Gaillard R. Peck, Jr.
Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame Announcement
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Colonel Gaillard R. Peck, Jr., a distinguished member of the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame (NVAHOF) Board of Directors and a 2013 enshrinee. Colonel Peck was enshrined for his pivotal role in the highly-classified U.S. Air Force program known as CONSTANT PEG.
Colonel Peck’s leadership and vision were instrumental in establishing this program, which covertly utilized Soviet-built aircraft to train U.S. fighter aircrews for aerial combat. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, select U.S. fighter pilots, trained in Soviet tactics, flew these aircraft from the remote Tonopah Test Range in central Nevada. The training provided by CONSTANT PEG prepared U.S. aircrews for the challenges of air combat, giving them the edge needed to prevail in real-world engagements by simulating encounters with enemy forces.
The unit, eventually known as the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron “Red Eagles,” flew MiG-17, MiG-21, and MiG-23 aircraft. These aircraft, restored and maintained to full operational status, were flown with precision by pilots as skilled as the technicians who supported them. Colonel Peck not only conceived and developed this groundbreaking program, but also oversaw the construction of the Tonopah airfield and served as the first commander of the Red Eagles.
Colonel Peck’s legacy will forever be remembered for his contributions to our nation’s air superiority and for the indelible mark he left on aviation history. His dedication, leadership, and service to the aerospace community will be deeply missed.

Dr. Daniel Bubb. Ph.D.
Director

In July 2021, Dr. Daniel Bubb, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and long-time deputy director of the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame has accepted the executive director position, replacing retiring Director TD Barnes. Director Emeritus Barnes will remain with the NVAHOF as a consultant and board member.

ABOUT DR. DANIEL BUBB

From age five, I have been fascinated with airplanes and airports. My parents would drive me to the local airport so that I could watch airplanes take off and land. At age seventeen, I took my first introductory flight, and it was then I knew that I wanted to become a commercial pilot.

As I progressed through my licenses and ratings, I became a flight instructor, and at age twenty-two, achieved my dream. Air Vegas Airlines hired me as a First Officer to fly Beechcraft 99s, fifteen-seat, turbopropeller-driven passenger planes. My experience as a commercial pilot taught me much about airplanes and airports, especially how critical they are to city, regional, and national economies.

As I pursued my masters and doctoral degrees, this symbiotic relationship sharply came into focus. My first book, Landing in Las Vegas: Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Tourist City highlighted this theme using Las Vegas as a case study. Currently, I am expanding that theme to the broader American West, but with a different twist: how airports culturally provide and represent a sense of place to air travelers and residents.

Throughout my research as a historian, I have discovered the importance of telling the story about the airplane’s impact on the growth and development of the American West. Without a doubt, the airplane profoundly impacted the region by shrinking it through speed, space, and time. At the same time, it is equally important to tell the story of the role that airports played in the economic and cultural growth and development of the American West, which is what my future books aspire to do.

I still fly airplanes for fun, and they frequently remind me why I fell in love with them when I was a young lad.

The Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame (NVAHOF) is pleased to announce the recognition and enshrinement of the 4450^thTactical Group (TG), as a unit, as the Class of 2021. The 4450th TG was activated on October 15, 1979, headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, and was physically located at Tonopah Test Range Airport. The 4450^th TG was tasked with the operational development of the F-117A stealth fighter, known as the Nighthawk. The Air Force denied the existence of the aircraft until November 10, 1988, when Assistant Secretary of Defense J. Daniel Howard displayed a grainy photograph at a Pentagon press conference. The unit was inactivated on October 5, 1989, when the no longer secret F-117A squadrons were reorganized and relocated to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.

The pandemic has created obstacles everywhere, especially regarding event planning for many organizations including the NVAHOF. A decision was made in 2020 to posthumously induct Amelia Earhart and not hold the annual ceremony and banquet, opting for virtual enshrinement. Although the nation appears to be moving in the right direction, pandemic safety is still of utmost concern and consideration for the NVAHOF’s Board of Directors. The organization has recently decided in the utmost of precautions to again not hold an in-person banquet for 2021. The plaque for the 4450^th will be enshrined in the NVAHOF display at McCarran Airport in November as usual. In-person recognition for 4450^th TG alumni is currently being coordinated to be held in conjunction with the Stealth Fighter Association reunion being planned in Las Vegas for the spring of 2022.

NVAHOF Director T.D. Barnes commented, “The 4450th Tactical Group was a pathfinder unit, moving the F-117A from the research and development stage to becoming a fully operational weapons system.” When the Air Force officially announced the F-117A’s existence to the public, it set the 4450th on the road to inactivation. “Nevadans have not forgotten the 4450^th, a unit shrouded in secrecy for most of their existence, and we look forward to honoring them and helping to preserve their contributions to the aviation heritage of our state and the nation.”

