Nevada, the Battle Born state was selected as the nation's west coast line of defense during World War II. Ever since, Nevada has hosted the Army Air Corps, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, US Army, and the Navy for the development of the nation's most highly classified activities and achievements that played a large part in winning the Cold War and all other wars in between. The state of Nevada has been a Mecca for independent people who wanted to do new and different things. Among the state's unique accomplishments were the pioneering of space travel during which Nevada produced more astronauts than any other state. Nevada hosted the development of nuclear power for space exploration and as a deterrent to aggression by our enemies. The state's development and testing of the accouterments of space, war, and defense have contributed to our nation's successes. With the initial U-2 plane flight tests at Groom Lake, almost every flight established a new world altitude record for manned flight. The flights of the CIA's A-12 spy plane at Groom Lake set world altitude and speed records that still stand today. Nevada has continued to exhibit its unique heritage through many aerospace pioneers and programs that have been either based here or in the interest of national security-based elsewhere but commuted to conduct their activities within the state of Nevada. Though these individuals and programs made major contributions to the state of Nevada, the United States, and the free world, little is known of some because many of these aerospace pioneers and icons made sacrifices and contributions in ultra secrecy at locations that even today are not well-known. Contributing to their obscurity, they often used pseudo names in the interest of national security, thus ensuring that they remained nonexistent until declassification of the associated programs. In many instances, national security concerns required these aerospace pioneers to reside in another state and commute to work at secret venues in Nevada. This occurred with the CIA when it chose Nevada for the Agency's Area 51 to develop the U-2 spy plane. Formed 1 December 2008, the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame (NVAHOF) is a non-profit, educational institution dedicated to preserving the legacy of these men and women who pioneered and advanced our nation's aerospace within and above the State of Nevada. NVAHOF serves as an educational tool to assist both researchers and the general public in better understanding the very significant aerospace history of Nevada as well as a means of recognizing those hidden beneath the shroud of secrecy who contributed so much to their country. Executive Director: TD Barnes
About the Author: Thornton D. "TD" Barnes, author and entrepreneur, grew up on a ranch at Dalhart, Texas. He graduated from Mountain View High School in Oklahoma and embarked on a ten-year military career. He served as an Army intelligence specialist in Korea and then continued his education while in the US Army, attending two and a half years of missile and radar electronics by day and college courses at night. Barnes deployed with the first combat Hawk missile battalion during the Soviet Iron Curtain threat before attending the Artillery Officer Candidate School, where an injury ended his military career. During his extensive professional career, Barnes was a field engineer at the NASA High Range in Nevada for the X-15, XB-70, lifting bodies and lunar landing vehicles; working on the NERVA project at Jackass Flats, Nevada. He was a member of a special projects team at Area 51 for the Central Intelligence Agency. Barnes later formed a family oil and gas exploration company, drilling and producing oil and gas and mining uranium and gold. Barnes is currently the CEO of Startel, Inc., a landowner, and is actively mining a quarry for landscape rock and gold in Nevada. He is the president of Roadrunners Internationale, an association of Area 51 veterans, and is the executive director of the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame. Two National Geographic Channel documentaries feature Barnes: Area 51 Declassified and CIA-Secrets of Area 51. Numerous documentaries on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel and others also feature him. The Annie Jacobsen book Area 51 Declassified documents his career. Barnes lives in Henderson, Nevada.