World's Largest Military Reserve: Wendover Air Force Base, 1941-63

WORLD'S LARGEST MILITARY RESERVE: Wendover Air Force Base, 1941-63

BY LEONARD J. ARRINGTON AND THOMAS G. ALEXANDER

SELECTION AND CONSTRUCTION

The history of Wendover Air Force Base begins in 1939 when the Air Corps initiated a gigantic expansion program. There was a particularly acute need for bombing and gunnery ranges, for the acquisition of which appropriations were made in February, 1940. Eastern and western sites for those ranges were selected by boards consisting of representatives from the War Department General Staff, the office of Chief of the Air Corps, the Quartermaster Corps, and General Headquarters Air Force. The western site board sought locations near McChord and Hamilton fields, California, and by April of 1940, had three sites, one of which was Wendover. The selection of Wendover may have been related to a War Department plan to turn the infantry post at Fort Douglas (Salt Lake City) into an Air Corps post and to use the municipal airport in Salt Lake City as a station for heavy bomber groups.

It was obvious that the Salt Lake Municipal Airport, which had served as an arsenal for the storage of airborne ordnance materiel, could not continue indefinitely to stockpile high explosives so close to a city the size of Salt Lake City. Inasmuch as military planes from the airport had begun to use the salt desert near Wendover to practice bombing, it was only a short step to activate the base and move the ordnance from the airport to Wendover. U.S. Army district engineers commenced construction on November 4,1940.

Geographically and meteorologically, Wendover made an excellent site for an Air Force base and bombing range. Located on the salt flats which were once the bottom of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville, Wendover proved to be ideal for its training mission. The suitability of the wide expanse of smooth, flat landing surface for training bomber crews was said to have first attracted the attention of Air Force Chief of Staff, General H. H. Arnold, when he was stationed in Salt Lake City in the early 1930's in connection with the operation of Army airmail routes. The Western Pacific Railroad ran directly through Wendover, and the distance between it and the three major West Coast ports of embarkation (Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle) was practically equal. The salt desert oasis saw little rain, and the snow which fell during the winter seldom remained long enough to interfere with air traffic. Under prewar conditions, Wendover lay far enough inland to make it relatively secure from any attack which an aggressor might have made on the Pacific Coast.

Procurement of the land for the base presented no serious problem to the government, since the Department of the Interior owned virtually all of the original 1,822,000 acres which formed the base. On September 20, 1940, the department transferred to the Air Corps 1.56 million acres. There were a few scattered holdings of land within this area which were owned by the State of Utah, Tooele County, the Western Pacific Railroad, Bonneville Limited Potash, and Standard Realty and Development Company. The desired 14,068 acres of this desert land were acquired by the Army for a nominal $21,968.

Considerable opposition was expressed by Utah stockmen to the acquisition of additional land. On October 15, 1940, these men formally requested the governor of Utah to induce the Army to select a different site or to reduce the area in size. Use of the area, they asserted, would "wipe out 100 outfits" of livestock men and cost the state about $1.5 million annually. After a number of hearings and negotiations, President Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew from private use not only the original acreage, but, on February 5, 1941, ordered an additional transfer of 262,000 acres to the base for the establishment of offices, quarters, and other buildings and facilities. With a few additional acquisitions, this brought the total to 1,875,539 acres. From this beginning, the base grew until at its height it encompassed 3.5 million acres and represented the largest military reserve in the world. The size of the base is emphasized by the fact that the bombing target range was more than 60 miles from the administration area.

First construction efforts in the winter of 1940—41 were devoted to the expenditure of $558,000 on temporary barracks, the grading and graveling of two 150 by 7,000 feet runways, taxi strips, and a plane anchorage area. With an additional appropriation of $1 million in the spring of 1941, four runways were paved, and there were erected four 63-man barracks, a mess hall, officers' quarters, an administrative building, a signal office, two ordnance warehouses, a dispensary, three ammunition storehouses, a bombsight storage warehouse, a powerhouse, and a theater. These facilities were first occupied by a bombing and gunnery detachment of 12 men on August 12, 1941. Although additional bombing and gunnery crews sharpened their sights on the range in ensuing weeks, little more in the way of construction was undertaken until the commencement of the war on December 7, 1941. During this formative period Wendover was simply a sub-post of Fort Douglas and did not achieve status as an official Army Air Base until March 28,1942.

