Editing Holloman Air Force Base (section)

===Alamogordo Army Air Field===
[[File:Alamogordo Army Airfield New Mexico photo pictorial.pdf|thumb|220px|left|Alamogordo Army Airfield 1944 photo pictorial]]

'''Alamogordo Army Air Field''' (Alamogordo AAFld, Alamogordo AAF) was named on 21 November{{r|Mueller}} as a [[Second Air Force]] installation equipped with aprons, runways, taxiways and hangars. From 1942 to 1945 the AAF had more than 20 different groups for overseas training, initially flying [[B-17 Flying Fortress|Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses]] then [[B-24|Consolidated B-24 Liberators]]. Training began in 1943 and in addition to the range, a detached installation operated by the base was the [[Alamogordo Gasoline Storage and Pumping Station Annex]].{{r|Mueller}}

In 1944 the "base operating unit" changed to the 231st [[Army Air Force Base Unit]] (25 March) and 4145 AAFBU (24 August),{{r|Mueller}} and on 16 April 1945 Alamogordo AAF was relieved of its training mission and assigned to [[Continental Air Forces]] to become a permanent [[B-29]] base. Instead, by 30 January 1946, the base was planned to "be manned by a skeleton crew merely as a plane refuelling station, [for] emergency landings, etc.",{{r|DunesAndDreams}} and it was temporarily inactivated on 28 February 1946.{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}} Post-war the AAF was used to support the [[Alamogordo Guided Missile Test Base]] which had its first [[Boeing Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft]] launch on 14 November 1947.<ref name="Bushnell">{{Cite report |last=Bushnell |date=25 August 1986 |title=GAPA: Holloman's First Missile Program |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/122033495/GAPA-Holloman-s-First-Missile-Program-1947-1950 |format=Scribd.com image |publisher=[[Air Force Missile Development Center]]: Historical Branch |id=iris 00169113 |access-date=2013-08-11 |quote=[1st ramjet GAPA] "was launched 14 November 1947 and the initial liquid-fuel variety 12 March 1948.<sup>8</sup> ... The last of the GAPAs, number 114, was launched 15 August 1950, and the project officially terminated at Holloman the following month.<sup>11</sup>}} (date identified at http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/169/113.xml])</ref>

With the September 1947 formation of the USAF, in late 1947 the Holloman range and the [[White Sands Proving Ground]] merged to become the '''New Mexico Joint Guided Missile Test Range''' (later renamed [[White Sands Missile Range]]),{{r|Mueller}}{{rp|248}} and the renamed '''Holloman Air Force Base''' (13 January 1948) supported WSMR launch complexes ([[Launch Complex 33]], etc.) firing of [[Tiny Tim (rocket)|Tiny Tim (the first Army rocket)]], [[Rascal (artillery)|Rascal]], [[V-2 rocket]], Ryan XQ-2 Drone, [[AIM-4 Falcon|Falcon]], [[MGM-13 Mace]], [[MGM-1 Matador]], and [[AGM-45 Shrike]].{{When|reason=When was the 1st launch of each at the range?|date=August 2013}} The '''2754th Experimental Wing''' was activated on 20 September 1949 to oversee all research and development projects.{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}}