Nevada Test and Training Range

For the United States Air Force unit, see Nevada Test and Training Range (military unit).
Nevada Test and Training Range
Nellis Air Force Range
1949:[1]Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range
1947:[2]Tonopah & Las Vegas B&GRs
1941:[3]Tonopah & Las Vegas general ranges
1940:Tonopah Bombing Range

military region
"Nellis Air Force Range" [sic] and nearby federal lands. The Tonopah Bombing Range (FUDS), Area A (MOA), Mellan Airstrip, Humboldt National Forest, Devil's Hole exclave of Death Valley National Park,Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, and the NOAA climatology station at Las Vegas are not shown.
Official name: The USAF uses "NTTR" and "Nevada Test and Training Range" to designate both the geographic area and the associated military unit.[4]
Name origin: Nevada, Nellis AFB, Las Vegas, & Tonopah
Country United States
State Nevada
Counties Nye, Lincoln
Part of "Nellis Air Force Base (NAFB) Complex"[5]
Borders on Tonopah Bombing Range (FUDS)
Nellis "Area A"[6]
Nearest city Las Vegas
GNIS
location 		basin between Quartzite
Mountain & the Belted Range
 - coordinates 37°31′36″N 116°11′53″W / 37.52667°N 116.19806°W / 37.52667; -116.19806Coordinates: 37°31′36″N 116°11′53″W / 37.52667°N 116.19806°W / 37.52667; -116.19806 [7]
Airspace


Land area[4] 		5,000 sq mi (12,950 km2) - restricted[4]
7,000 sq mi (18,000 km2) - shared (MOA)

2012: 4,531 sq mi (11,740 km2)
1961:[8] 7,249 sq mi (18,770 km2)
1957:[9] 6,754 sq mi (17,490 km2)
1942:[6] 6,997 sq mi (18,120 km2)
1941:[10] 8,462 sq mi (21,920 km2)
1940:[11] 5,560 sq mi (14,400 km2)

Established September 29, 1940 [11]

Range
control
units 		2011: NTTR military unit

2001: 98th Range Wing
: 99th Range Group
…
1948:[12] ATC Flying Division
c. 1945: Fifteenth Air Force
1942: Fourth Air Force detachment
1941:[3] AFCC & WCACTC

GNIS code 2511961 [7]

The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) is one of two military training areas used by the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. It has the "largest contiguous air and ground space available for peacetime military operations in the free world"[4] The NTTR land area includes a "simulated Integrated Air Defense System", several individual ranges with 1200 targets, and 4 remote communication sites.[4] The current NTTR area and the range's former areas have been used for aerial gunnery and bombing, for nuclear tests, as a proving ground and flight test area, for aircraft control and warning, and for Blue Flag, Green Flag, and Red Flag exercises.

Geography

The Nevada Test and Training Range land area is mostly Central Basin and Range ecoregion (cf. southernmost portion in the Mojave Desert),[13]:3-1 and smaller ecoregions (e.g., Tonopah Basin, Tonopah Playa, & Bald Mountain biomes) are within the area of numerous basin and range landforms of the NTTR.

Landforms

For the list of all NTTR landforms, see Nellis & Wildlife 5 Ranges region.

The NTTR is at the serpentine section of the Great Basin Divide in southern Nevada and uses numerous landforms for military operations, e.g., Groom Lake near the northeast NTTR border is the airstrip for Area 51, the 1955 Site II west of the lake's WWII field. Tolicha Peak and Point Bravo are the sites of for electronic combat ranges, and the Mercury Valley is the eponym for a Cold War camp that became Mercury, Nevada. The Tonopah Test Range, within the boundaries of the NTTR (e.g., "Nellis Range 75"[14]) includes Antelope Lake, Radar Hill, and the "Cactus, Antelope, and Silverbow Springs".[5]

Northern Range

The Northern Range includes the Tolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range (TPECR, e.g., Range 76 targets 76-03, -05, -11, & -14)[15] and Tonopah Electronic Combat Range (the Wildhorse Management Area encircled by the Northern Range is not part of the NTTR.)[16]