Since Wendover AFB was intended originally as a temporary base, most of the original buildings — i.e., those built in the spring of 1941 — were covered with tarpaper rather than any permanent material. Even the later buildings which were constructed after the beginning of the war were almost all made of wood frame. The first groups to arrive found less than a dozen buildings to house all operations, and training and headquarters units alike were forced to use one 50 by 20 foot room with a series of tables aligned in a U-formation. As many as 60 men worked inches apart on tables consisting of boards laid across sawhorses. Discarded cardboard boxes served as filing cabinets. In some cases personnel at the base did their own construction work. A USO center, for example, was built in one day by base personnel, with the help of citizens of Tooele and Elko, and was used the same evening.

It was this crowding, and the vast build-up of the Army Air Corps, which led to the "blitz" construction program of 1942-43. This included a Federal Housing Administration project, known as Nev-Tah Apartments, for civilian personnel, which was completed in June of 1943. It also included aircraft hangars, machine shop, parachute shop, bombsight maintenance and turret buildings, and completion of runways. By late 1943, there were approximately 2,000 civilian and 17,500 military employees at the base.

At the end of World War II, the facilities on the base included a 300-bed hospital, gymnasium, swimming pool, library, post exchange, chapel, cafeteria, bowling alley, two theaters, guardhouse, consolidated mess hall, and 361 housing units for married Army officers and civilians. The crucial problem of water was solved by the construction, in June, 1943, of a pipeline to Pilot Peak, some 32 miles northwest of the base. Total cost of the expanded base was approximately $13 million.

TRAINING DURING WORLD WAR II

Wendover's basic mission during most of World War II was to train heavy bombardment groups; that is, the crews of B-17, B-24, and B-29 bombers. For much of the war, it was the Air Force's only bombing and gunnery range. Under the direction of the Second Air Force, a three-phase training program of four weeks each was set up. Wendover provided the second phase of this training program.

The first unit to arrive at Wendover under this arrangement was the 306th Bombardment Group, which arrived on April 6, 1942. At the time, the only available training facilities were a Link trainer department, a gunnery range with one moving mount target, a small bore range, and a skeet range. In subsequent weeks these training mechanisms were greatly expanded.

Because of the abundance of salt in the area (Wendover is near the Bonneville Salt Flats where many world automobile racing records have been set), the base constructed a city of salt near the mountains where bomber crews could practice. Together with the mock city, the flat plain near the airfield formed an ideal bombing range because any time anyone disturbed the surface of the plain a new target stood out vividly against the white salt flats. Life-sized targets of enemy battleships were reared, and an electrical system installed for night illumination.

Just north of Highway 40 and east of the town of Wendover, a machinegun range was constructed that gained nationwide attention. Because of the shortage of materials, the officers responsible for the construction of the range "requisitioned" much of the lumber and other materials from both the contractors and the government. One of the training officers reportedly involved in these "midnight" operations was court-martialed. The court-martial board exonerated him after General Douglas MacArthur sent a telegram praising Wendover gunners as the best-trained in the Army.

The range consisted of three courses with cement machine-gun emplacements which were 1,000, 750, and 500 yards from circular target pits. In the pits, workmen constructed tracks which were the width of a jeep, with a board in the center to guide the jeep in its circular path. As the firing began, the pit crew would turn the jeep loose. Running under its own power and guided by the board, the jeep pulled the target until the troops finished firing. Even more famous was Wendover's "Tokyo Trolley," in which three machine guns were mounted on a railroad car which moved along a section of track at a speed of up to 40 miles an hour. Shooting at moving targets and from moving vehicles posed realistic challenges to aerial marksmen, most of whom were trained in the use of 50-caliber machine guns.

