Edwards in Retrospect EAFB

Edwards Air Force Base in Retrospect

Produced in the mid 80's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwards_Air_Force_Base

Designated as the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Edwards is home to the 412th Test Wing, the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. It is operated and maintained by the 95th Air Base Wing as a part of the Air Force Materiel Command. Almost every United States military aircraft since the 1950s has been at least partially tested at Edwards, and it has been the site of many aviation breakthroughs.

The base is next to Rogers Dry Lake, an endorheic desert salt pan whose hard dry lake surface provides a natural extension to Edwards' runways. This large landing area, combined with excellent year-round weather, makes the base perfect for flight testing. The lake is a National Historic Landmark.

Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.

The base is one of the largest purchasers of renewable energy in the nation, deriving 60 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, and is a lead partner in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership.

Originally named Muroc Army Air Field, Edwards has been an air base since 1933, when a cadre arrived from March Field in Riverside to lay out a bombing range for bomb crews and to set up tents.

Previous names of Edwards AFB were: * Muroc Lake Bombing and Gunnery Range, September 1933 * Army Air Base, Muroc Lake, July 23, 1942 * Army Air Base, Muroc, September 2, 1942 * Muroc Army Airfield, November 8, 1943 * Muroc Air Force Base, February 12, 1948.

The base received its current name on December 8, 1949, in memory of U.S. Air Force test pilot Glen Edwards (1918--48), who died 18 months earlier while testing the Northrop YB-49 flying wing.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Edwards
• Air
• Force
• Base
• EAFB
• Retrospect
• Chuck
• Yeager
• Experimental
• Craft
• Airplanes
• Jets
• Dry
• Lake
• Bed
• Flight
• Test
• Center

[stephanie5nicole]

Interesting. Thanks for posting this! A little weird to think that I was born at EAFB

[murphytime]

@stephanie5nicole It's a cool base. I'd have liked being born on EAFB over FAFB.