Eastman Airfield Target

The Eastman Airfield Target (Target 76-14,[15] Korean Airfield, 37°22′N 116°50′W / 37.367°N 116.833°W / 37.367; -116.833 (Eastman Airfield Target 76-14)) is a Range 76 target 4.3 mi (6.9 km) northwest of the TPECR. The target has a northeastern taxiway loop which is characteristical for the former Soviet Air Force base at Jüterbog Airfield in East Germany, and three ramps in front of hangars on the western side of the loop. The other taxiways have a similar layout to Jüterbog, although the runway is about 1,300 feet (400 m) shorter. There are two accompanying SAM sites, one 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) northwest of the airfield, and one 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northwest just like the original.[17]

Southern Range

The Southern Range includes the Point Bravo Electronic Combat Range. A ~1,276 sq mi (3,300 km2) area of the Southern Range that was withdrawn from the Desert National Wildlife Range is co-managed by the USAF and the USFWS.[16]

Nearby facilities

In addition to Nellis AFB, areas outside of the current NTTR land area are used for related activities, e.g., ~1,107 sq mi (2,870 km2) of the former military range land (relinquished 1942, e.g. ranges 46-56,[9] and c. 1953) is under the Nellis "Area A" airspace that is a Military Operations Area (MOA).[6] The Formerly Used Defense Site north and northeast of the NTTR with "Stone Cabin, Hot Creek, Railroad, Tikaboo, and Sand Spring valleys" is a "former portion of the Tonopah Bombing Range", includes "Permit Required Confined space", and prohibits vehicles in "suspected ordnance impact area[s]" (e.g., "green markings" indicate chemical agents).[12] Most areas adjacent to the NTTR are managed by the Bureau of Land Management for limited non-residential use such as grazing.[12]:3-1 Temporary sites, e.g., for Patriot Communications Exercises (~"21 days per exercise"), are in the "ADA activity area" east of the NTTR with 13 empty "500 feet by 500 feet" sites for mobile electronic equipment on BLM land in the "Sand Springs Valley, Coal Valley, Delamar Valley, and Dry Lake Valley" ("general area" of the Key Pittman WMA) and "under MOA airspace".[13]

History

"Tertiary age" lava flows formed 5 erupted groups in the area, and block faulting such as the Siebert and Mizpah faults formed the ranges and valleys.[18]:68 Precambrian and Paleozoic marine sediments form an "almost uniform thickness of 40,000 feet", and surface geology is "typically the Cenozoic Era continental deposits and some Paleogene volcanic rocks."[12]:3-3 Located at the southern tip of the Great Basin tribes area, the eventual range area was crossed by the Old Spanish Trail (trade route), was south of the Pony Express route, and was split by the 37th parallel north of the 1850 New Mexico & 1863 Arizona territories' northwest corner. In the 1930s the land had been used as an Animal Sanctuary where the Department of the Interior made it a wildlife reservation. However, in 1942 during World War II the region restricted it from public access for the War Department to use.[19] The original bombing range had been used for the 1900-1921 silver rush (e.g., Tonopah Mining District[18] & Tonopah Manhattan Stage Route),[7] and the region was subdivided into smaller numbered management areas (e.g., Area 2, Area 5, Area 11, Area 12, Area 25, Area 27, Area 52) which are used for names of some of the range installations (e.g., "Area 3 Compound"[14] and "Area 51" for "Groom Lake Field").[20]

Tonopah Bombing Range

"Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range" redirects here. For the nearby WWII base named for the city, see Las Vegas Army Air Field.

