Overview

Location: Utah

Also Known As: Wendover Airbase, Wendover Field, Wendover Air Force Auxiliary Field

Other Resources

National Register of Historic Places: Designated National Historic Landmark #75001827 in 1975 by the National Park Service.

History

Wendover Air Force Base was host to launches of the JB-2 plus guided glide bomb testing as early as October 1944. Later in the 1960s, the base was configured for testing of Minuteman rocket engines and smart bombs. Designation as a National Historic Landmark came in 1975 as a result of the base’s host to the 509th Composite Group for use as an isolated training base for the first wartime atomic bomb drops by B-29s. The value of the base rested with its isolated location on the Utah-Nevada border. It was a gunnery and bombing range throughout most of its active history.

JB-2

  • U.S. copy of German V-1 were slightly heavier and had more wing area
  • Also known as: Loon
  • JB-2 testing at Wendover was conducted by U.S. Army Air Force
  • March 1947 – Testing moved from Wendover Air Force Base to Holloman Air Force Base

Mace

  • September 1957 – Flight of “new” Matador (essentially a Mace) launched at Holloman and impacted on Wendover Air Force Base range
  • February 1958 – Flight of “new” Matador (essentially a Mace) launched at Holloman and impacted on Wendover Air Force Base range
  • May 1958 – Flight of “new” Matador (essentially a Mace) launched at Holloman and impacted on Wendover Air Force Base range
Other Missile Test Sites