The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established the Groom Lake test facility during ProjectAQUATONE, through which the Lockheed U-2 spy plane was developed. Capable of flying athigh altitude while carrying sophisticated cameras and sensors, the U-2 was equipped with asingle jet engine and long, tapered straight wings.For security reasons, CIA officials did not believe that the new airplane should be flown atEdwards Air Force Base, California. At the request of U-2 designer Clarence L. "Kelly"Johnson of the Lockheed Advanced Development Projects division (better known as theSkunk Works), project pilot Tony LeVier was dispatched to scout locations around thesouthwestern United States for a more remote test site.Richard M. Bissell Jr., director of the AQUATONE program, reviewed dozens of potential testsites with his Air Force liaison, Col.

Osmond J. "Ozzie" Ritland. None seemed to meet theprogram's stringent security requirements. Ritland, however, recalled "a little X-shaped field"in southern Nevada that he had flown over many times during his involvement with the nuclearweapons test program. The airstrip, called Nellis Auxiliary Field No.1, was located just off theeastern side of Groom Dry Lake, about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. It was also just outsidethe Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) nuclear proving ground at Yucca Flat.