The Tonopah Bombing Range was designated on federal land "withdrawn…October 29, 1940, from the public domain"[21] and in June 1941, the "Tonopah Gunnery and Bombing Range" was split at "37 degrees and 30 minutes" latitude into the "Tonopah General Range" and "Las Vegas General Range".[12] On October 28, 1941, “United States v. 1,855,720 Acres of land…" (US Fifth District) was initiated to seize private land,[10] and in July 1942 the Fourth Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range Detachment from "Muroc Lake" arrived as the 1st unit. Several Nevada World War II Army Airfields were established, e.g., the August 1942 Tonopah Army Air Field in the north area and in the south, Indian Springs Auxiliary Army Airfield and its additional fields, e.g., at Area 18 (Aux. Field#4) & Area 51 (Aux. Field#1). In February 1943, Indian Springs AAF was being used for the 82d Flying Training Wing for air-to-air gunnery training, and Indian Springs AAF closed in January 1947. In June 1947 Tonopah AAF was declared excess along with its 3 auxiliary areas (Mizpah & Butler housing terraces and Columbia Junction gasoline unloading station).[2] The Indian Springs main facility re-opened in January 1948 and on June 13, 1949, Air Training Command merged the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range and the Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range.[1] On June 28, 1949, the "Gunnery Range of the Tonopah Air Force Base" had ~30 sq mi (78 km2)[22] and after the 1949 Las Vegas Air Force Base was renamed on April 30, 1950, an Atomic Energy Commission committee selected the "Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range" [sic] for a nuclear test site on December 12, 1950.[23] The land was ideal for training aerial gunners because the land was far from people and contained dry lake beds, which worked perfectly for target practices.[24]

Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range

A 680-square mile section of the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range was designated the Nevada Proving Grounds (NPG) on December 18, 1950.[25] The new NPG included "Yucca and Frenchman Flats, Paiute [sic] and Rainer Mesas". The presidential order also established Groom Lake Field (colloq. "The Pig Farm") at the WWII installation.[20] The first NPG nuclear test was for Operation Ranger on January 27, 1951, and the Indian Springs main facility (renamed an Air Force Base in 1951) supported NPG testing after ARDC General Order No. 39 on July 16, 1952. The NPG Camp Desert Rock "military support facility" (now the private Desert Rock Airport) operated September 1951-October 7, 1957 (electricity was from AEC's Camp Mercury) and closed June 18, 1964.[26] In 1955 on the southwest corner of Groom Lake, a survey team laid out a 5,000-foot (1,500 m) north-south Site II runway for Project Aquatone ("The Ranch"). The 1st Lockheed U-2 (Article 341) left the Skunk Works in a C-124 cargo plane for the Aquatone site in July 1955 and first flew on July 29 during a runway test.[27] The Tonopah Test Range (TTR) land was withdrawn from public use in 1956[5] to replace nuclear test sites at the "Salton Sea Test Base" and the Yucca Flat site, and in 1957 Sandia Laboratories began TTR operations at Cactus Flat.[5]

From 1956-1969/70, the Las Vegas and Tonopah Air Force Stations (36°19′07″N 115°34′31″W / 36.31861°N 115.57528°W / 36.31861; -115.57528 (Las Vegas AFS SM-163)/38°03′06″N 117°13′34″W / 38.05167°N 117.22611°W / 38.05167; -117.22611 (Tonopah AFS SM-164)[7]) provided Reno Air Defense Sector radar tracks and in 1957, the "instrumented AEC range at Tonopah" was used by NAS Fallon and Point Mugu pilots.[28] "A safety experiment (Project 57 No. 1) with ground zero coordinates of N 932646, E 688515 was detonated on April 24, 1957" in Area 13[8] at the northeast NTTR boundary. In 1958, the Tonopah Test Range Airport was planned with a single runway of 19,000 ft (5,800 m).[28] In 1960, Camp Mercury was a base camp for Project 5.5 that studied In-flight Structural Response of the F-89D Aircraft to a Nuclear Detonation (a similar Project 6.5 was for Effects of Nuclear Detonations on the Nike Hercules).[29] A 1961 Public Land Order transferred USAF land to the AEC, and after the 1962 RBS Express #2 near the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot was used for Radar Bomb Scoring of flights over the range, the Hawthorne Bomb Plot radar station operated in Babbitt until c. 1993. Operation Roller Coaster was a TTR nuclear test series in May and June 1963[5] and in November and December 1965, B-52 Combat Skyspot testing at the range used the only CONUS AN/MSQ-77 developed for the Vietnam War.[30] Planning to integrate the range with the Fallon and Hill/Wendover/Dugway ranges to create the Great Basin's "Continental Operations Range" ended in 1975,[31] the 1st year for a Nellis range Red Flag exercise.

