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71-478: The United States Air Force Warfare Center ( USAFWC ) at Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada , reports directly to Air Combat Command . The center was founded on 1 September 1966, as the U.S. Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center. It was renamed the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center in 2005. The USAF Warfare Center manages advanced pilot training and integrates many of the Air Force's test and evaluation requirements. It

142-455: A 9.5-hectare (23.4-acre) munitions response area (MRA XU741) which had World War II storage for small arms ammunition, pyrotechnics, and chemical bombs and that now includes 2 remaining World War II buildings (numbers 1039 & 1047), 5 modern igloos , and RV storage. Flying and notable non-flying units based at Nellis Air Force Base. Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Nellis, are subordinate to

213-514: A balloon starting in Lafayette, Indiana , with a destination of New York . Weather issues forced him to land near Crawfordsville, Indiana , and the mail reached its final destination via train. In 1959, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 7 cent stamp commemorating the event. Balloons also carried mail out of Paris and Metz during the Franco-Prussian War (1870), drifting over the heads of

284-469: A monologue by a veteran pilot, preserving the atmosphere of these pioneering times: "We used to fly on the Paris route, from Hounslow to Le Bourget and get through as best as you could. Later we moved on to Croydon . (...) We carried the much advertised Air Mails. That meant the machines had to fly whether there were passengers to be carried or not. It was left to the discretion of the pilot whether or not

355-776: A parent unit based at another location. Air Combat Command Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) Air National Guard (ANG) United States Strategic Command Nellis AFB covers about 4,600 ha (11,300 acres) in the northeast corner of the Las Vegas Valley , an alluvial basin in the Basin and Range Province . Since World War II, Nellis has had areas added, such as Area II in 1969, but still has about 2,800 ha (7,000 acres) of undeveloped space. One World War II runway has been removed. The base has 3 areas (I, II, III). The United States Geological Survey names five different locations for

426-524: A series of exercises which typically take place at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), the primary examples being Exercise Red Flag and Exercise Green Flag (West). As of October 2019, Nellis employed 9,500 military and civilian personnel. The total military population is more than 40,000, including family members and retired military personnel in the area. The base also supports operations at nearby Creech Air Force Base , Tonopah Test Range , and

497-455: A specific kind of airmail letter which is its own envelope; see aerogram . Some forms of airletter, such as aerogram , may forbid enclosure of other material so as to keep the weight down. The choice to send a letter by air is indicated either by a handwritten note on the envelope , by the use of special labels called airmail etiquettes (blue stickers with the words "air mail" in French and in

568-528: A subinstallation of Williams AFB on 1 April, the 3595th Pilot Training Wing (Advanced Single-Engine) was established on 22 December 1948. Training began at Las Vegas AFB on 1 March 1949 with 5 squadrons using P-51 Mustangs for a 6-month course, with 3,000 USAF pilots trained by 1950. The 3525th Aircraft Gunnery Squadron activated on 11 February 1949, the base hosted the 1st USAF Gunnery Meet on 2 May, and ATC (air traffic control) opened its LVAFB Aircraft Gunnery School on 15 May 1949. Nellis Air Force Base

639-611: Is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada . Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace ", associated with the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). The base also has the Combined Air and Space Operations Center -Nellis. After World War I , Nevada and other western inland states were surveyed by Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Sgt. William B. Whitefield for landing sites, and by "mid-1925

710-615: Is a group of southern Nevada military areas that are predominantly USAF and Bureau of Land Management areas outside of the base (e.g., controlled by military units at Nellis). The complex's land areas include Nellis AFB, the USAF Nevada Test and Training Range , the active portion of the Small Arms Range Annex north of the base, the annex's Formerly Used Defense Site of 2,337 hectares (5,775 acres) (cleared in March 1972, returned to

781-823: Is the USAF authority for employment of tactical fighter weapons. The center has developed, refined, coordinated, validated and tested fighter concepts, doctrine, tactics, and procedures. The FWC also performed operational test and evaluation and prepared or monitored Air Force publications on employment tactics, aircrew training, and aircrew weapons delivery. It has supervised courses of the US Air Force Fighter Weapons School, adversary tactics training, and Wild Weasel training, and other combat and tactical schools. The FWC supervised Red Flag operational training and other continuing air exercises, such as Green Flag and Silver Flag Alpha. The center also directed operations of

