We continue this morning with Paul Blake Smith's work on Ike's Close Encounters. Mostly speculative, but still an enjoyable read. Given the times, I am sure Eisenhower was under intense pressure.

...At this late date, we cannot dig up direct, tangible, indisputable proof, nor first-person eyewitness allegations covering every step of Dwight Eisenhower's excellent airbase adventure. Evidence left behind of the event, including typed reports, photos, and film footage, were all undoubtedly declared “classified” and “Top Secret,” then tucked away in vaults. But… we can act as legendary fictional detective “Sherlock Holmes” in carefully reconstructing the event where some gaps exist, logically piecing together the Edwards Airbase mystery when information is lacking...

The scene: a dusty desert airbase, nestled between mountain ranges, baked dry in the relentless hot sun for a few decades. It actually began when a family of settlers with the last name “Corum” stopped and put and down roots in the Mojave Desert in 1910, and soon others followed. A small town was somehow carved out of a dry former lake-bed, a very flat open area without much of a water source if it didn't rain. Taking their name and spelling it backwards as “Muroc,” the settlement and its barren vicinity got its title. Muroc Dry Lakebed, it was officially dubbed, was soon on the map. In 1932, the Army bought some of the parched land and created a bombing range for test pilots to fly over in practice runs. Without laying down expensive pavement, pilots could easily take off and land, and taxi about, on the hard, flat, bare surface. More and more land was acquired by the military/government in the late '30s until a simple base was erected for the pilots and bombardiers living and working there nearly every day, alongside mechanics and flight technicians. Eventually, two parallel runways were paved. Test-piloting the very latest aerial technology became pretty hip, and to help pass the time, “hot-rodding” and souped-up car races across the desert floor also grew popular at Muroc. To take advantage of economic opportunities created by the growing number of macho aviators and auto-drivers (and their mechanics), bars and eateries; apartments and small homes; medical offices and stores popped up near the expanding military facility, and other nearby local communities began to take root, such as Palmdale, California, 37 miles away.
https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2022/08/part-3-eisenhowers-close-encounters.html