Like the forbidden fruit that triggers human nature’s craving for a bite, the secrecy surrounding the storied air base at Groom Lake in Nevada’s rugged high desert north of Las Vegas accentuates the desire of aviation enthusiasts to get a peek. In what is destined to become a classic history of the test site—known variously as Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, Watertown and Area 51—aerospace authority Peter Merlin offers an encyclopedic treatment brimming with information and photos to satisfy the curiosity of even the most avid aficionados of black programs.

With war clouds looming in 1940, the U.S. military turned Groom Lake into a bombing and gunnery range. In 1955, the area’s remoteness and its dry lakebed made it the ideal location for flight testing the CIA’s highly classified U-2 spy plane, then under contract with Lockheed’s Skunk Works. Two years later, the base was pared to caretaker status, but