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852-500: Is unavailable. It is usually impossible to know this by examining an envelope, and such items are not considered "airmail." Generally, airmail would take a guaranteed and scheduled flight and arrive first, while air-speeded mail would wait for a non-guaranteed and merely available flight and would arrive later than normal airmail. A letter sent via airmail may be called an aerogramme , aerogram , air letter or simply airmail letter . However, aerogramme and aerogram may also refer to

923-578: The 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron by July 2008). "Aggressor" training was reactivated under the 57th Operations Group in 2003 and in 2006 Nellis had the Air Ground Operations School. On 1 May 2007, the UAV reconnaissance elements assigned to the 57th Operations Group transferred to the 432nd Wing . Detachment 1 of the Space Warfare Center was established at Nellis in 1996 after

994-575: The 64th and 65th Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor Squadrons and the 4440th TFTG were inactivated in 1990 at the end of the Cold War. In November 1991, the 57th implemented the USAF Objective Wing organization which was the most comprehensive USAF reorganization plan since 1947, activating the 57th Operations Group for Nellis airfield operations and establishing the 57th Test Group . Nellis transferred to Air Combat Command on 1 June 1992, at

1065-460: The Combined Air and Space Operations Center -Nellis. The 57th Adversary Tactics Group merged into the 57th Operations Group on 31 March 2020. On 1 June 2020 the 800th Rapid Engineer Deployable, Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineer (RED HORSE) Group activated at Nellis, with the 820th Red Horse Squadron as a subordinate unit. Nellis Air Force Base is known by the USAF as the "Home of

1136-574: The DoI ), 13 BLM areas of 2.3 ha (5.7 acres) each leased for Patriot Radar/Communications Exercises, and other BLM sites "under Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace". Nellis AFB also leases space at the former Las Vegas AFS , and environmental sites of the Tonopah Bombing Range (FUDS) are monitored by the EPA. Additional Formerly Used Defense Sites associated with the area's military operations are

1207-827: The General Dynamics F-111 —6 of the F-111As departed Nellis for Vietnam on 15 March 1968 ( Combat Lancer ). Nellis provided replacements for 2 lost F-111s, and the F-111s returned to the USA in November 1968. The wing's 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron reached IOC in spring 1968 with F-111s, and the TFW was fully operational in July 1971. The Lake Mead Base , a 1953–6 United States Navy 's weapons storage area of 2,832 ha (6,999 acres), became Area II of

1278-539: The Germans besieging those cities. Balloon mail was also carried on an 1877 flight in Nashville, Tennessee . Starting in 1903 the introduction of the aeroplane generated immediate interest in using them for mail transport. An unofficial airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa , California, on February 17, 1911. The world's first official airmail flight came

1349-571: The Middle East . On 25 December 1918, the Latécoère Airlines (later becoming the famed Aéropostale ) became the first civilian international airmail service, when mail was flown from Toulouse , France, to Barcelona , Spain. Less than 2 months later, on 19 February 1919, the airmail service was extended to Casablanca , Morocco, making the Latécoère Airlines the first transcontinental airmail service. In June 1919, Alcock and Brown completed

1420-768: The Nevada National Security Site . Nellis ground systems for range operations (e.g., by callsign "Nellis Control") include the Computer and Computed Subsystem used to receive microwave signals from the NTTR Ground-Based per Station the Tracking and Communications Subsystem (TCS) for presentation on Nellis' Display and Debrief SubSystem (DDS). Nellis Area I has the airfield (2 runways and ramp space for up to 300 aircraft), recreation and shopping facilities, dormitories/temporary lodging, some family housing, "and most of

1491-592: The Nye County Areas A, G, H, & I; the " Delamar Dry Lake Test Annex" and the "Sunrise Mountain Machine Gun Range". Air Mail For about the first half century of its existence, transportation of mail via aircraft was usually categorized and sold as a separate service (airmail) from surface mail. Today it is often the case that mail service is categorized and sold according to transit time alone, with mode of transport (land, sea, air) being decided on

