Editing Nevada Test and Training Range (section)

===Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range===<!-- Redirect section anchor -->
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.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 2011 |title=Miss Atom Bomb |url=http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/factsheets/DOENV_1024.pdf |format=NISA Fact Sheet |publisher=[[National Nuclear Security Administration|NNSA]] Nevada Site Office |work=Nevada National Security Site History |access-date=February 10, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303003053/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/factsheets/DOENV_1024.pdf |archive-date=March 3, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The new NPG included "[[Yucca Flat|Yucca]] and [[Frenchman Flat]]s, [[Pahute Mesa|Paiute]] and [[Rainier Mesa]]s". The [[Truman administration|presidential order]] also established Groom Lake Field ([[colloquialism|colloq.]] "The Pig Farm") at the WWII installation.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} 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 [[Air Research and Development Command|ARDC]] General Order No. 39 on July 16, 1952.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} The NPG [[:File:Camp Desert Rock.jpg|Camp Desert Rock]] "military support facility" (now the private [[Desert Rock Airport]]) operated September 1951-October 7, 1957 (electricity was from AEC's [[Mercury, Nevada|Camp Mercury]]) and closed June 18, 1964.<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Lt Col Danny M |title=Camp Desert Rock, Nevada |publisher={{Specify| url is needed |date=February 2013}} |quote= <!-- 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 [[Desert Rock exercises|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 September 5, 1951.... electricity to all parts of the camp from nearby AEC Camp Mercury -->}}</ref> In 1955 on the southwest corner of Groom Lake, a survey team laid out the 5,000-foot (1,500&nbsp;m) north–south "Site II" runway for [[Project AQUATONE]]. The 1st [[Lockheed U-2]] (Article 341) left the [[Skunk Works]] in a [[C-124 Globemaster II]] cargo plane for the AQUATONE site in July 1955 and first flew on July 29 during a runway test.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burrows |first=William E. |year=1986 |publisher=[[Berkley Books]] |title=Deep Black: The Startling Truth Behind America's Top-Secret Spy Satellites |isbn=0-425-10879-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/deepblackspacees00burr }}</ref> The [[Tonopah Test Range]] (TTR) land was withdrawn from public use in 1956{{r|"Wagner"}} 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]].{{r|"Wagner"}}

From 1956 to 1969–70, the [[Las Vegas Air Force Station]] and [[Tonopah Air Force Station]]s provided [[Reno Air Defense Sector]] radar tracks and in 1957, the "instrumented AEC range at Tonopah" was used by [[Naval Air Station Fallon|NAS Fallon]] and [[Point Mugu]] pilots.{{r|"CNO"}} "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"<ref name="FFACO" /> at the northeast NTTR boundary. In 1958, the [[Tonopah Test Range Airport]] was planned with a single runway of {{Convert|19000|ft|m|abbr=on}}.{{r|"CNO"}} In 1960, Camp Mercury was a base camp for [[Project 5.5]] that studied nuclear detonation effect on the [[Northrop F-89 Scorpion|Northrop F-89D Scorpion]] (a similar [[Project 6.5]] was for effect of nuclear detonations on the [[Nike Hercules]] missile system).<ref>{{Cite report |title=title tbd |url=http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/historical/1957%20-%20DNA%206008F%20-%20Shots%20BOLTZMANN%20to%20WILSON%20-%20Operation%20PL.pdf |quote= <!--Project 5.5 ... personnel departed from [[Camp Mercury]] at 0025 hours on shot-day for the MSQ Radar Site{{Where|Northern or Southern range?|date=February 2013}}{{dead link|date=September 2017}} 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'' --> |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222172014/http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/historical/1957%20-%20DNA%206008F%20-%20Shots%20BOLTZMANN%20to%20WILSON%20-%20Operation%20PL.pdf |archive-date=February 22, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}. (An [[Ground-directed bombing#Korean War|AN/MSQ-1A]] was used for tracking aircraft during NUDET testing.)[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet6/brief6/tab_f/br6f1l.txt]</ref> 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 [[Babbitt, Nevada|Hawthorne Bomb Plot]] radar station operated in [[Babbitt, Nevada|Babbitt]] until {{circa|lk=no|1993}}. [[Operation Roller Coaster]] was a TTR nuclear test series in May and June 1963{{r|"Wagner"}} and in November and December 1965, [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] [[Combat Skyspot]] testing at the range used the only CONUS [[Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central|AN/MSQ-77]] developed for the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{Cite report |last={{Who|date=July 2012}} |chapter=Chapter II: Personnel |title=1st Combat Evaluation Group (SAC): April-June 1966 |volume=I |chapter-url=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/111974612/1CEVG-Combat-Skyspot-History |chapter-format=DocStoc.com image |access-date=February 12, 2013 |quote=the only [[ground directed bombing]] equipment in the Continental United States [[Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central|with a 200 nautical mile capability]]. }} ([http://www.1stcombatevaluationgroup.com/1CEVG_skyspot_history.PDF partial transcription at 1stCombatEvaluationGroup.com)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606171407/http://www.1stcombatevaluationgroup.com/1CEVG_skyspot_history.PDF |date=June 6, 2013 }}</ref> Planning to integrate the range with the [[Fallon Range Training Complex|Fallon]] and [[Utah Test and Training Range|Hill/Wendover/Dugway ranges]] to create the [[Great Basin]]'s "[[Continental Operations Range]]" ended in 1975,<ref>{{Cite book |last={{Full citation needed|date=February 2013}} |title=Combat Zoning |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZFCQQabrXEC&q=%22Continental+Operations+Range%22&pg=PA40 |access-date=February 10, 2013|isbn=9780874171877 |year=1993 |publisher=University of Nevada Press }}</ref> the first year for a Nellis range [[Red Flag exercise]].