Message posted by Peter Merlin on August 26, 2010 at 16:57:40 PST:
Well, we know that the Groom Lake test site has a great many names. Some are formal designations like Watertown Airstrip (1955-1958) and Area 51 (1958-1979). Others are euphemistic nicknames like "The Ranch" or "Home Plate." Other names generate a great deal of debate. Is it accurate to say the facility is called Detachment 3, AFFTC, or is that simply the name of the organization that operates the base? Is "Homey" a real name for the airfield just because it is used in a database? In 1995, Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall claimed that "the operating location near Groom Lake has no official name." That may have been true at the time or perhaps it was merely a game of semantics. At any rate, since 1997 certain individuals have referred to the Groom Lake base as the National Classified Test Facility. If that doesn't have the ring of an official name, I don't know what does.
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