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1562-580: The Royal Air Force pioneered the first scheduled international airmail service between Folkestone, Kent and Cologne, Germany . The service operated between December 1918 and mid-1919; its purpose was to provide troops of the British Army stationed in Germany with a fast mail service. (see more at British Forces Post Office ) Throughout the 1920s the Royal Air Force continued to develop air routes through

1633-614: The United States was inaugurated on May 15, 1918. The route, which ran between Washington, D.C. , and New York City , with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , was designed by aviation pioneer Augustus Post . The field used for this service is marked by a plaque in West Potomac Park . In 1925, the U.S. Postal service issued contracts to fly airmail between designated points. By 1931, 85% of domestic airline revenue

1704-593: The Vietnam War , experienced combat pilots were used as Fighter Weapons instructors at Nellis. On 1 January 1966 the USAF Fighter Weapons School was activated at Nellis with F-100, F-4, and F-105 divisions and on 1 September 1966, Fighter Weapons School elements and the 4520th CCTW merged to activate the 4525th Fighter Weapons Wing. The USAF Tactical Fighter Weapons Center activated at Nellis AFB on 1 January 1966 (USAF Warfare Center after 15 November 2005)

1775-494: The back end in dynamic intermodal combinations. Thus even "regular" mail may make part of its journey on an aircraft. Such "air-speeded" mail is different from nominal airmail in its branding, price, and priority of service. Specific instances of a letter being delivered by air long predate the introduction of Airmail as a regularly scheduled service available to the general public. Although homing pigeons had long been used to send messages (an activity known as pigeon mail ),

1846-595: The pilot would sign them as well. The first stamps designated specifically for airmail were issued by Italy in 1917, and used on experimental flights; they were produced by overprinting special delivery stamps. Austria also overprinted stamps for airmail in March 1918, soon followed by the first definitive stamp for airmail, issued by the United States in May 1918. A postal service may sometimes opt to transport some regular mail by air, perhaps because other transportation

1917-488: The war , including in Germany , France and Japan , where airmail provision was briefly established in 1912, only to meet with similar practical difficulties. The range, speed and lifting capacity of aircraft were transformed through technological innovation during the war, allowing the first practical air mail services to finally become a reality when the war ended. For instance, the first regularly scheduled airmail service in

1988-460: The "Nellis Combined Air Operations Center ", the Warfare Center transferred Nellis Air Force Range control to the 98th Range Wing in 2001, and the annual Aviation Nation airshow began at Nellis in 2002. The Nellis Solar Power Plant constructed 23 April–December 2007 on Nellis' west side was visited by president Barack Obama on 27 May 2009. In 2010, the 505th Operations Squadron operated

2059-615: The 1930s for training flights. After the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the "western site board" had located a southern Nevada area "near Tonopah, Nev " by April 1940 for a military range, and in October 1940, Air Corps Major David Schlatter surveyed the southwest United States for a military airfield. "The 60 × 90 mile area at Tonopah was transferred to the War Department on 29 October 1940" by Executive Order 8578. Renamed to McCarran Field in

2130-736: The 428th and 429th Tactical Fighter Squadrons were reassigned to the wing with F-111As (transferred to Mountain Home AFB , Idaho, in August 1977) and the 474th Wing absorbed the F-4D Phantom II aircraft, crews, and resources of the inactivating provisional 474th Tactical Fighter Wing at Nellis in April 1977. The wing was inactivated in September 1989, and its F-16As transferred to Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve squadrons. The 57th Fighter Weapons Wing

2201-487: The 57th developing realistic combat training operations featuring adversary tactics, dissimilar air combat training, and electronic warfare . Nellis' 4477th Tactical Evaluation Flight ("Red Eagles") operated MiG-17s , MiG-21s and MiG-23s at the Tonopah Test Range Airport (late 1960s- c.  1990 ) to simulate combat against U.S. combat aircraft. Named Constant Peg in 1980, the operation assessed

