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Wendover AFB/Utah Test and Training Range

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The Army activated Wendover Army Air Field in northwestern Utah on March 1, 1942, as a research and development facility for guided missiles and pilotless aircraft as well as a training facility for heavy bomber crews. The 509th Composite Group, which flew the famed B-29 "Enola Gay," trained to carry the first atomic bomb.

The Army Air Force initially tested the JB-2 (Loon) at this location in 1945 and 1946. The program then moved to New Mexico. In the 1950s, Wendover AFB served as an impact point for the Air Force Matador surface-to-surface missile. In 1958 the base came under Ogden Air Materiel Area command.

Due to Wendover's remote location, a Minuteman Missile motor testing complex was constructed there in the early 1960s to support the Minuteman program based at the Ogden Air Materiel Area. The extensive complex cost $7.5 million dollars to build.

Most of the base property was transferred from Ogden Air Logistics Center to the city of Wendover in 1973. However, a radar site was retained to support range operations for the Hill-Wendover-Dugway Range complex. Air Force Systems Command assumed range control in January 1979 and designated the facility as the Utah Test and Training Range.

The northwestern Utah range encompassed 1.7 million acres of restricted land area, and the airspace covered an additional 5.3 million acres. The range has been used for testing and evaluation of air-launched cruise missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and ground-launched cruise missiles.