WORLD'S LARGEST MILITARY RESERVE: Wendover Air Force Base, 1941-63 BY LEONARD J . ARRINGTON AND THOMAS G. ALEXANDER
Wendover November
While on a tour of Air Force bases during World War II, Bob Hope said the little town on the Utah-Nevada border should be renamed "Leftover." Close in his wake and not to be outdone by a friendly rival, Bing Crosby called the gas-lit village "Tobacco Road with slot machines." Nestled at the foot of historic Pilot Peak, prewar Wendover boasted a population of 103 and represented, both to its Western Pacific Railroad employee-citizens and to outsiders, a wide spot along the Salt Lake to Elko (Nevada) highway. Yet there, "at the end of nowhere," the United States Air Force later made preparations for one of the most consequential events in the history of the world, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Leonard J. Arrington is professor oÂŁ economics, Utah State University, and Mr. Alexander is research assistant in economics at U.S.U. and candidate for the doctorate in history at the University of California, Berkeley. The research for this article has been supported by a grant from the Utah State University Research Council.
Air Force Base showing the runways and buildings which were standing in of 1959. The salt flats can be seen in the background stretching to the Southeast. HILL AIR FORCE BASE
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