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2272-561: The 57th wing and the 66th, 414th and 433d Fighter Weapons Squadrons became its "A-10", "F-4E" and "F-15A" divisions (the 414th was the "Red Flag Training Squadron" in 1996). The 422d FWS aircraft and personnel became the "F-16 Division" and the squadron heraldry transferred to the 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron . The FWS mission expanded on 15 June 1993 to include all Air Combat Command weapons ( B-52 & B-1 Divisions) and in 1995, rescue helicopters ( HH-60 Division). RC-135 Rivet Joint and EC-130 Compass Call courses were also added to

2343-922: The 79th Air Base Group detachment (5 staff officers commanded by Lt. Col. Martinus Stenseth ), and a month later 5 administrative NCOs plus other support personnel arrived. WPA barracks in Las Vegas were used for enlisted men, and the motor pool with 6 vintage trucks and a semi-trailer was next to the WPA barracks. Vehicle parts were from local service stations and gasoline and oil from the Civilian Conservation Corps (the Block 16 brothels in Las Vegas were closed). Permanent construction for barracks to house 3,000 people began in mid-1941, and by 7 December , 10 AT-6 Texan advanced flight trainers and 17 Martin B-10 bombers were at

2414-510: The Air Service possessed information on nearly thirty-five hundred landing places, including more than twenty-eight hundred emergency landing areas, in the United States." The 1929 airfield (dirt runway, water well, and small operations shack) north of Las Vegas —operated by the 1925 Western Air Express for Contract Air Mail (CAM) Route #4, LA -to- SLC —was used by the Army Air Corps in

2485-571: The CCO Division in 1995, as well as a Space Division in 1996 (UAVs in 2008). In 1981, the Gunsmoke gunnery meet was first held and the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing was reorganized as part of the establishment of the Fighter Weapons School, e.g., the 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron for aircraft modifications was established on 30 December 1981 from the 422d Fighter Weapons Squadron. In 1990,

2556-617: The Fighter Pilot" and is the Air Force's focus for advanced combat training. The main unit at Nellis is the USAF Warfare Center , which coordinates training for composite strike forces involving aircraft types from across the USAF inventory , accompanied by air and ground units of the US Army , US Navy , US Marines , and aircraft from other NATO and allied nations. Training is delivered through

2627-786: The Fighter Pilot" since the Korean War period of the early 1950s, and had a long history of conducting postgraduate fighter training and operational testing and evaluation of fighter weapons systems. Additionally, the Nellis Range, largest in the free world, readily complemented the new center's mission. Operational units assigned to the USAFWC have been: Wing Groups Squadrons source [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base (" Nellis " colloq. )

2698-498: The Nellis AFB complex in September 1969. The 430th TFS returned to the 474th TFW Nellis on 22 March 1973 assuming a replacement training unit mission, while the 428th and 429th were transferred to Mountain Home AFB on 30 July 1973. Post-war the 474th's mission was to train combat-ready force of aircrews and maintained a rapid-reaction capability to execute fighter attacks against enemy forces and facilities in time of crisis. In 1975,

2769-526: The Nellis fighter weapons school in late 1956 because of the almost total failure of the F-86 Sabre aircraft used at Nellis, and during 1958 ATC discontinued its Flying Training and Technical Training. Nellis AFB transferred to Tactical Air Command on 1 February 1958, and the Nellis mission transitioned from initial aircraft qualification and gunnery training to advanced, graduate-level weapons training. Soon after

2840-589: The Soviet technology and developed adversary tactics for dissimilar air combat training. After completion of training, the Aggressor pilots were assigned to the DACT squadrons , one of which was assigned to Nellis. During the 1970s, a site northwest of Nellis evaluated a Soviet "Barlock" search radar to develop techniques for countering Soviet air defense systems. The USAF Fighter Weapons School reactivated 30 December 1981 in

2911-646: The US Air Force Bomber and Tanker, Employment School since 1992 and the Air Rescue Center since 1993. The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron with the United States Air Force Thunderbirds moved from Arizona to Nellis AFB in June 1956. The 474th Tactical Fighter Wing was reassigned from New Mexico to Nellis AFB on 20 January 1968 and was the first USAF operational wing equipped with

