From: paulmcg@aol.com (PaulMcG) Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.area51 Subject: Site 6 surveillance report Date: 7 Jul 1995 23:52:56 -0400 Site 6 (Air Force Plant 42) -- July 5, 1995 surveillance report by Paul McGinnis (July 7, 1995) (I'm posting the following because I've noticed that some people visit military sites just once, claim to see all kinds of amazing things, and write about their "experience". (As an example, I saw someone's story about how they visited a number of places in California's Antelope Valley, Tonopah Test Range, Nevada's Tikaboo Valley (Groom Lake), and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, in the course of 5 days, and saw all kinds of secret aircraft and UFOs. Ignoring the fact that to make that kind of loop you'd have to be driving on many highways across 4 states for all of those 5 days, nobody ever gets that lucky. So, I decided to write about a not particularly eventful trip I just made out to the desert. There are no "Aurora" sightings, black helicopters, grey aliens, etc. but hopefully, a more realistic tale.) Yes, I know that a lot of people's response will be, "Get a life!" The main purpose of this expedition was to lurk around the U.S. Air Force's Plant 42 installation in Palmdale, California early on a work day morning to monitor what flew in and out of Site 6, operated by defense contractor EG&G. There had been a rumor that Groom Lake base workers flew out of there, like they do in 737s at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Plant 42 is home to Lockheed's "Skunk Works" where classified aircraft are built. Rockwell, Northrop, and other defense contractors also have large operations at Plant 42, which employs more than 9,000 people. Internet users can see a map of Plant 42, and other info I have posted at: http://www.portal.com/~trader/gav.html I decided to conduct my surveillance on the day after the July 4th holiday, when everybody would have to come back to work. I arrived in the Antelope Valley on the afternoon of July 4th and scouted the base. Even though I've lurked around the base a number of times in the past, and have material on the installation that was released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), I still wanted to find a decent place just outside the fence to watch Site 6, which is towards the center of the installation near the control tower. There are other viewing spots, such as the fence on the west near Sierra Highway, where one can study Lockheed's "Skunk Works", or a place known as "John's Spot", a patch of dirt on the east side of the base fence, next to the end of the runways, where you can watch aircraft arriving or departing. The best spot I found was a boulder in the parking lot of Palmdale Regional Airport, on the south side of the base. According to Air Force material I had, the tower didn't open until 6:00 in the morning. I tried to find a cheap motel near Plant 42, but had to make do with a place 3 miles (4.8 km) away. I had to convince the clerk that I wanted a room on the top (3rd) floor, even though they had plenty of rooms on the ground floor. (I didn't tell her that I wanted to be as high above the ground as possible, for better radio reception for my scanner -- I had a Radio Shack Pro-26 with me, with continuous coverage up to 1.3 GHz, except for the cellular telephone frequencies.) I got up the next morning at 5:00, in order to get to Plant 42 before 6:00. Unfortunately, I heard the Palmdale tower on 123.7 MHz, around 5:10 stating that they "had one going out for Lockheed" and identified the aircraft type as a Cessna. After a quick shower, I sped over to Plant 42, but the aircraft had already departed. I decided to monitor what was flying at Plant 42 up until 8:00, when I would have to leave and commute 2 hours to my job. While sitting on the rock, I came up with an idea that avoided problems with the local law enforcement. Since aerospace workers wear photo ID badges, I put mine on, even though it was not for any of the contractors at Plant 42. This would prove useful later, when a Palmdale Airport police officer came by, and didn't find anything unusual about a guy (me) with big 10x50 binoculars and a radio studying the base, because the guy was wearing a badge. There didn't seem to much activity in Site 6, which didn't look like it could handle 737s. (My vantage point was almost 1 mile (1.6 km) away.) The main buildings at Site 6 are a medium-sized Quonset hut and a small hangar.) For some time, the only activity was the departure of United Express turboprops from Palmdale Airport. While waiting for something to happen I saw a gorgeous desert sunrise and randomly searched for new frequencies with the scanner. (I found 2 new frequencies -- aircraft departing Palmdale switched to 124.55 MHz, and I heard Air Force SPs at Edwards AFB giving traffic tickets on 148.05 MHz). Around 6:50 in the morning a two engine Cessna (of the type used to carry business executives around) landed at Plant 42, and pulled up to the Quonset hut in Site 6. At this point, I realized I was witnessing what I had come to see. A truck carrying aircraft fuel appeared and a ground crew started servicing the aircraft. Passengers eventually boarded the aircraft and it left around 7:30. I actually heard the Palmdale tower give the destination of the aircraft. Their message was, "King Air [garbled] cleared from Palmdale to Tonopah". This was not what I expected, but pretty reasonable -- EG&G (and their subsidiary REECo) operates Site 6 and Tonopah Test Range (TTR) in Nevada. A former aerospace worker explained that King Air does a lot of business flying defense workers around to remote locations. Perhaps, the reason for the rumor that these flights go to unknown destinations was that the person didn't have a radio to listen to the tower. (My own guess is that Groom Lake base workers probably fly to Las Vegas on Monday mornings, stay in motels or hotels in Vegas during the week, while they fly out to Groom each day, and then return back to Southern California on Friday evenings.) Summary: I now have a better idea about Site 6 activities. As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, and people who follow military activities can confirm, most of our trips are pretty uneventful. For example, I've hiked in to see Groom Lake both with groups and on my own. All I've ever seen is a large air base in a remote desert location. But, that's not the point. The point is that it gives one a chance to get away from the city, and satisfy one's curiousity. The military is usually aware that you are watching them, and you probably won't see anything really shocking. Normally, the extent of interest the military shows in you is to have their security men study you. Yes, you end up staring at them with binoculars, while they stare back at you with binoculars. In case anyone is interested, here's what I had in my scanner: Frequencies (in MHz) (AM unless otherwise indicated): 121.9 - Palmdale ground control 123.325, 123.425 - Lockheed - aero band 123.7 - Palmdale tower 124.55 - Palmdale departures 126.1 - Joshua Approach/Departure (I have heard controller giving private planes instructions on how to avoid Plant 42's and Edwards AFB restricted air space on 126.1) 149.505 (FM) - Plant 42 (now encrypted?) 153.025 (FM) - EG&G 153.2 (FM), 158.295 (FM) - Lockheed Corp. (I have heard Lockheed's fire department on 158.295) 163.4875, 163.5875 - Air Force SPs [used nationwide] 460.1 (FM), 460.525 - Palmdale Airport police 462.425 - Lockheed (security?? encrypted some of the time) 482.8625 - Los Angeles County Sheriff (Antelope Valley - it's always good to have local law enforcement in your radio, in case a base calls them) Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com / PaulMcG@aol.com http://www.portal.com/~trader/secrecy.html ********************************************************** Anonymous FTP access to files dealing with excessive military secrecy is available from Internet host ftp.shell.portal.com (IP address 156.151.3.4) in the /pub/trader directory. Read the 00readme files for descriptions of the files. Writings from Glenn Campbell, author of the "Area 51 Viewer's Guide" are available in /pub/trader/secrecy/psychospy. (America Online users can use Keyword:FTP, and Web users can use URL ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/trader/ )