By the close of 1942, Wendover had trained the 306th, 302nd, and 308th Bombardment Groups, and a fourth group was still in training. The first group, the 306th, was already in action carrying out bombing missions over France and Germany. An even dozen groups were trained at Wendover in 1943. In 1944, the system of training was altered to require that Wendover provide all phases of training for the groups assigned to it. Exercises were carried out in high-altitude formation flying, long-range navigation, target identification, and simulated combat missions. The goal of this training, according to Air Force reports, was "teamwork." All told, 21 bomber groups went to Wendover, formed complete units, trained together, then moved on to other bases or to active duty.

The urgent need for trained bomber pilots in this critical stage of the war caused the Army to send thousands of fighter pilots to Wendover to teach them to fly heavy bombers. But the essence of fighter training had been individual daring, proficiency, and precise co-ordination, while bomber operation was a matter of specialization and teamwork. Owing to the reduced maneuverability of the bombers, compared with the planes the fighter pilots had formerly flown, and the lack of aptitude and experience in team flying, there was an abnormally high number of crashes. These "transition training" pilots experienced 157 crashes and 121 men were killed. The program was quickly canceled. Between April and September of 1944, the base also successfully trained 180 fighter pilots for P-47's.

With the enormous build-up of troops, the Army activated a sub-depot to supply and service the base. Under the command of Hill Field, the sub-depot served to store and issue all Army Air Force supplies and property to the field. As the base expanded, so did the mission of the sub-depot. First opened as a small machine shop on January 24, 1942, and officially activated April 25, the depot had expanded by 1943 to a hangar, a complete machine shop, a parachute shop, and a bombsight and turret shop. Its transportation section performed maintenance through third echelon on aircraft and special-purpose vehicles, such as forklifts, and its signal section maintained airborne radios. To meet needs for trained workers, various on-the-job training programs were instituted.

Another base operation was the training of soldiers and civilians in fire fighting and rescue work. As a service to the Air Force, special facilities were constructed for training these specialists. After the end of the war, in July of 1946, the Wendover fire fighters got a chance to show their skill in combating a $1.5 million fire. The fire demolished one of the hangars and four airplanes before it was brought under control. No lives were lost.

OPERATION SILVER PLATE

Easily the most spectacular unit to assemble and train at Wendover was the 509th Composite Group, officially activated on December 17, 1944, under the command of Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. While the services which its various component parts performed were similar to those performed by other units which trained at the base, its overall mission proved to be without precedent. The arrival of its first B-29 Superfortress marked the beginning of training to drop bombs over Japan.

Nucleus of the 509th was the 393rd Bombardment Squadron of the 504th Bombardment Group, which by early 1945 consisted of 15 B-29's and 1,500 men who served as crews and in service units. In addition, the Group included the 603rd Air Engineer Squadron, which repaired the planes, rebuilt engines, and kept the radios and telephones in working order; the 1027th Air Materiel Squadron, which procured and issued all Air Corps, Quartermaster, Signal, Chemical, and Ordnance supplies and materiel for the unit, including food and clothing for the men and ammunition for the bombers; the 390th Air Service Group, which trained the unit in combat procedures, chemical warfare, first aid, the use of firearms, and camouflage techniques; and the "Green Hornet Airlines" or 320th Troop Carrier Squadron, which took the airmen wherever they were ordered to go. There were also the 1395th Military Police Company, and 400 FBI men, betokening the extraordinary activity in which the unit was to engage. Later, on March 6, 1945, arrived the 1st Ordnance Squadron which guarded the fantastic "Secret Weapon." Of the entire group of 1,500 enlisted men and 200 officers which eventually left Wendover, only the group commander had knowledge of the ultimate task.