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2982-599: The USAF Weapons and Tactics Center in 1992. The USAF Warfare Center uses the lands and airspace of the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) – which occupies about three million acres (12,000 km) of land, the largest such range in the United States, and another five-million-acre (20,000 km) military operating area which is shared with civilian aircraft. The center also uses Eglin AFB, FL, range, which adds even greater depth to

3053-539: The airfield. Las Vegas Army Airfield was both activated and began flying training on 20 December 1941. Gunnery training began in January 1942, with guntruck platforms being used in January and February. . Many pieces of the destroyed aerial drone targets litter the hillside north of the gunnery range, and can be seen in town when the sun reflects off them. The first B-17 Flying Fortresses arrived in 1942 and allowed training of 600 gunnery students and 215 co-pilots from

3124-465: The base switched to B-29 gunnery training which included the manipulation trainer on the ground with camera guns. The subsequent population peaked with nearly 11,000 officers and enlisted personnel including more than 4,700 students. Flexible gunnery training ended in September 1945, and the base became a demobilization center for soldiers' separation physicals and final pay. A course of navigator, bombardier, and radar operator training planned for LVAAF

3195-650: The base: "Nellis Air Force Base", the airfield, the post office, a Community College of Southern Nevada campus, and the census-designated place (CDP). The Nellis Air Force Base CDP is an 8.0 km (3.1 sq mi) region defined by the United States Census Bureau as of the 2010 United States Census . The CDP area includes military family housing (e.g., in Nellis Areas I & III), dormitories, and lodging as for aircrew temporary quarters during Red Flag exercises. The Nellis Air Force Base Complex

3266-517: The center's capabilities, providing over water and additional electronic expertise to the center. The USAF Warfare Center oversees operations of the 57th Wing, the NTTR, and the 99th Air Base Wings at Nellis AFB , Nevada ; the 53d Wing (with Geographically Separated Units at Tyndall AFB , Florida and Holloman AFB , New Mexico) and 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing at Eglin AFB , Florida ; and the 505th Command and Control Wing at Hurlburt Field , Florida . By

3337-466: The command and support structures", e.g., Suter Hall for Red Flag. Nellis Area II northeast of the main base "at the foot of Sunrise Mountain " (formerly the U.S. Navy's Lake Mead Base) has Nellis Gun Club and the 820th Red Horse Squadron. Nellis Area III is west of the main base with family housing, administration and industrial areas, and the Mike O'Callaghan Military Medical Center . Area III also includes

3408-646: The end of the Cold War when Tactical Air Command was inactivated. The 57th Wing was designated on 15 June 1993 from the 57th Operations Group in conjunction with the introduction of the RQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The USAF Combat Rescue School was also established in 1993 for HH-60 Pave Hawk instructional flying. "In 1996, AETC moved the PJ Advanced Weapons Course from Nellis AFB to Kirtland AFB". The 98th Range Wing

3479-552: The field every five weeks at the height of the war. More than 45,000 B-17 gunners were trained; the USAAF training movie The Rear Gunner was filmed at the airfield in 1943. The 82d Flying Training Wing (Flexible Gunnery) was activated at the base as one of ten Army Air Forces Flying Training Command wings on 23 August 1943. By 1944, gunnery students utilized B-17, B-24 Liberator and B-40 Flying Fortress gunship aircraft (for example by firing at aircraft-towed targets). In March 1945,

3550-461: The first aerial flight in North America by balloon on January 9, 1793, from Philadelphia to Deptford, New Jersey , Jean-Pierre Blanchard carried a personal letter from George Washington to be delivered to the owner of whatever property Blanchard happened to land on, making the flight the first delivery of air mail in the United States. The first official air mail delivery in the United States took place on August 17, 1859, when John Wise piloted

3621-451: The first airmail flight was piloted by Henri Pequet , who flew 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi) from Allahabad to Naini —the nearest station on the Bombay-Calcutta line to the exhibition. The letters bore an official frank "First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition, Allahabad. 1911". The aircraft used was a Humber-Sommer biplane , and it made the journey in thirteen minutes. The first official American airmail delivery

