Tonopah Test Range Airport

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Tonopah Test Range Airport
IATA: XSD - ICAO: KTNX - FAA: TNX
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		United States Air Force
Serves		Tonopah, Nevada
Elevation AMSL		5,549 ft (1,691 m)
Coordinates		37°47′41″N, 116°46′43″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
14/32	12,000	3,658	Concrete

Tonopah Test Range Airport (IATA: XSD, ICAO: KTNX, FAA LID: TNX) is located near the center of the Tonopah Test Range, 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Tonopah, Nevada and 140 miles (225 km) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Tonopah Test Range is assigned TNX^[1] by the FAA and XSD^[2] by the IATA (which assigned TNX to Stung Treng, Cambodia^[3]). The airport's ICAO identifier is KTNX^[2]^[4]^[5].

Tonopah is owned by the USAF Air Combat Command. The known primary use of this airport is to shuttle government employees to the test range from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

The 1982 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Airport Directory describes the Tonopah Test Range airfield as having a single 6,600' paved runway. In 1979, the length of Tonopah's runway was nearly doubled, to 12,000' (3.7 km) runway. In addition, the facility boasts over fifty hangars, and an extensive support infrastructure.

The primary (paved) access to the facility is off of U.S. Route 6 at the north end of the airport. Dirt road access points also exist on the south and east sides of the range.

Tonopah Test Range Airport is currently plainly visible from commercial airliners, which are routed only a few miles north of the base on transcontinental flights.

1 History
2 4450th Tactical Group/ 37th Tactical Fighter Wing
3 Current use
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The Tonopah range first opened in 1957. The Test Range has been a major test facility for Department of Energy (DOE) funded weapon programs. The facility is heavily instrumented with camera & radar tracking devices that record data from artillery shell testing, bomb drops, cruise missiles, and rocket tests.

The Tonopah airfield was presumably originally built to support the DOE test programs, and only later was taken over by the military for flight testing. It was apparently not a World War II era field, as it is not listed in the 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields. It was apparently built at some point between 1967 -1970, as it was not depicted on the 1967 Mt. Whitney Sectional Chart.

The earliest depiction of the airfield which has been located was on the July 1970 Air Force Tactical Pilotage Chart.

Beginning in October 1979 Tonopah Airport was reconstructed and expanded. The 6,000 ft runway was lengthened to 10,000 ft. Taxiways, a concrete apron, a large maintenance hangar, and a propane storage tank were added.

Phase II of the expansion consisted of the construction of an extra taxiway, a new control tower, a 42,000 square foot hangar, a parts warehouse, a dining hall, a water storage tank, and extensive fuel storage tanks.

Phase III expansion of the facility was a 2,000 ft runway extension to a total length of 12,000 ft. Extensions were made to taxiways, the ramp, the runway gained arrester gear, and new navigation aids were installed. More fuel storage was provided, together with Liquid Oxygen (LOX) storage, a fire station, and the first 24 aircraft hangars.

Extensive military construction began to turn the austere airstrip at Tonopah into a full fledged base with mainenance facilities, hangars, housing, etc. at a cost of over 100 million dollars.

[edit] 4450th Tactical Group/ 37th Tactical Fighter Wing

USAF F-117 Nighthawk during maintenance

The faciity is legendary for serving as the home of the U.S. Air Force's F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter fleet between 1982 and 1992. At Tonopah, the operational development of the F-117's was accomplished by the 4450th Tactical Group (4450th TG).

The first flight testing of the YF-117A began in June 1981 at Groom Lake Nevada. Although ideal for testing, the Groom Lake test site was not a suitable location for an operational base, so a new covert base had to be established.

On 17 May 1982, the move of the 4450th TG from Groom Lake to Tonoaph was initiated. The move was completed in 1983.

[edit] A-7D Corsair II

4450th TG A-7D

Because of the tight restrictions on F-117A flights during the 4450th TG "black" era, a surrogate aircraft was needed for training and practice and to provide a cover story for the 4450th TG's existence. The aircraft chosen was the Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) A-7 Corairs II. The SLUFF (Short Little Ugly Fat Fellow) was chosen because it demanded about the correct amount of pilot workload expected in the F-117A, was single seat, and therefore would bring all pilots to a common flight training base line.

In addition to providing an excuse for the 4450th's existence and activities the A-7's were also used to maintain pilot currency, particularly in the early stages when very few production F-117As were available. The pilots learned to fly chase on F-117A test and training flights, perform practice covert deployments, and practice any other purpose that could not be accomplished using F-117As, given the tight restrictions imposed on all F-117A operations.

There were approximately 20 aircraft, including a couple of trainers. The 4450th TG was the last active USAF unit to fly the A-7D.

A-7 flight operations began in June 1981 concurrent with the very first YF-117A flights. The A-7's wore a unique "LV" tailcode (for Las Vegas) and were based officially at Nellis Air Force Base. They were maintained by the 4450th Maintenance Squadron, based at Nellis. Some A-7s operated from Tonopah from the beginning, and care was taken to leave them outside the hangars, so that prowling satellites could see that Tonopah operated nothing more exciting than some Corsairs.

[edit] T-38 Talons

4450th TG T-38B

In January 1989, just three months after the USAF admitted the F-117A existed, the aging A-7's were replaced with newer T-38A and AT-38B Talon trainers.

Many of these "Talons" formerly belonged to the 4447th TS "Red Hats" that flew "acquired" Soviet aircraft at Groom Lake, Nevada. One of the AT-38B Talons even served as a USAF Thunderbird in the 1970s.

Most of the T-38s were reassigned to training units with the disbanding of the 37th FW.

[edit] Deployments

On 5 October 1989 the 4450th Tactical Group was deactivated and the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing moved from George AFB to Tonopah. At that time, Tactical Air Command (TAC) activated the Det 1, 57 Fighter Weapons Wing (FWW) at Tonopah. Shortly after the move, three pairs of F-117A's participated in Operation JUST CAUSE from Tonopah on 19 December. Only one mission with two F-117As was attempted.

In January 1990 it was announced that the 37th TFW would move from Tonopah to Holloman AFB, New Mexico. However, this was later delayed by the Gulf War. On August 19 22 F-117A's from the 415th and a dozen tankers left Tonopah for Langley AFB. 18 F-117s would continue to Khamis Mushait Air Base in Saudi Arabia for Operation DESERT SHIELD.

[edit] Departure

On 9 May 1992 the official ceremony for the F-117A arrival at Holloman AFB was held. This move was completed on 7 July. On 1 June 1992 Det 1, 57 FWW moved from Tonopah to Holloman AFB. On July 8, the 37th FW was inactivated. The 415th FS, 416th FS, and 417th FS all become part of the 49th Fighter Wing.

[edit] Current use

After the F-117 squadrons vacated Tonopah, it is not publicly known what (if any) aircraft are currently based there. The USAF maintains the facility as an active base on the Tonopah Test Range, and the existing runway and navigation aids are open to the DOE and the USAF on an as-needed basis. The facility is lighted for night operations.

The airfield is used by the DOE in support of its mission at the Tonopah Test Range. This facility supports approximately 15 sorties per week for DOE operations. The remaining sorties are in support of the USAF and other organizations at the Tonopah Test Range.

The 30th Reconnaissance Squadron, operating Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicless, was activated at Tonopah in August 2005 as part of the 57th Operations Group at Nellis. Air Force Times reported that the unit’s operations are classified. Combat Aircraft magazine reported that the unit would do “operational test and evaluation” work.