Nellis Air Force Range

The Nellis Air Force Range (NAFR) was used to bury wreckage of the 1978 Groom Lake & 1979 NAFR F-117 crashes, and additional Cold War accidents at the range included the 1975 NAFR TR-1 crash,[32] the 1979 Tonopah MiG-17 crash during training versus an F-5, the 1984 Little Skull Mountain MiG-23 crash which killed a USAF general,[33] and the 1986 NAFR F-19 crash which "Air Force sources" identified as an F-19 Stealth.[34] Circa 1980, NAFR received 806L "Range Threat" systems for electronic warfare simulation and from 1983 to 1985, the area of South Antelope Lake was used for 2 Tomahawk Missile targets.[35] NAFR range operations transferred to the 99th Range Group at the end of the Cold War (the range received various RBS electronic systems from Strategic Training Ranges, e.g., Nellis had 5 AN/MSQ-77s by 1994).[36] In 1999 the range's land withdrawal was renewed[37] and the unused portion of the original Tonopah Bombing Range was redesignated a Formerly Used Defense Site.[12]:2-1

In 2001, NAFR was renamed the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) and in October 2001, the range group personnel and assets for range operations transferred to the 98th Range Wing.[38] In 2005, Indian Springs AFAF was renamed Creech Air Force Base and in 2010, the NTS was renamed the Nevada National Security Site.[39] The NTTR had four tracts in the 2010 U.S. Census.[40] In 2011, the 98th Range Wing was redesignated with the same name as the range.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Harper, Maj. Gen Robert Wells (13 June 1949), General Order No. 25, Headquarters, Air Training Command (preceded by "Office, Director of Military Personnel" indorsement on 1 June 1949: "This headquarters approves the redesignation of the combined Ranges, Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range and Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range as the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range.")
  2. 1 2 McMullen, Maj Gen Clements (13 June 1947), Excess Declaration, Tonopah Army Air Field (letter), Pursuant to the authority contained in PAF Regulation 85-3,…this command has no longer a military need for Tonopah Amy Air Field and its auxiliary facilities, … Tonopah Army Air Field contains 21,912.09 acres of land, government-owed, transferred.to the War Department, from the Department of Interior, There are two (2) asphalt concrete runways 8910' long, 150' wide … auxiliary facilities are declared excess: (1) Mizpah Housing Terrace (2) Butler Housing Terrace (3) Columbia Junction (gasoline unloading station) … for retention: (1) Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range
  3. 1 2 York Jr, Lt. Col. John Y. (27 June 1941), Subject: Tonopah Gunnery and Bombing Range (Memorandum for the Chief of Air Staff), Air Corps, The Air Force Combat Command be assigned jurisdiction of' the Tonopah Range area north of 37° 30', and this area designated as the Tonopah General Range. 2. The West Coast Training Center be assigned exclusive jurisdiction of the Tonopah Range area south of 37° 30', and this area designated as the "Las Vegas General Range.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nevada Test and Training Range (99th ABW Fact Sheet) (Report). 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs. 7/12/2012. Retrieved 2013-02-09. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Wagner, Katrina, ed. (September 2004). 2003 Annual Site Environmental Report, Tonopah Test Range (Report). Sandia National Laboratories. TTR is located on approximately 280 square miles (128,000 acres) within the boundaries of the NTTR withdrawal … Nellis Air Force Base (NAFB) Complex … includes several auxiliary small arm ranges, and the NTTR—divided into a North Range and a South Range (Figure 1-1). The Nevada Test Site (NTS) is located between these two ranges. The NAFB Complex comprises approximately three million acres. TTR is 32 miles (mi) southeast of Tonopah, Nevada. … The TTR site was in the northwest corner of the then Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range [and] was withdrawn in 1956 and TTR became operational in 1957