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3692-406: The first mail to be carried by an air vehicle was on January 7, 1785, on a hot air balloon flight from Dover to France near Calais . It was flown by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries . The letter was written by an American Loyalist William Franklin to his son William Temple Franklin who was serving in a diplomatic role in Paris with his grandfather Benjamin Franklin . During

3763-405: The first transatlantic airmail flight. The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurred in Colombia , South America, on 19 October 1920. Scadta , the first airline of the country, flew landing river by river delivering mail in its destinations. Australia's first airmail contract was awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA). The first airmail

3834-429: The flight should be cancelled in bad weather; the pilots were dead keen on flying in the most impossible conditions. Sanderson got killed this way at Douinville. And all he had in the machine was a couple of picture postcards from trippers in Paris, sent to their families as a curiosity. That was the Air Mail. No passengers or anything—just the mail". In the aftermath of the war, the Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and

3905-417: The mid-1930s, there were "difficulties in securing the use" of the airfield north of Las Vegas for a Nevada World War II Army Airfield . McCarran Field was bought on 2 January 1941 by the City of Las Vegas , was leased to the Army on 5 January, and was "signed over" to the Quartermaster Corps on 25 January—Army construction began in March 1941. The city's Federal Building became the May 1941 location of

3976-406: The mid-1960s, USAF aircraft and aircrew losses in the Vietnam War had convinced Tactical Air Command (TAC) of the need to improve technical and operational skills for the widening conflict. TAC established the Tactical Fighter Weapons Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in 1966 for the expressed purpose of improving fighter operations and tactics. Nellis AFB had been referred to as the "Home of

4047-419: The next day, at a large exhibition in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh , British India . The organizer of the aviation display, Sir Walter Windham , was able to secure permission from the postmaster general in India to operate an airmail service in order to generate publicity for the exhibition and to raise money for charity. Mail from people across the region was gathered in at Holy Trinity Church and

4118-485: The successful experiment he had overseen in India. The service ran for just under a month, transporting 35 bags of mail in 16 flights; four pilots operated the aircraft including Gustav Hamel , who flew the first service in his Blériot , covering the 21 miles between Hendon and Windsor in just 18 minutes. The service was eventually terminated due to constant and severe delays caused by bad weather conditions. Similar services were intermittently run in other countries before

4189-421: The time, this was the longest such flight in the world. The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the London suburb of Hendon , North London , and the Postmaster General 's office in Windsor, Berkshire , on September 9, 1911, as part of the celebrations for King George V 's coronation and at the suggestion of Sir Walter Windham , who based his proposal on

4260-461: The transfer to TAC, the F-100C, F-100D, and tandem cockpit F-100F entered the school inventory. On 21 April 1958 an F-100F on a training flight out of Nellis was involved in a mid-air collision with United Airlines Flight 736 . All 47 aboard the airliner and both Air Force pilots in the fighter jet were killed. The 3595th wing assets were redesignated as the 4520th Combat Crew Training Group by TAC on 1 July 1958. The 4520th Combat Crew Training Wing

4331-657: Was activated at Nellis on 15 October 1969 to replace the 4525th FWW (its Fighter Weapons Squadrons transferred to the 57th). The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron (the " Thunderbirds ") was assigned to the 57th in February 1974, and the wing incorporated intelligence training after March 1980. Redesignated the 57th Tactical Training Wing in 1977, the wing trained tactical fighter aircrews, conducted operational tests and evaluations, demonstrated tactical fighter weapon systems, and developed fighter tactics. The 57th's 4440th Tactical Fighter Training Group (Red Flag) assumed operational control of Red Flag exercises in October 1979; and

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4402-409: Was activated at Nellis on 29 October 2001 for Nellis Air Force Range control (previous range control was by the FWC). After Detachment 13, 372d Training Squadron opened its F/A-22 maintenance training facility on 29 November 2001, on 14 January 2003 Nellis received the first production F-22A Raptor for the F-22 Force Development Evaluation program and Weapons School (12 Raptors had been assigned to

