• December 20, 1952: Kerosene Flats Housing Area Replaced with Newer Units

    The first duplex residences in Housing Area “C” were completed and assigned to base personnel. As personnel vacated “Kerosene Flats,” the WWII temporary housing constructed at the old town of Muroc, the now-substandard living quarters were demolished. The older facility, constructed in 1943, had

  • December 19, 1965: Experimental Tiltrotor Aircraft Testing Terminated

    Following the crash of the first experimental air vehicle in New Jersey, Curtiss-Wright requested that Category I testing of the X-19 be canceled. Two days later, Aerospace Systems Division (ADS) concurred and the project was terminated. The X-19 was a four-engine tilt rotor S/VTOL vehicle that

  • December 18, 1941: First Local Aircraft Mishap

    The first wartime crash took place when a B-26 twin-engine bomber lost power on takeoff and struck high tension power lines in the village of Muroc, located on the western shore of the lakebed across from the Army installation. The plane crashed 300 feet from the Muroc railroad station. Six men on

  • December 17, 1910: CORUM-MUROC Post Office Established

    The United States Post Office Department. established a fourth-class post office at a general store on the Corum brothers farm and appointed Clifford Corum as Postmaster. Because a postal facility already existed at Coram, California, the department rejected the name of “Corum” and instead accepted

  • December 16, 1983: "One-of-a-Kind" Aircraft Put in Storage

    The one-of-a-kind YA-10B was demodified and placed in storage.In March 1979, the first preproduction A-10A (S/N 73-1664) was returned to the Republic factory for conversion to a prototype two-place variant of the A-10. The modifications took about three months and when complete, the aircraft was

  • December 15, 1977: Extendable Nozzle Exit Cone for M-X ICBM Tested

    An extendable nozzle exit cone (ENEC) for an upper stage of the M-X ICBM was successfully tested over a rocket motor at the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory on Leuhman Ridge. The collapsible nozzle was designed to extend after stage firing, greatly extending the range of the missile. The M-X was

  • December 14, 1950: Muroc School District Elementary School

    Air Force Flight Test Center commander General Al Boyd completed the application for construction of an elementary school at Edwards AFB. Action was also taken to lease 20 acres of land to the California State Department of Education for the elementary school.Branch School is dedicated to the memory

  • December 12, 1998: Mariah Carey Films Video at Edwards AFB

    Popular singer Mariah Carey was at Edwards to shoot scenes for a forthcoming music video titled “I Still Believe.”  Following the filming of a scene similar to a Bob Hope-type USO show, featuring troops in uniform and their family members performing as extras, the singer put on a special performance

  • December 11, 1963: AEDC J-4 Rocket Engine Test Cell

    The  J-4  Propulsion  Engine  Test  Cell, a  vertical  rocket altitude  cell; and the J-5 test  cell, a  solid rocket cell were  officially accepted  by  the  Air  Force  from the  Corps of  Engineers and  turned  over  to  ARO, Inc. for  management, operation, and maintenance.The Propulsion

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