton nuclear-armed air-to-air weapon designed to defend the United States from an attack from enemy bombers. A live Genie was detonated only once in Operation Plumbbob on July 19 1957. It was fired by AF Captain Eric William Hutchison (pilot) and AF Captain Alfred C. Barbee (radar operator) flying a F-89J over Yucca Flats.  

Dr. Dan Bubb Interview on Early Aviation in Nevada. Dan Bubb, Ph.D. (Director of Education Programs for the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame) discusses the early aviation in Nevada during an opening ceremony of the third terminal at McCarran International Airport.

Gary Francis Powers, CIA U-2 pilot and veteran of Groom Lake in 1956, received the long deserved Silver Star award.

Early_U-2_Groom during CIA Project Aquatone at Watertown, a.k.a. Groom Lake – Declassified CIA film of Groom Lake operations during Project Aquatone in 1955 – 1957

BGen Dennis Sullivan Mach 3 – gear down story.

CIA Pilot, Col Ken collins about A-12 pilots.

CIA pilot Jack Layton discuses Blackshield Missions.

CIA A-12 Pilot Frank Murray on training and flying the A-12

CIA A-12 Pilot Murray discusses Lou Schalk

CIA A-12 Pilot Murray about loss of planes and pilots

CIA A-12 pilot about Kelly Johnson.

CIA pilot Ken Collins on Recruitment for CIA Project Oxcart.

CIA A-12 pilot Jack Layeon on his bailouts from burning C-47 and F-101

CIA A-12 pilot Jack Layton on his recruitment

CIA A-12 pilot on his bailout of burning YF-12

CIA A-12 pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan of Blackshield Missions.

CIA pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan about Lovelace Clinic

CIA A-12 pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan about the Groom Lake Flying Club

CIA A-12 pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan on his recruitment by the CIA Megan Kelly Interviews NVAHOF Director TD Barnes NVAHOF Director TD Barnes intoduces CIA OXCART Panel at the National Atomic Testing Museum NVAHOF Director TD Barnes on the history of Project Oxcart TD Barnes states his belief that the United States has UAVs providing the surveillance previously provided by the CIA A-12 and Air Force SR-71 Blackbirds T D Barnes discusses the topic of secrecy at Groom Lake during CIA Project Oxcart In the 1960s T.D. Barnes first participated in the CIA Project Palladium as the agency prepared a replacement plane for the U-2 flying over the Soviet Union. He later supported the A-12 project codenamed Project Oxcart while on at the Beatty station of the NASA High Range as a hypersonic flight support specialist.M/p> First Flight of the A-12 narrated by its pilot, Lockheed Test Pilot Lou Schalk

CIA & AIR FORCE U-2 PHOTO ARCHIVE

A-12, YF-12, & SR-71 BLACKBIRD PHOTO ARCHIVE

NASA HIGH RANGE PHOTO ARCHIVE Photos provided by Tony Landis at NASA

Only the declassified activities of the CIA and Air Force participation in U-2 Project Aquatone and Air Force Project Idealist are posted herein.