The rigid security measures were entirely successful. A new bomb pit was constructed, and a maximum security area was enclosed by barbed wire for which special passes were required for entering and leaving. Even employees at the base who were cleared for top secret knew nothing about its significance. In special briefings, the officers cautioned members of the group to talk neither to one another nor to members of their families about their mission. For over nine months, the 1st Ordnance Squadron worked with top scientists on the project which was so secret that only one-fifth of those who had the requisite qualifications for the work could be chosen.

In May of 1945, the Group left Wendover for Tinian Island, in the Marianas, east of the Philippines and southeast of Japan. During June and July, the 509th, as with many other contemporary units, flew a number of bombing missions over Japan. There followed the Potsdam Ultimatum of July 26, 1945, in which President Harry Truman promised that if Japan did not surrender she would witness a reign of blood and terror more terrible than anything she had yet seen.

There being no surrender, the fatal day promised by the Allied leaders came, on August 6, 1945. Colonel Tibbets, flying the Enola Gay, assisted by Major T. W. Ferebee as bombardier, left Tinian on the mission which ushered in a new era in modern warfare. The months of practice on the Utah desert had culminated in one of the most crushing blows in military history.

It was not until Colonel Tibbets' return from Japan, and his receipt of the Distinguished Flying Cross from General Carl Spaatz, that the workers at Wendover learned what their base had housed for over nine months. Wendover Air Force Base, that last stop in the middle of nowhere, had trained the crews which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Unknown to the employees, the remote Utah base had played host to what was then the most lethal weapon devised by the mind of man — the atomic bomb.

THE TESTING AND DEVELOPMENT OF MISSILES

After the 509th Composite Group left the installation in the spring of 1945, the training program slowed to a standstill, and activity was shifted into the development of weapons. On December 31, 1945, the jurisdiction over the base passed from Second Air Force to Air Technical Service (later Air Materiel) Command.

Many Utahns are not aware of Wendover's role in AMC's postwar weapons development program. A prelude to the development of the spectacular missiles industry of the 1950's and 1960's, the base's assignment began in April of 1946, and included the testing and development of three types of missiles. The first group included all types of power-driven bombs from "Weary Willies" to the American version of the German V-l rocket. The second group were bombs, equipped with wings and gyro-stabilizers, which would glide into the target after being launched from a plane. The more advanced of these bombs could be controlled by means of radio and radar. The third group consisted of bombs whose azimuth and/or range could be controlled by the launching plane. The Boeing Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft (GAPA) and the Hughes TIAMAT MX-798 were both tested under this program. "Roc," "Tarzan," and "GAPA" became familiar sounds in the desert.

Among the weapons taken to Wendover for testing were German V-2 rockets which had plagued Great Britain during "the blitz." Two launching ramps with concrete bases and steel-covered pads were constructed from which to fire the rockets. Because the Germans had provided no destroying mechanism, the missilemen used P-51's to shoot them down. Fortunately, a P-51 pilot who was familiar with the weakness of the rockets was present when one of them broke loose on the hangar apron. He quickly got a carbine, shot the fuel tanks, and kept it from doing any damage to the area.

During this period the base also set up a school to train pilots in the techniques of remote control, but this soon folded due to the lack of trained personnel, inadequate maintenance, and poor weather.

Although the Army had spent millions of dollars on the base, and recognized its usefulness as a site for rocket tests, steps were taken to close it. On March 16, 1947, the Wendover base was turned over to the Strategic Air Command, and for the next two-and-one-half years Wendover ranges were used by SAC crews stationed at other bases. The base was completely deactivated in 1948, and was declared "surplus" the following year. Except for the bombing range, which SAC had continued to use for low-altitude bombing, the base was transferred back to the Air Materiel Command on July 1,1950. Soon afterward, AMC's 25th Air Depot Wing, stationed at Hill Air Force Base, sent elements to Wendover to coordinate and arrange for aerial gunnery practice for several fighter squadrons based at Hill.

