The Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame, being from the Battle Born state, strongly supports the centuries-long tradition of the challenge coin dating back to the Roman Empire who rewarded soldiers by presenting them with coins to recognize their achievements. The Office of Strategic Services, now the Central Intelligence Agency, first used challenge coins during the Hitler Era by personnel deployed in Nazi-held France. The coins were merely a local coin used as a “bona fides” during a personal meeting to help verify a person’s identity. There would be specific aspects such as the type of coin, date of the coin, etc. that were examined by each party. This helped prevent infiltration into the meeting by a spy who would have to have advance knowledge of the meeting time and place as well as what coin was to be presented, amongst other signals, as bona fides. Quoted shipping rates apply to sales within the USA only. NVAHOF offers challenge coins identifying those units or organizations earning enshrinement into the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame so that you can acknowledge further them should you be challenged with a loudly announced “Coin Check,� hoping to nail you for a round of drinks for those producing their coin.
The 2018 NVAHOF Challenge Coin features the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron (4477 TES) Red Eagles, US Air Force Colonel Gaillard R. Peck, Jr., and CMSGT Richard F. Sinclair, USAF (Ret) enshrined into the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame and is available for purchase in the NVAHOF Online Store. Quoted shipping rates apply to sales within the USA only.
4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron (4477 TES) Red Eagles
The United States 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron (4477 TES) under the claimant of the Tactical Air Command was a product of Project Constant Peg, a unit created to expose the tactical air forces to the flight characteristics of fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Secretly operating from the Tonopah Test Range, in Nevada the squadron known as the Red Eagles operated Soviet MiG-17s, MiG-21s and MiG-23s between 1977 and 1988 to train the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps pilots and weapon systems officers in air combat tactics against these foreign aircraft. The Red Eagles revitalized the art of dogfighting, bringing fundamental changes in US air combat tactics that played a significant part in the Air Force’s Red Flag program and the US Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI), more popularly known as TOPGUN.
For the 4477th TES at Tonopah being instrumental in the re-development of dissimilar air combat training (DACT) methods developed after the end of the Vietnam War, the Red Eagles earned their place in the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame class of 2018.
Gaillard R. Peck, Jr.
On April 1, 1977, US Air Force Colonel Gaillard R. Peck, Jr., launched CONSTANT PEG to revitalized the art of dogfighting.
The unit, which became the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron “Red Eagles” flew MiG-17, MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft, restored to flying status and expertly maintained by technicians every bit as skilled as the pilots. Colonel Peck put the program together, from concept to airfield construction and served as the first commander of the “Red Eagles” at the Tonopah Test Range.
This incredible effort using covertly acquired Soviet-built aircraft prepared American fighter aircrews for aerial combat by using carefully selected US fighter pilots, specially trained in Soviet tactics, to fly these aircraft from the remote Tonopah Test Range airfield in central Nevada. The CONSTANT PEG program provided training that allowed US aircrews to be better prepared to win air combat engagements. Aircrews engaged in mock air combat against a unit that looked like the enemy and flew like the enemy.
For his work on a once highly-classified Air Force program code-named CONSTANT PEG, US Air Force Col Gaillard R. Peck, Jr., earned his place in the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame.
Richard F. Sinclair
In 1967, Richard F. Sinclair served in the United States Air Force at Nellis AFB, Nevada following a tour of duty in Vietnam. While an A-4 aircraft flight chief with the 4538th FWS at Nellis AFB, the Air Force detached him to the Foreign Technology Div. AFSC, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio in 1968. There, he participated in various exploitation projects in Nevada where he performed technical evaluations of acquired Soviet MiGs that resulted in the Air Force’s Red Flag program and the US Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI) known as TOPGUN that reversed the ratio of US military planes lost in the Vietnam War and all wars since.
Now a Senior Master Sergeant, Sinclair continued to work on the classified exploitation program which eventually on 1 December 1977 became the 6513 Flight Test Squadron assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB Ca. Promoted to Chief Master Sergeant, Sinclair continued to serve as the chief of maintenance in the 6513th Flight Test Squadron operating in a classified area in Nevada. For national security reasons, these activities and their venue remain classified. Retiring from the Air Force in 1979 after 28.5 years of military service, he immediately joined The Lockheed Aircraft Company Skunkworks as a lead mechanic for the then-classified development of the F-117 Stealth Fighter. His experience on previous classified programs significantly aided in the fastest development process in the post-WWII era of the F-117 to a fully operational aircraft in two years from its first flight.
CMSGT Richard F. Sinclair, USAF (Ret), for his classified contributions to military aviation in Nevada, has earned his place in the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame class of 2018.
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NVAHOF membership is open to any individual or organization, public or private, interested in preserving the history of aerospace in Nevada.
NVAHOF is a non-profit organization under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 and received tax exempt status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
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