NVAHOF’S ORAL HISTORY BIOS OF THE AREA 51 VETERANS SERVING THE CIA AT AREA 51 IN NEVADA

  • Adams
  • Alber
  • Amundson
  • Andersen
  • Anderson
  • Archer
  • Armentrout
  • Bacalis
  • Banks
  • Bard
  • Barnes, Jim
  • Barnes, TD
  • Barrett
  • Bassick
  • Baylor
  • Beswick
  • Bevacqua
  • Bolich
  • Brown
  • Burgeson
  • Budzynski
  • Buyse
  • Byrnes
  • Cahill
  • Calhoun
  • Calvin
  • Carmody
  • Carpenter
  • Choate
  • Christian
  • Christensen
  • Colle
  • Collins
  • Cooney
  • Corzine
  • Cravotta
  • Culp
  • Dake
  • Davenport
  • Delap
  • Deluna
  • Donohue
  • Dunaway
  • Dupuis
  • Dye
  • Eastham
  • Evans
  • Fancher
  • Faraldo
  • Farrell
  • Fogel
  • Fox
  • Freedman
  • Fulton
  • Gardiner
  • Garvin
  • Gibbs
  • Giles
  • Gilliland
  • Girard
  • Goodwin
  • Gordon
  • Grace
  • Gross
  • Goudey, Ray
  • Gugin
  • Habegger
  • Haen, Dave
  • Haen, Denise
  • Halloran
  • Harnage
  • Haugen
  • Haupt
  • Havener
  • Henderson
  • Holbury
  • Hua
  • Hughes
  • Jackson, Bob
  • Jackson
  • Jenkins
  • Johnson, D
  • Joseph
  • Kabat
  • Kelly
  • Kershner
  • Kitten
  • Knutson
  • Koopman
  • Larsen
  • Law
  • Layton
  • Leavitt
  • Ledford
  • Lipscomb
  • Losh
  • Martin
  • McCoy
  • McCullough
  • Meierdierck
  • Meyler
  • Micalizzi
  • Milam
  • Miller
  • Miller,Bob
  • Mills
  • Moe
  • Moeschl
  • Murphy
  • Murray
  • Nelson
  • Nelson, Norm
  • Nelson, Wayne
  • Nichols
  • Noce
  • Osman
  • Overstreet
  • Pao
  • Park
  • Pendleton
  • Piantosi
  • Pizzo
  • Power, Ed
  • Powers
  • Pryor
  • Ransdell
  • Ray
  • Reed
  • Robarge
  • Rogers
  • Rosario
  • Rossetti
  • Roussell
  • Ruseckus
  • Sampson
  • Schalk
  • Schlesinger
  • Schrecengost
  • Setter
  • Seymour
  • Shingler
  • Simon
  • Simon, J.
  • Skliar
  • Skliar, Janis
  • Slater
  • Stanks
  • Stockman
  • Sullivan
  • Thomas
  • Trost
  • Turnage
  • Ursini
  • Vickers
  • Vining
  • Vito
  • Vojvodich
  • Weaver
  • Weeks
  • Weigel
  • Weiss
  • Welsh
  • Wheelon
  • White
  • White, Fred
  • Williams, Col.
  • Williams, MSgt
  • Wilson
  • Wittlake
  • Wood
  • Yancey
  • Yang
  • Yingling
  • COLD WAR STORIES OF THE AREA 51 VETERANS FROM THE CIA ERA IN NEVADA

    AFOSI officer at Area 51
    YF-12 Stories by Vern Henderson
    YF-12 Stories by Fred Trost
    Company Cover Names by: Bill Goodwin
    Checking out in A-12 by: Lon Walters
    Starting the F-100 by Bill Fox
    Been There – Done That by Slip Slater
    Dobber Dick by Anonymous
    Asia from Above by Col. Roy Stanley
    The Crash of Article 928 by Bill Goodwin
    Kelly Johnson by Dave Adrian
    The Demise of Article #129 by James Beam
    First Flight of the A-12 by Bill Fox
    Genesis of the Roadrunner by O.B. Harnage
    The Way It Was Back When by Sam Pizzo
    Air Force Nostalgia by Anonymous
    The Flight That Never Happened by Pizzo
    As Good as it Gets By: Sam Pizzo
    Arming the HAWK Missile By: TD Barnes
    U-2 Pilot Selection by Harry Cordes
    Super Duper Sonic by Harold Mills
    Wife of A U-2 Piloy By: Rogene Cordes
    Deployed Dependants by: Doris Barnes
    Recruitment for Area 51 by: M/Gen Doug Nelson
    Secret Hero by: Robert DeWitt
    Recovery of Article #131 by: Frank Murray
    Last Flight of the A-12 by: Frank Murray
    Blackbird Remembrances by: Dr. Tom Budzynski P.h.D.
    Walter Ray Accident by: BG Dennis Sullivan
    Jack Weeks Accident by:BG Dennis Sullivan
    U-2 Self contained Navigation Systems by:Bill Reed
    M-209 Secret Code Machine by: Charles Christian
    First U-2 Operational Flight by: Carl Overstreet

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