However, the base had very little use during the next four years. Although several groups expressed a desire to use Wendover on a tenant basis, the Air Materiel Command declared that it could not maintain the staff to service such activity. Throughout the period 1950 to 1954, the permanent crew consisted of two military men and a fire department of approximately 11 men.

GUNNERY AND MOBILITY STAGING

In the summer of 1954, the 461st Bombardment Group flying 20 B-26's came to Wendover to use it as a practice bombing range. Immediately after this, on October 1, 1954, the Air Force transferred Wendover to the Tactical Air Command of the Ninth Air Force, and reactivated the base for use as a "gunnery and mobility staging area." It was the intention to employ from 300 to 400 civilians during this new activation.

The new jet bombers and fighters which TAC brought to the base to practice air-to-air and air-to-ground rocketry created the need for new launching and landing facilities. Among the facilities repaired at this time were runways, supply warehouses, a hangar, and a base-operations building. The projects completed included construction on one of the bombing ranges of skip-bomb, dive-bomb, and billboard type targets. In addition to a runway for the new B-57's, F-100's, and F-102's, the Air Force also constructed a crash barrier, consisting of a nylon net stretched across the runway and attached to two metal arms which were connected to their bases by shear pins. When the planes hit the barrier, the shear pins broke and the plane was slowed down by over 100 feet of heavy chain. Total cost of all construction at the reactivated base in the spring of 1955 was more than $500,000.

The presence in Wendover of these planes and airmen also occasioned the reopening and renovating of the pool, chapel, and base theaters. The base command also began the rebuilding of housing units. At the time TAC took over, there were 24 transient units available and 380 other barracks which needed repair.

It soon became clear, however, that the predictions of future employment were highly exaggerated. In 1957, there were only 41 civilian and 246 military employees, which represented a drop from 270 military and 61 civilians in 1956. The following table gives available data on employment at the base.

PERSONNEL AT WENDOVER AIR FORCE BASE, SELECTED YEARS

(SOURCE: Information supplied by Wendover Air Force Base and newspaper releases.)*

After the Air Force deactivated the base, on December 31, 1957, the Utah Air National Guard sought to use it for summer encampments. Salt Lake's Air Force Reserve Recovery Squadron used it on occasion for mock recoveries, and the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve fighter and bomber units used it for occasional gunnery training. It also served as a clear range area over which new supersonic aircraft such as the X-15 were dropped. 3 In December, 1960, the Department of the Air Force announced that the base was again being placed on an inactive caretaker status, under the management of Hill Air Force Base. There were at the time some 26 civilian employees. The base was reactivated on July 15, 1961. Only a fire-fighting detachment of about 15 men has been stationed there since that time. It has been known as Wendover Auxiliary Air Force Base and has been used to test munitions.

During the previous reactivation, some 150 buildings had been taken from the base and sold for between $150 and $250 each; by 1962 there were only 128 of the original 668 buildings. The partly dimantled base was declared surplus in 1962. The General Services Administration of the federal government prepared to handle the sale of the base — possibly to the city of Wendover (800 population). The city sought in 1962 to interest commercial firms, particularly Utah's missile manufacturers, in using part of the base. The facilities remaining include 1,200 acres of valuable community assets and a chapel, swimming pool, filtering plant, sewer system, aircraft hangars, dispensary, air-control tower, and barracks. The chief users of the air strip since 1952 have been medical doctors serving Wendover.

The most likely future use of the base would seem to be as a missile-tracking station — a use that would require an additional $2 million of construction — or in connection with the launching and recovery of spacecraft.

In the meantime, the once-famed pit where the atomic bomb used to sit before the Air Force loaded it onto the B-29 is partly filled with salt brine and tumbleweeds. All over the base cement slabs mark the spots where buildings formerly stood, and bare plumbing fixtures and electric wires show where utilities formerly served more than 17,000 men. Wendover Air Force Auxiliary Field appears today as an old soldier — the glory of the past is marked by the scars on its surface.

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