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Nellis Air Force Base
Part of the Air Force's Air Combat Command, Nellis Air Force Base is one of America's most popular air force bases. It is located eight miles north-east of Las Vegas and about 100 miles south-east of Area 51. It is one of America's largest bases also covering over 11000 acres. It's bombing range, which is the size of Switzerland, overs 4,750 square miles of high desert landscape. The flighter aircraft from the base are allowed to fly over an additional 7,700 square miles in the vicinity.
Nellis Air Force Base has a huge inventory of aircraft including the F-15, F-16, F-117a, B-52, B-1 and B-2 stealth bomber. In fact, the stealth fighter was first placed on display at Nellis Air Force Base when it was declassified. It was heavily guarded by Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces unit. Nellis was created in 1941 when the government needed a place to train B-17 pilots who later would be fighting the second world war. The base got it's first official name from P-47 pilot 1st Lt. William Harrell Nellis who was killed on a mission over Germany.
Nellis is a training facility for all forces. Marines from Twentynine Palms, fighters from Luke AFB, and MIG fighters from Groom Lake all participate in training missions for Nellis pilots. The units that call Nellis home are Detachment 722, Defense Commissary Agency, 820th Red Horse Civil Engineering Squadron, Field Training Detachment 918, Detachment 565, Air Force Audit Agency, Detachment 3 , 693rd Intelligence Wing, and the 896th Aviation Depot Squadron. There are also dozens of other Nellis units not listed. Occationally Nellis's 414th Training Squadron runs a operation called Red Flag. Red Flag is an international training exercise involving all branches of the armed forces and those of other countries. They have two teams that use all resources available (Smokey Sams, radar jammers, EW aircraft and forces, etc.) to defeat the other side. There is also a lighter Green Flag (mostly EW) and a few other small exercises. Averagely, the base will fly over 20,000 sorties in one "flag year".
Nellis also has an Area II facility. It is right on the other side of the mountain to the east of Nellis. It used to be a weapons storage facility for the Navy but it was later turned over to Nellis AFB and used as a weapons storage area. Based on the security at Area II, the base most likely stores tactical nuclear weapons. They are in underground bunkers and based on the size of the facility, 200 are most likely stored there. That is enought power to completely destroy the state of Nevada, collapse Hoover Dam, and rain deadly radiation all over the country. If all the weapons at Area II went off, there would most likely be 100,000,000 people dead as a result. There is also a federal prison located there.
Nellis AFB History According to Nellis Pamplet
A Western Air Express dirt runway, a water well, and a small operations shack eight miles north of Las Vegas formed the original site of today's bustling Nellis Air Force Base.
On Jan. 25, 1941, Las Vegas Mayor John L. Russell signed over the property to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for the development of a flexible gunnery school for the Army Air Corps. The mission of the new school was defined as "training of aerial gunners to the degree of proficiency that will qualify them for combat duty."
What is now Nellis started out as a detachment of five officers who took up residence in a small basement room in the Las Vegas Post Office building in May 1941. They were staff officers of the 79th Air Base Group, commanded by then Lt. Col. Martinus Stenseth. A month later the military population of Las Vegas Army Airfield had more than doubled with the arrival of five administrative NCOs and other enlisted men.
During these first few months, there were no services or facilities at the new base. These enlisted men were quartered in the Work Project Administration barracks in town. Its initial motor pool consisted of six vintage trucks and a semi-trailer. They were often found parked by thebarracks. Supply and logistics had not yet been organized and mechanics had to borrow nuts, bolts, and old parts from service stations in Las Vegas. Gasoline and oil had to be borrowed from the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Originally named the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunners School, the base was later renamed the Las Vegas Army Air Field. There were many reasons for locating the school near the town of Las Vegas (population then 9,000); flying weather was practically ideal year-round; more than 90 percent of an area to the north was public domain wasteland and available at $1 per acre; strategic location was excellent, being well inland; rocky hills approximately six miles from the base afforded a natural backdrop for cannon and machine gun firing; and dry lake beds were available for emergency landings.
Construction of permanent base facilities began in earnest in mid-1941 with barracks to house 3,000 people. In February 1942, the first aircraft hangar was completed at a cost of $190,000. The 3,425-foot runway was extended the same year in anticipation of the soon-to-arrive B-10 bombers and AT-6 trainers with their instructors.
From this humble beginning, Las Vegas Army Air Field grew rapidly until 1942 when the first B-17s arrived, giving students their first chance to train in the gun turret of an actual combat plane and providing aircraft to train co-pilots in ground and transition school.
At the height of World War II, 600 gunnery students and 215 co-pilots graduated from LVAAF every five weeks.
In March 1945, the base converted from B- 17s to the B-29 Gunnery School.
The base population peaked in early 1945 at nearly 11,000 officers and enlisted people logged on unit morning reports. Of these, more than 4,700 members were students.
As World War II ended, the base found itself converted to the role of separating thousands of military men and women from service. During 1945 and 1946, thousands of soldiers received their separation physicals and final pay at the Las Vegas Army Air Field on their return to civilian life.
Activities at the then LVAAF continued to wind down until an inactivation order closed the base on June 1,1946. However, a new order put the field on standby status until Jan. 31, 1947, when it was inactivated. In 1949, the base was reactivated as Las Vegas Air Force Base and became a pilot training wing. With the advent of the Korean War, the mission of Nellis changed from an advanced single-engine school to one for training jet fighter pilots for the then Far East Air Force.
In 1950, the base was renamed in honor of 1 st Lt. William Harrell Nellis, who was killed in action over Luxembourg on Dec.27,1944. A fighter pilot with 69 missions to his credit, he was 28 years old when he died.
Virtually every fighter pilot and every "ace" who staked claim to a corner of Korean air space called "MiG Alley" and helped establish a kill ratio of 14 to 1 received final combat training at Nellis.