  6. 1 2 3 Executive Order 9019, 1942 NOTE: EO9019 returned ~937,730 acres (1,465.20 sq mi) of the Las Vegas General Range to the Department of the Interior and by 1953, ~154,584 acres (241.538 sq mi) of the former Tonopah General Range were relinquished. "These two tracts of land comprise Area A, approximately 708,621 acres … in Lincoln and Nye Counties north and northeast of the present-day boundaries of the Nellis Air Force Range … the majority of the area is used for wildlife conservation and is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) [and] The remainder of the land is owned by various private landowners … The majority of Area A is still used today as a Military Operations Area (MOA) for flyovers by the pilots from Nellis Air Force Base … and is not part of…Nellis Air Force Range." (GlobalSecurity.org webpage)
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Nevada Test and Training Range (2511961)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
    "Tonopah Air Force Station (2090215)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
    "Tonopah Airport (864133)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
    "Tonopah Army Air Field (2096585)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
    "Tonopah Beacon (844361)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
    "Tonopah Manhattan Stage Route (tbd)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
    "Tonopah Stage Route (tbd)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-02-. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  8. 1 2 FFACO Facility Descriptions & Maps (Federal Facility Agreement & Consent Order) (Report). Nevada DEP Bureau of Federal Facilities. "took effect on May 10, 1996". Retrieved 2013-02-10. Public Land Order 2568 (December 19, 1961), and under the authority of Executive Order 10355 on May 26, 1952, approximately 318,000 acres of the Nellis Air Force Range was transferred from the Air Force to the AEC Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. 1 2 Madsen, Col. Peter T. (21 Sep 1999). Findings of Fact (Report). Findings and Determination of Eligibility…DERP-FUDS SITE NO. J09NV1114. Defense Environmental Restoration Program. Executive Order No. 9019 was executed on January 12, 1942 to redefine the boundaries of the Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range. As a result of this Executive Order, lands included in Townships 1 and 2 North, Ranges 46 through 54 East and Townships 1 through 7 South, Ranges 54 through 56 East were returned to the public domain. … Executive Order No, 10355 executed in 1957 returned an additional 155,645 acres of land to the Bureau of Land Management
  10. 1 2 Mullery, Bill (). Tonopah Bombing Range (Project Summary Sheet) (Report). DERP-FUDS OE Project No. J09NV111401. The former target area is now public property administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Check date values in: |date= (help);
  11. 1 2 (October 29, 1940), title tbd (Executive Order No 8578) (cited by Valliant)
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 [author(s) not identified] (December 2002). Findings: Tonopah Bombing Range (Archives Search Report--ASR) (Report). Project Number - J09NV1114. USACE St. Louis District. This site is located approximately 60 miles east of Tonopah, adjacent to the current Nellis Air Force Range.
  13. 1 2 Huntley, Chris, Proj. Mgr. (August 2008). …Patriot Communications Exercises in Lincoln County, Nevada (Final Environmental Assessment) (Report). Aspen Environmental Group. Retrieved 2013-02-06. Proposed Action: Obtain a 15-year Communications Use Lease (CUL)…to support ground-based Radar/Communications exercises. The sites are located in an area encompassing approximately 2.5 million acres of public lands in the Sand Springs Valley, Coal Valley, Delamar Valley, and Dry Lake Valley under MOA airspace. … thirteen (13) 5.7 acre sites totaling approximately 74.1 acres located in Lincoln County…(Use of location 112C will not be approved at this time.) … the Key Pittman WMA is…in the general area of the proposed sites. … associated with the creation of an Integrated Air Defense System (IADS) using Patriot radar communications … the NTTR does not possess the required resources to train both ground and air systems against a full-spectrum battlefield environment. In March 2005, the BLM granted the USAF a temporary CUL for eight sites in the Delamar Valley area to conduct Red Flag Exercises [using] ground-to-air, air-to-air, and air-to-ground combat scenarios…US Army Patriot and Avenger Batteries and Sentinel Radar Systems were used … Landing Strip [just N of Rachel, Nevada]
