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Nellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base, located on the northeast side of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a major training location for for both US and foreign fighter aircraft pilots. The base is named for William Harrell Nellis, a Las Vegas resident and P-47 pilot who died in action during the Battle of the Bulge.
The history of the base began with a survey in October 1940 by Major David M. Schlatter of the Army Air Corps, who examined various sites in the Southwest looking for a location for an aerial gunnery school. Las Vegas was attractive for its clear weather and year-round flying, and the then-impoverished city was eager for a military base. On 2 January 1941, the city bought an airstrip run by Western Air Express and leased it to the Air Corps three days later, the plan being to use the strip for both military and civilian aircraft.
Construction of the "Las Vegas Army Air Field" began in March 1941; the first commander, Colonel Martinus Stenseth, arrived in May. Much of the early gunnery training, originally set to begin in September, but not underway until January 1942, used machine guns mounted in trucks and targets on railroad cars, used to accustom students to firing at a moving target. World War II made the base's mission especially urgent, and by the end of 1942, 9,117 gunners had graduated, with aircraft in use including Martin B-10s, AT-6s, A-33s, B-17s, B-24s, and B-26s.
At the height of training in 1943 and 1944, over 15,000 men and women were at the base. Actors Ronald Reagan and Burgess Meredith came to help produce the propaganda file Rear Gunner. Much of the training was for B-17 gunners, then at the beginning of 1945 emphasis shifted to the B-29 Superfortress. An innovation was the use of a specially-designed target aircraft, the RP-63, which was sufficiently armored to be shot at with frangible bullets. At war's end, the school had trained over 45,000 B-17 gunners, and over 3,000 for the B-29.
The gunnery school closed in September 1945, and the base itself was officially inactivated in January 1947. It was reactivated by the newly-created United States Air Force in March 1948, who organized an advanced single-engine school. The first Air Force Gunnery Meet was held at the base on 2 May 1949, with competitors from 14 Air Force units, flying both prop and jet aircraft.
The base was renamed Nellis Air Force Base on 30 April 1950.
Shortly thereafter the base was again needed to prepare pilots for the Korean War, first with F-51 Mustang training, and then with F-80s and F-86 Sabres. The base also became a part of testing programs for new aircraft.
The Thunderbirds came to Nellis in 1956 (where they are still based as of 2004), along with F-100 Super Sabres. The F-105 Thunderchief arrived in 1960; in June 1962, two crashes in one day at Nellis forced the grounding of all 105s for evaluation and modifications.
In 1966 the Tactical Fighter Weapons Center was established to unify the research and training functions of the base, and in 1969 the last F-100s were retired.
Housing shortages had been a perennial problem for the base, but in the early 1970s Las Vegas' growth resulted in a new problem, with residential areas beginning to encroach on the flight paths. Although the problem was handled by modifying operations, the issue continues to plague both Nellis and Las Vegas planners.
Lessons from the Vietnam War led to the establishment of RED FLAG exercises at Nellis, with pilots flying F-5s according to the doctrines of possible enemy forces, and engaging in mock dogfights with the trainees. This program grew to include pilots from dozens of different nations.
Continuing with the trend of competitive training, in 1981 the ten-day Gunsmoke '81 was the first gunnery meet to be held since 1962, and featured teams from all over the world. The event would continue to be held every two years. The 1980s were a busy time for Nellis, with a dozen types of aircraft being supported, as well as visiting aircraft from the Army, Navy, and foreign nations. In 1988 the F-117 Nighthawk was unveiled here; it had been developed and tested at the Tonopah sub-base.
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