The NVAHOF is further planning for the fall of 2022 and a return to their usual annual dinner and in-person ceremony.

Contact: Connie May Communications Director

cpardew@att.net

775-530-2297

Jeffrey R. Wedding, Secretary

jwedding@nvahof.org

702 306-2979

NVAHOF is a non-profit organization under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
NVAHOF membership is open to any individual or organization, public or private, interested in preserving the history of aerospace in Nevada.

 

Honoring and preserving the legacy of those who pioneered and advanced our nation’s aviation and aerospace programs in Nevada

WELCOME THE 2019 CLASS OF ENSHRINEES

Silent Heroes//

Anthony “Tony” Bevacqua//

Martin “Marty” Knutson//

Francis Gary Powers

LINK TO 2019 EVENT PHOTOS

The tenth annual Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame Enshrinement Banquet and Ceremony, with Chris “CJ” Hays the emcee, indeed was the Oscars of Nevada Aviation. Held at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas the Friday evening of November 15, 2019, the NVAHOF enshrined retired USAF Lt/Col Tony Bevacqua, who piloted both the U-2 and the SR-71 and was the youngest pilot ever to check out in the U-2. Also enshrined posthumously were CIA U-2 pilots Francis Gary Powers and Marty Knutson along with 14 who perished in a C-54 crash on Mt. Charleston, Nevada in 1955 while en route to Watertown, now known as Area 51, for the second flight of the CIA’s U-2 reconnaissance plane. Attending were past enshrinees Col Gail Peck (2013) and CMSG Dick Sinclair (2018).

Attending the four-day chain of NVAHOF events starting November 14 were family members and friends supporting Bevacqua, Powers, and Knutson. The NVAHOF was honored by the presence of two sons of U-2 pilots who’d paid the ulitimate sacrifice in their service to our country — Jim Rose, son of Wilburn Rose who died in a U-2 crash at Area 51 and Francis Gary Powers, Jr., whose dad was shot down in a U-2 overflying Russia and later killed in a helicopter crash in California. The family members of two of the 14 who perished in the C-54 crash also attended, along with several past and active pilots from Laughlin AFB, Texas, Beale AFB, California, Edwards AFB, California, and Nellis AFB, Nevada. Major General Pat Halloran, who flew with Bevacqua in both the U-2 and the SR-71, attended also.

Several from the Central Intelligence Agency, as they have for almost all NVAHOF enshrinement events, attended the four-day events in support of the NVAHOF, who has nearly every year recognized one or more former employees of the Agency. Dr. David Robarge, Chief Historian at the CIA, and James Dorrell – Vice President Tactical Systems at the Lockheed Skunk Works in Palmdale, California both spoke at the banquet. CIA’s Pierre Brown, the owner of the Hagar Watch Company, honored both Enshrinee Tony Bevacqua and the NVAHOF Director, TD Barnes, with its limited-edition U-2 Dragonlady watch along with a CIA coin and Dragonlady patch.

The Gold Coast Hotel and Casino provided NVAHOF with a hospitality suite for four days. The Lockheed Skunkworks, Lane Swainston’s Swainston’s Consulting Group, BomberPatches.com, along with various individual attendees donated to the non-profit NVAHOF. The Rampart Hotel comped many of the attendees in its fabulous buffet, and Ceasar’s Entertainment comped ten attendees at the world-renowned BLT Steak House at Bally’s.

The Warfare Center at Nellis hosted NVAHOF Director TD Barnes, MGen Pat Halloran, Lt Col Tony Bevacqua, Lockheed’s James Dorrell, CIA’s Dr. Robarge, and wives in the Distinguished Visitors chalet. Aviation Nation provided NVAHOF with a tent on the flight line of the Nellis AFB air show where UK author, Chris Pocock and Col Gail Peck did book signings, and NVAHOF Communications Director Connie May and others conducted PR for NVAHOF.

On Sunday, the 64th anniversary of the C-54 crash, a large number of NVAHOF staff, attendees, and CIA personnel joined the Silent Heroes of the Cold War Committee at the Silent Heroes Monument at the Spring Mountain Visitor’s Center. Committee chairman Steve Ririe did a great job of recounting the crash. Two families of those who perished were present for all the events and were joined by Cheryl Moore, JoAnne Campbell, and Dr. David Robarge from the CIA for an emotional remembrance on Sunday, the 64th anniversary of the 1955 crash. The families learned that various CIA representatives had attended all the development events starting with the groundbreaking, a cold day where the CIA store provided 18 jackets to those attending. The family members learned that the CIA still cared enough that Dr. Robarge and others had often visited the monument on their own.

