• October 31, 2008: Edwards Main Runway Officially Re-Opens

    Edwards Air Force Base hosted a special ribbon cutting ceremony to officially re-open its main runway for normal operations, some two months earlier than the runway’s expected completion date of December 2008. The contractor completed construction on the main runway on September 19, four months

  • October 30, 2013: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Testing

    The Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force executed the first live-fire launch of a guided air-to-air missile in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. F-35A aircraft AF-6 dropped a guided AIM-120 missile over a military test range at the Sea Test Range off the California coast.The F-35

  • October 29, 1965: Edwards Pilots Win Thompson Trophy

    Colonel Robert L. “Fox” Stephens and and Lt Col Daniel Andre, of the YF-12/SF‑71 Test Force received the Thompson Trophy from the Air Foundation of Cleveland at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. attended by the new Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Harold Brown, and Generals Curtis LeMay, John P.

  • October 28, 1952: Douglas XA3D Skywarrior's Maiden Flight

    The first flight of the Douglas XA3D Skywarrior took place, piloted by George Jansen. The A3D was a twin-engine jet bomber under development by the Navy to give its aircraft carriers a strategic strike capability. The aircraft became so successful that the Air Force subsequently developed its own

  • October 27, 2003: Wildfire Fighting Assistance Near Santa Clarita

    Responding to calls from beleaguered firefighters, the United States Air Force Flight Test Center dispatched a P-19 Crash Rescue Vehicle and crew to combat wildfires in the Los Padres National Forest. The Edwards Air Force Base crew used water and foam to protect homes near Santa Clarita. Strong

  • October 26, 1962: NASA Sonic Boom Testing

    Brig Gen Irving L. Branch conducted a series of tests for Headquarters Air Force Systems Command to determine the effect of sonic booms on missile check-out equipment. The tests were to explore the possible use of the tactic against Soviet missile launch sites in Cuba. Center pilots flew a T‑38, an

  • October 25, 2004: CV-22 Integrated Test Team

    The CV-22 Integrated Test Team (ITT) completed a series of countermeasures safe separation test flights on the No. 9 Osprey. Chaff and flares would protect the tilt-rotor aircraft from enemy threats. The tests cleared the way for operational use by the AF Special Operations Command.  The CV-22 ITT

  • October 24, 1974: Air-launched Modified Minuteman I ICBM From C-5A

    A crew from the 6512th Test Squadron successfully air-launched a modified Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile from a C-5A at 20,000 ft over the Pacific Test Range. The large missile was extracted by parachute, stabilized by drogues into a vertical position, ignited for a 20-second test

  • October 23, 1992: Western Mojave Land Tenure Adjustment Program

    The Bureau of Land Management acquired 2,579 acres of privately owned land 15 miles northeast of the base, under the Center’s Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor, and exchanged it for 257.5 acres of higher value land adjacent to Highway 395 near Adelanto. This exchange was the first “land swap” under

  • October 22, 1935: Formation of Muroc Bombing and Gunnery Range

    General Henry Arnold, United States Army, commanding the 1st Wing of the General Headquarters Air Force at March Field (defending the West Coast and Alaska), outlined to the House Military Committee the additional land and resources needed to complete the Muroc Bombing and Gunnery Range. In addition

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