  14. 1 2 Tonopah Test Range…Corrective Action Sites (Report). DOE/NV/25946--1036. CAS TA-55-002-TAB2 (Bomblet Target Areas) consists of six separate locations [that] include Mid Target, BLU-63 area, SAC Target, South Antelope Lake, and Tomahawk Targets 1 and 2 … CAS RG-52-007-TAML (Davis Gun Penetrator Test) consists of Davis Gun testing locations on Antelope, Brownes, Pedro, and Main Lakes, and Antelope Tuff 1, Antelope Tuff 2, Sidewinder Tuff, Myers Ridge, and Mt Helen (Nellis Range 75). The only location with land use restrictions is Antelope Lake.
  15. 1 2 Berger Field Site 27 (IMACS Site Form) (Report). 2000. 16. Location and Access: The site is located adjacent to the northwest corner of Target 76-11, Range 76, Nellis Air Force Range, Nevada. Travel north along US 95 from Beatty 27 miles (43 km), then turn right into the Tolicha Peak entrance to Nellis AFR. Proceed 10.9 miles (17.5 km) through the security gate to the Tolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range (TPECR), then proceed north through TPECR, then north/northwest along a dirt road (Potato Chip Road) for 4.8 miles (7.7 km), passing the turn-off for the Eastman Airfield Target (Target 76-14), and continue for another 5.5 miles (8.9 km) along this same north-trending dirt road (but now named Pena Parkway). Turn left (or west) at Target 76-05, and proceed for 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest until you enter Target 76-03. Then hike straight south for one mile to the northwest corner of Target 76-11 and the [Berger Field site. (form is depicted in the 2006 Developing Cultural Resources Data Management Tools presentation)
  16. 1 2 "Nellis Range Complex: Nellis Air Force Range (NAFR)". GlobalSecurity.org. [date tbd: before October 2001 when 98th RG replaced 99th RG]. Retrieved 2013-02-01. Detachment 1 of the 99th Range Squadron is responsible for supporting all ACC activities at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field and the Southern Ranges of the NAFR. … Detachment 2 of the 99th Range Squadron is responsible for, and directs, all ACC activities at Tonopah Test Range Airfield and the Northern Ranges. … Approximately 816,400 acres of the NAFR have been withdrawn from the Desert National Wildlife Range (DNWR). The Air Force and USFWS jointly manage this area. Check date values in: |date= (help) NOTE: Plate No. 1 of the ASR shows the smaller DNWR area after the withdrawal (pdf p. 154).
  17. ↑ http://www.mil-airfields.de/de/altes-lager.htm
  18. 1 2 Spurr, Josiah Edward (1905). Geology of the Tonopah Mining District, Nevada (Internet Archive abstract). GPO. Retrieved 2013-02-07. The writer has previously described the Great Basin region as forming part of a great petrographic province, and later it has been shown that this province extends into Mexico, and may reach much farther northeast and southwest. … In April, 1900, James L. Butler … on Mizpah Hill, he broke off specimens [valued] from $50 to $600 per ton in silver and gold. … until the present season (1904) … the fronts of many of the Basin ranges are bordered by a continuous apron of debris sloping down into the center of the valley … The greatest of the earth's oceans is rimmed by the greatest of the earth's volcanic belts. This “circle of fire,”… NOTE: U.S. Geological Survey "Professional Paper No. 42" maps included are Plate III (mining claim map, pp. 28-9) & Plate XVI (geologic map with streets and buildings on pp. 116-7).
  19. ↑ Jacobsen, Annie (2011). Area 51. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-316-13294-7.
  20. 1 2 Pearse, Steve (August 22, 2011). Set Your Phaser to Stun. Xlibris Corporation. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  21. ↑ Valliant, Col R. D. (November 4, 1940), Tonopah Bombing Range, Nevada (letter), Presidio of San Francisco: 9th Corps Area, Office of the Quartermaster General, Tonopah Bombing Range, Nevada. This reservation comprises approximately 3,560,000.00 acres and was withdrawn by Executive Order No, 8578 dated October 29, 1940, from the public domain.
  22. ↑ Chaffin Jr, Lt Col A. D. (June 28, 1949), Gunnery Range, Tonopah Air Force Base (letter), USACE San Francisco District, The Gunnery Range of the Tonopah Air Force Base is approximately fifteen miles East of the City of Tonopah, Nevada, and is bounded on the South by U.S. Highway No. 8. The Gunnery Range consists of approximately thirty square miles and is all open flat desert
