(b: 1931) was in charge of Project Oxcart’s 1.32 million gallon fuel farm at Area 51. He became one of the first men to return to the nearly deserted, top secret base after fallout from atomic testing closed the facility in late 1957.

(b: 1932 ) was the youngest pilot to fly the U-2 at Area 51. Even John Wayne wanted to shake his hand. Formerly Gary Powers’ roommate, Bevacqua was called upon to search for Oxcart pilot Jack Weeks after Weeks was lost over the South China Sea.

(b: 1933) served as the Area 51 helicopter search and rescue pilot in the 1960s. In addition to locating missing pilots, airplanes and drones, Trapp oversaw pilot survival training.

(b: 1937) recruited by CIA at 21, Barnes became expert in radar and ECCM. For Project NERVA, he worked to get man to Mars in a nuclear-powered rocket ship in the astonishingly short time of frame of 124 days. Colleagues lauded him for reverse engineering the MiG.