4473-427: Was carried between Geraldton and Derby in Western Australia on December 5, 1921. Since stamp collecting was already a well-developed hobby by this time, collectors followed developments in airmail service closely, and went to some trouble to find out about the first flights between various destinations, and to get letters onto them. The authorities often used special cachets on the covers , and in many cases

4544-452: Was designated from the 4520th CCTG on 1 May 1961, and the Combat Crew training squadrons were renumbered. The 4537th Fighter Weapons Squadron had been assigned F-105D Thunderchiefs in March 1961, and the wing taught veteran pilots in all phases of fighter weapon employment: air-to-air gunnery, rocketry, conventional and nuclear bombing, aerial refueling, and combat navigation. The F-4 Phantom II Instructor Course began in mid-1965 and during

4615-444: Was designated on 1 January 1954 from the squadron when the Air Crew School graduated its last Combat Crew Training Class (the primary Weapons School mission was gunnery instructor training). In the mid-1950s for Operation Teapot nuclear testing, 1 of the 12 Zone Commanders was based at Nellis AFB for community liaison/public relations (weapons for other atomic tests were stored at Nellis). Air Training Command suspended training at

4686-422: Was established in 1966 as the USAF Tactical Fighter Weapons Center which concentrated on the development of forces and weapons systems that were specifically geared to tactical air operations in conventional (non-nuclear) war and contingencies. It continued to perform this mission for nearly thirty years, undergoing several name changes in the 1990s. In 1991, the center became the USAF Fighter Weapons Center, and then

4757-405: Was expanded 1951–1954 with longer jet-capable runways, reconfigured taxiways and a larger aircraft parking ramp; and World War II wooden structures were replaced with concrete and steel structures (e.g., barracks and base housing for married personnel). The first Wherry houses were completed in 1954, with updated Capehart houses being completed in February 1960. The USAF Fighter Weapons School

4828-430: Was from airmail. In Germany, dirigibles of the 1920s and 1930s were used extensively to carry airmail; it was known as Zeppelin mail , or dirigible mail. The German Zeppelins were especially visible in this role, and many countries issued special stamps for use on Zeppelin mail. The 1928 book So Disdained by Nevil Shute —a novel based on this author's deep interest in and thorough knowledge of aviation—includes

4899-462: Was instead begun at Mather Army Airfield in June 1946. AAF Training Command closed LVAAF which went on caretaker status 28 August 1946 ("officially deactivated in January 1947"). During the planning for a separate air force, the Las Vegas AAF was reactivated "30 Aug 47 as a subinstallation of Mather", and it transferred to the USAF after the branch was created in September. Renamed Las Vegas Air Force Base on 13 January 1948 and assigned as

4970-425: Was made on September 23, 1911, by pilot Earle Ovington under the authority of the United States Post Office Department . The first official air mail in Australia was carried by French pilot Maurice Guillaux. On July 16–18, 1914, he flew his Blériot XI aircraft from Melbourne to Sydney, a distance of 584 miles (940 km), carrying 1785 specially printed postcards, some Lipton's Tea and some O.T. Lemon juice. At

5041-1014: Was named on 30 April 1950, and the 20 May 1950 dedication was attended by Lieutenant Nellis ' family. By 1 July the Air Force had directed ATC to accelerate Korean War training for a new 95-wing Air Force. The first school opened at Nellis, and ATC redesignated the 3595th Pilot Training Wing (Advanced Single-Engine) as the 3595th Training Wing (Combat Crew). On 17 July 1950, Nellis began a replacement pilot training program to provide 115 FEAF F-51 Mustang pilots and 92 combat-ready F-80 Shooting Star pilots. Nellis' advanced single-engine pilot training transferred to Alabama on 1 September 1950. Nellis assumed fighter-bomber training, and ATC established its USAF Air Crew School (Fighter) on 14 November 1950, equipped with F-80s and early-model F-84C Thunderjets . On 1 October, Nellis AFB base management functions transferred from Williams AFB. In early 1951, ATC assigned recently graduated airplane and engine mechanics to Nellis to learn jet aircraft maintenance. The airfield

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