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Show PAGE 4 - WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGER, JULY 6, 1973 WSMR ends 28 years of missile testing White Sands Missile Range is a national range which supports missile development and test programs for the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other government agencies. The White Sands range is under operational control of the U:S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (TECOM), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. TECOM is the Army's test laboratory to plan and conduct engineering and service tests of a'! materiels from missiles to rifles, tanks to trucks, clothing to radios and from aviation to fire control equipment. White Sands Missile Range was established July 9, 1945 as White Sands Proving Ground (name changed in 1958) to be America's testing range for the new concept of missile weapons. Even before the advent of the German V-2 rocket during World War II, the U.S. Army Drdnance Corps recognized the possibilities of rocket warfare and sponsored research and development in methods of missile guidance. The Armed Services, National Defense Research Committee and representatives of American industry pooled their efforts to develop missile guidance systems. Some of the results of this research were used against the enemy during the latter part of World War II. The U.S. Army began its activity in rocketry in Sep tember 1943 with the establish ment of the Rocket Branch of the Army Ordnance Corps. At that time, Ordnance requested California . Institute of Technology to investigate long range, surface-to-surface guided missiles and Aberdeen Proving Ground to prepare a study on long range rockets. Both reports were encouraging, and the planning that began them has led to guided missiles as we know them today. White Sands' role in missile development dates from September 1945 with the firing of the first missile - a Tiny Tim sounding rocket - on the newly established proving ground. Then America's missile program get underway in earnest on April 16, 1946 when the first German V-2 was launched on the New Mexico range. Since then, WSMR has been the test site for almost all Army developed missile systems, many for the Navy and Air Force, and for numerous other test programs for the Department of Defense and NASA. Largest overland range White Sands Missile Range is located in the Tularosa Basin of south-central New Mexico. The 100-mile long and 40-mile wide area encompasses more land than the states of Delaware, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia combined. The range stretches more than half the distance from El Paso, Tex., to Albuquerque, N.M. It is the largest land-area military reservation in the United States. Since 1960, WSMR has had part-time use of a 40-mile by 40-mile area adjoining the north range boundary. Employed some 20 times a year, this 1,600 square-mile extension allows the testing of some of today's longer ranged missiles. The FIX area, as the extension is called for "firing in extension," is populated by some 90 ranch families totalling about 175 people. When firings are scheduled for the FIX area, these families leave their homes for the specified time. Following written notices and confirmations, residents move out of the area through four established check points where registers are maintained to keep close check on evacuees. Upon completion of the firings, all-clear notices are broadcast from area radio stations. WSMR officials call the notices to the radio stations informing the residents that they may return to their homes. The radio stations air the notices as a public service. In addition to being paid for the use of their land, these ranch families - each adult and child - are paid for the hours they spend away from home each time they are evacuated. The maximum time agreed upon for property owners to be kept away from home is 12 hours. Normally, the time is less. However, in some instances, the Army has cancelled missile firings because difficulties - technical or weather - precluded the firing within the stipulated 12-hour period. Off-range firing program In the mid-1950s, studies were initiated to extend White Sands Missile Range facilities in order to accommodate longer ranged vehicles. Several flight corridors were considered but the final selection was an azimuth in a northwesterly direction passing west of Salt Lake City, Utah towards Yakima, Wash., and terminating in Alaska. Of all considered, this particular area was least populated, yet most accessible for safety zones and instrumentation sites. The off-range firing program was initiated in 1956. One of the first flights was an Air Force Matador, air-to-ground missile, flown from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., to Wendover Air Force Base, Utah. Later,, in 1963, Army Sergeant missiles were fired from Ft. Bliss' McGregor Range and from Datil, N.M., to impact on the White Sands range, and the Air Force Hound Dog was launched from an aircraft flying in the vicinity of Del Rio, Tex., to impact on White Sands Missile Range. Since then, Army Sergeant and Pershing missiles have been launched from Ft. Wingate, N.M. and Blanding, Green River and Gilson Butte, Utah, and the Air Force Athena from Green River, UtahAie Utah launch sites are nrore than 400 miles from the WSMR range. ; Atomic Age begins White Sands Missile Range is located within 300 miles of Roswell, N.M., where Dr. Robert H. Goddard, father of American missilery, did much of his pioneering in rockets during the early 1930s. On the northern portion of the range, on July 16, 1945, just one week after the missile range was established, the world's first atomic device was detonated. The now historical spot, generally known as Trinity Site, is located within a missile impact area and is not open to the public except for a once-a-year public tour to the site. Network of instruments The New Mexico desert was selected for the nation's first rocket center for several reasons and geographical advantages: The land was cheap and much of it government owned; the area had almost year-round clear weather and unlimited visibility; the desert was sparsely populated and it afforded relatively easy recovery of spent missiles. Today the vast range is equipped with a network of highly accurate optical and electronic data gathering in struments which are essential for valid and valuable testing. Sophisticated computer systems process and correlate the voluminous data to provide scientists and range users with timely and reliable performance records. White Sands Missile Range has more than 1,000 precisely surveyed instrumentation sites and some 700 of the newest and most modern types of optical and electronic instrument systems. These include long range cameras, tracking telescopes, ballistic cameras, radars and telemetry. For |
