Groom Lake

The secret site where the U-2 story began. The CIA chose this dry lake bed in April 1955 to test the U-2 and train its pilots. The first U-2 arrived in July 1955 and made its first official flight on 4 August 1955. Shown as it was in the 1960s; today the site is better known as Area 51.

Item	Value
ICAO	KXTA
Where	Nevada, USA, 37.234 N 115.799 W
Elevation	5,895 ft
Runways	14/32, 4,391 × 35 m (14,406 ft); 03L/21R and 03R/21L, 3,064 m (10,052 ft); 09L/27R and 09R/27L, 3,487 m (11,440 ft)
Parking	17 ramp spots (Parking 0 to 18)
U-2 parking	Any ramp spot. The missions start on P 1

Airport Diagram

Groom Lake, north up. The paved runway 14/32 and the four runways on the lake bed. The main ramp is shown below.

The main ramp. Blue: the 17 spawn spots; the numbers are Parking spots. Green: Parking 1, where the missions start. Orange box: the U-2 prep area.