  23. ↑ title tbd (DOE Fact Sheet) (Report). Retrieved 2013-02-14.
  24. ↑ Jacobsen, Annie (2011). Area 51. New York: Little Brown and Company. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-316-13294-7.
  25. ↑ "Miss Atom Bomb" (NISA Fact Sheet). Nevada National Security Site History. NNSA Nevada Site Office. January 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  26. ↑ Johnson, Lt Col Danny M. "Camp Desert Rock, Nevada". . Construction of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), originally known as the Nevada Proving Ground (NPG), began in January 1951. Construction of what became known as Camp Desert Rock did not start until September 1951. The camp was named for Exercise Desert Rock, a series of atmospheric nuclear tests first conducted at NTS in 1951. This site included…the Camp Desert Rock area … The Army acquired 23,058 acres for Camp Desert Rock from the Department of the Interior on 5 September 1951. … electricity to all parts of the camp from nearby AEC Camp Mercury
  27. ↑ Burrows, William E. (1986). Deep Black: The Startling Truth Behind America's Top-Secret Spy Satellites. Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-10879-1.
  28. 1 2 Subj: West Coast Weapons Training Requirements (letter), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 30 Jan 1958, A part (known as Tonopah) of the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range, was made available to the Navy in February of 1957. … the NAMTC at Pt. Mugu uses the instrumented AEC range at Tonopah. … acreage made available to the Navy was 1,791,891.69. Of this, 369,280 acres is under permit to the AEC and 213,443 acres is outside of Restricted Area 271. … constructing a minimum staging base at Tonopah [with] Single runway (19,000') … Fallon…Target B-16…B-19…B-20…B-21 …
  29. ↑ title tbd (PDF) (Report). Project 5.5…personnel departed from Camp Mercury at 0025 hours on shot-day for the MSQ Radar Site located approximately 30 kilometers southwest of ground zero. … They remained at the station through shot-time and until two hours after the [Project 6.5] shot to man missile and target-tracking radar. (An AN/MSQ-1A was used for tracking aircraft during NUDET testing.)
  30. ↑ . "Chapter II: Personnel". 1st Combat Evaluation Group (SAC): April-June 1966 (DocStoc.com image) (Report). Volume I. Retrieved 2013-02-12. the only ground directed bombing equipment in the Continental United States with a 200 nautical mile capability. (partial transcription at 1stCombatEvaluationGroup.com)
  31. ↑ . Combat Zoning. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  32. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YzJcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yVUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5447,1924221&dq=nellis+air+force+range&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wa0tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LYEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1742,4964182&dq=nellis+air+force+range&hl=en
  33. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GDtFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pLsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5828,221561&dq=nellis+air+force+range&hl=en
  34. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=64hWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WkENAAAAIBAJ&pg=1331,3259666&dq=nellis+air+force+range&hl=en
  35. ↑ Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan for Corrective Action Unit 408… (DOE/NV--1171-Rev. 1) (Report). National Nuclear Security Administration. March 2010.
  36. ↑ http://www.ufomind.com/area51/orgs/nellis/nellisew.txt
  37. ↑ Renewal of the Nellis Air Force Range Land Withdrawal (Legislative Environmental Impact Statement), USAF, March 1999
  38. ↑ Nevada Test and Training Range (AFHRA Fact Sheet) (Report). Air Force Historical Research Agency. March 10, 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  39. ↑ "Nevada nuclear bomb site given new name" (web posting). United Press International. August 23, 2010. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  40. ↑ "Download the 2010 Census Tract to Military Area" (spreadsheet text). 2010. Retrieved 2013-02-09.     also available as a graphic table with NTTR lat/lon: +37.3067987 -116.1698524
External image
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