• June 13, 1962: Project ROUGH ROAD

    A test team conducted the first flights of Project Rough Road, an evaluation of the short field takeoff and landing capabilities of the production C-130B, among other airframes. These test aircraft were loaded to a gross weight of 101,000 pounds and subjected to a variety of hard and soft sand and

  • June 12, 1980: Ridley Mission Control Center Dedication

    On this day, base officials dedicated the new Ridley Mission Control Center. The 84,000 square-foot facility, built to consolidate facilities scattered all over the base, housed telemetry ground stations, data and communication switching systems, range control, target acquisition and data collection

  • June 11, 2011: Test Pilot School Graduation

    The Test Pilot Schoo (TPS) graduated TPS Class 10B, a class of 24. Class 10B included 12 experimental flight test pilots, including one each from the Air Forces of Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.  It also included 10 flight test engineers, one experimental unmanned aerial systems

  • June 10, 2011: Edwards AFB Newspaper Changes Name

    Base officials changed the name of the base newspaper back from the Desert Eagle to the Desert Wings with the publication of volume 59, number 47 of the Desert Wings. The Desert Eagle ceased publication with volume 4, number 21.The newspaper on the base is an old tried and true tradition.  The first

  • June 9, 1974: YF-17 Cobra First Flight

    The YF-17 Cobra made its first flight, piloted by Hank Chouteau on this day. The aircraft, powered by two after burning YF101-GE-100 turbojet engines, marked Northrop’s entry into the Lightweight Fighter competition. Although, it lost out to General Dynamics F-16 and the project was terminated on

  • June 8, 2007: Edwards' "Mr. Instrumentation"

    Wing officials dedicated the 412th Operations Support Squadron conference room in honor of Mr. Donald G. “Don” Thomson.   Donald Thomson arrived at Muroc Army Airfield in 1942 as part of a team from Bell Aircraft to support test and development of Bell’s P-59.  He spent his entire 53 year career at

  • June 7, 2002: UAV Launches a UAV

    A multi-role, remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (MQ-1) Predator launched a mini-UAV while in flight over Edwards Air Force Base.  This became the first time an operational UAV demonstrated the capability to carry and launch another such aerial vehicle.  The mini-UAV, a 57-pound Navy

  • June 6, 1966: National Sonic Boom Test Project Begins

    The National Sonic Boom Test project began. This was a joint Air Force, NASA, and FAA study of jet noise and sonic boom effects on structures and people. Two dedicated houses were built and instrumented near Bldg P-1, and a third in Lancaster to catch sonic spillover effects. Repeated supersonic

  • June 5, 1961: Aerospace Research Pilot School First Class

    The First class of the Aerospace Research Pilot School began on this day.  The class consisted of four permanent members of the Test Pilot School and one from the  Air Force Flight Test Center’s Directorate of Flight Test. The initial class offered the instructors valuable teaching experience as the

  • June 4, 1971: Martin Marietta X-24 makes last flight

    The Martin Marietta  X-24A prototype aircraft made its last flight on this day.  After 28 flights, USAF engineers redesigned and heavily modified the blunt-shaped X‑24A and renamed it the X-24B.  Tne "B" model possessed a longer fuselage, increased width, and sharply changed platform.  The X-24B

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