Nellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in "Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace", associated with the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). The base also has the Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis.
James McNeal "Vegas" Kelly is a NASA astronaut and a retired Colonel of the United States Air Force. He twice served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions. James Kelly is not related to Scott Kelly or Mark Kelly.
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is coextensive since 2003 with Clark County, Nevada. The Valley is largely defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a 600 sq mi (1,600 km2) basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada: Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Eleven unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is a combined city and county law enforcement agency for the City of Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is headed by the Sheriff of Clark County, who is publicly elected every four years. The sheriff is the only elected head law enforcement officer within the county, and, as such, the department is not under the direct control of its jurisdictional cities, Clark County, or the State of Nevada.
Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 (US 91), which had been the main highway between Los Angeles, California and Salt Lake City, Utah, it has been bypassed by Interstate 15 and serves mainly local traffic with some sections designated State Route 604.
Creech Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) command and control facility in Clark County, Nevada used "to engage in daily Overseas Contingency Operations …of remotely piloted aircraft systems which fly missions across the globe." In addition to an airport, the military installation has the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab, associated aerial warfare ground equipment, and unmanned aerial vehicles of the type used in Afghanistan and Iraq. Creech is the aerial training site for the USAF Thunderbirds and "is one of two emergency divert airfields" for the Nevada Test and Training Range.
State Route 604 is the route number designation for parts of Las Vegas Boulevard, a major north–south road in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada in the United States best known for the Las Vegas Strip and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91, which had been the main highway between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, it has been bypassed by Interstate 15 and serves mainly local traffic.
State Route 612 is a state highway in Clark County, Nevada. It comprises about 9.4 miles (15.1 km) of the major north–south section line arterial Nellis Boulevard in the eastern Las Vegas Valley.
Aviation Nation, sometimes referred to as America's Air Show, is the annual award-winning air show of the United States Air Force (USAF). The show is hosted at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada in November of each year.
Tonopah Test Range Airport, at the Tonopah Test Range is 27 NM southeast of Tonopah, Nevada, and 140 mi (230 km) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a major airfield with a 12,000 ft × 150 ft runway, instrument approach facilities, and nighttime illumination. The facility has over fifty hangars and an extensive support infrastructure.
Janet and Janet Airlines are unofficial names of a highly classified fleet of passenger aircraft operated for the United States Department of the Air Force as an employee shuttle to transport military, DoD civilians, and contractor employees to Special Access Program Facilities (SAPF). The airline mainly serves the Nevada Test and Training Range from a private terminal at Las Vegas's Harry Reid International Airport.
State Route 574 is a major east–west section line arterial roadway in the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada. It comprises approximately 10.668 miles (17.168 km) of Cheyenne Avenue in northern Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.
The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) is one of two military training areas at the Nellis Air Force Base Complex in Nevada and used by the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base. The NTTR land area includes a "simulated Integrated Air Defense System", several individual ranges with 1200 targets, and 4 remote communication sites. The current NTTR area and the range's former areas have been used for aerial gunnery and bombing, for nuclear tests, as a proving ground and flight test area, for aircraft control and warning, and for Blue Flag, Green Flag, and Red Flag exercises.
The Nellis Solar Power Plant is a 14-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station located within Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County, Nevada, northeast of Las Vegas. The power plant was inaugurated in a ceremony on December 17, 2007, with Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons activating its full operation. On average, it has since generated 32 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually and supplied more than 25% of the power used at the base.
William Harrell Nellis was a United States fighter pilot who flew 70 World War II combat missions. He was shot down three times, the last time fatally. On April 30, 1950, the Las Vegas Air Force Base in Nevada was renamed Nellis Air Force Base in his honor.
United Air Lines Flight 736 was a scheduled transcontinental passenger service flown daily by United Airlines between Los Angeles and New York City. On April 21, 1958, the airliner assigned to the flight, a Douglas DC-7 with 47 on board, was flying over Clark County, Nevada in clear weather when it was involved in a daytime mid-air collision with a United States Air Force fighter jet crewed by two pilots. Both aircraft fell out of control from 21,000 feet (6,400 m) and crashed into unpopulated desert terrain southwest of Las Vegas, leaving no survivors. The loss of Flight 736, one of a series of 1950s mid-air collisions involving passenger aircraft in American skies, helped usher-in widespread improvements in air traffic control within the United States, and led to a sweeping reorganization of federal government aviation authorities.
Master Sergeant Buford A. Johnson was a member of the famed group of African-American World War II pilots and support personnel known as the Tuskegee Airmen. During World War II, he served as the chief mechanic servicing the fighter planes of the 99th Fighter Squadron of the 477th Composite Group.
Jeannie Marie Leavitt is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) general officer. She became the U.S. Air Force's first female fighter pilot in 1993, and was the first woman to command a USAF combat fighter wing. In April 2021, she was appointed to replace Major General John T. Rauch as Chief of Safety of the United States Air Force, and assumed office on August 13, 2021.
Groom Mine, located in Lincoln County, Nevada, first opened in the 1870s. Most mining in the area, mostly of silver chloride ores, had finished by 1874. Groom Mine continued to operate, finally ceasing operations in 1954. By 1956, official recordings of products of the Groom Mining District, which includes Groom Mine, shows that lead was the bulk of minerals harvested, which also included 145,000 troy ounces (4,500 kg) of silver and about 45 troy ounces (1.4 kg) of gold. During World War II, Groom Mine became surrounded by military activity, which continued into the 21st century. In the 1950s, the mine was exposed to fallout from nuclear testing that was being carried out at the Nevada Test Site. During the late 20th century, military activities, including the destruction of a mill and the restriction of access to the mine, continued to affect work there. The United States Government seized the mine under eminent domain from its previous owners in 2015. Just compensation was set at $1.204 million by the United States District Court, District of Nevada, Judge Miranda Du presiding.
Barry R. Cornish is a retired United States Air Force major general who last served as the commander of the Twelfth Air Force. Previously, he was the special assistant to the commander of the Air Force Combat Command.