Also, on Saturday night at the hospitality suite, UK U-2 author Chris Pocock presented an most interesting video about the U-2 Black Cats, and on Sunday, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the National Atomic Testing Museum about his dad’s shootdown over Russia.

Kudos go to all who contributed the photos in this gallery — Dave Budd and Joe Kates with https://www.photorecon.net/, Angella Raisian with F-22 Systems Engineering, LMAero – Edwards Air Force Base, Ret MSGT Jimmy Stewart, NVAHOF Communications Director and SW Airlines employee Connie May, Jim Barfield, and others.

LINK TO 2019 EVENT PHOTOS

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.

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.

NVAHOF Amazon charity link: httpss://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-4731650

 

Join our past donors in our making it possible to continue our mission of educating the public regarding the history of aviation in Nevada, the contribution of Nevada citizens to the development of global aviation and to preserve the legacy of those men and women who pioneered and advanced our nation’s aerospace programs within the State of Nevada.

// If you have questions about supporting NVAHOF, you may call the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame Director at (702) 566-4168 or via e-mail at tdbarnes@nvahof.org.

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Individual Membership Levels: Lifetime Adult: $500.00 Annual Family: $60.00 (No limit on the number of persons as long as in the same household) Annual Adult: $35.00 Annual Student, Military, Senior (62+): $25.00           Choices Annual Student $25.00 USD Annual Adult $35.00 USD Annual Family $60.00 USD Lifetime Adult $500.00 USD

Corporate Membership Levels: Corporate Champions: $5,000.00 Corporate Patrons: $2,500.00 Corporate Supporters: $1,000.00 Corporate Friends: $500.00 Business: $250.00 Choices Business $250.00 USD Corporate Friends $500.00 USD Corporate Supporters $1,000.00 USD Corporate Patrons $2,500.00 USD Corporate Champions $5,000.00 USD

 

The Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame Oral History Program through collaboration with students and faculty at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada Reno has added thousands of pages to its fact sheets, biographies, and personal accounts of aviation and aerospace projects and events occurring in the state.

These include the personal bios of many of Nevada’s participants in once top-secret CIA projects occurring at Area 51 and other classified facilities in Nevada. This phase of the never-before documented oral history project has received top priority because of the high attrition rate among the aging veterans of this era. Valuable history is lost with the loss of each veteran.

From here, the NVAHOF staff and student volunteers will concentrate on documenting the little-known history of those pioneering civil and general aviation in Nevada.

Follow the links and enjoy the legacy of our nation’s secret heroes of the Cold War as we establish and record it as a vital part of our NVAHOF oral history program.’

The NVAHOF Oral History Project records and preserves the personal stories behind Nevada’s aviation history. NVAHOF founders and members participated in the award-winning Nevada Test Site Oral History Project, 2003-2008, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, directed by Dr. Mary Palevsky.” The NVAHOF has continued to work with other scholars to document Nevada’s unique place in our nation’s aerospace history.”

We encourage you to visit the excellent product of Dr. Palevsky’s interviews at https://digital.library.unlv.edu/ntsohp/.

 

The Zero-length Launch (ZELL) Program began with a launch of an F-84G in 1955. Each test utilized a USAF fighter mounted on the back of a flatbed truck and had a rocket motor attached to the airframe. The footage in the clip took place in Indian Springs, Nevada in 1958 when an F-100 was used.

Dedication of memorial for those lost at Area 51 during CIA U-2 Project Aquatone and A-12 Project Oxcart.

Jess Hartris, the Flying Sheriff

Genie Missile Test. This atomic blast in Nevada was a test of a 2-kiloton nuclear-armed air-to-air weapon designed to defend the United States from an attack from enemy bombers. A live Genie was detonated only once in Operation Plumbbob on July 19 1957. It was fired by AF Captain Eric William Hutchison (pilot) and AF Captain Alfred C. Barbee (radar operator) flying a F-89J over Yucca Flats.  

Dr. Dan Bubb Interview on Early Aviation in Nevada. Dan Bubb, Ph.D. (Director of Education Programs for the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame) discusses the early aviation in Nevada during an opening ceremony of the third terminal at McCarran International Airport.

Gary Francis Powers, CIA U-2 pilot and veteran of Groom Lake in 1956, received the long deserved Silver Star award.

Early_U-2_Groom during CIA Project Aquatone at Watertown, a.k.a. Groom Lake – Declassified CIA film of Groom Lake operations during Project Aquatone in 1955 – 1957

BGen Dennis Sullivan Mach 3 – gear down story.

CIA Pilot, Col Ken collins about A-12 pilots.

CIA pilot Jack Layton discuses Blackshield Missions.

CIA A-12 Pilot Frank Murray on training and flying the A-12

CIA A-12 Pilot Murray discusses Lou Schalk

CIA A-12 Pilot Murray about loss of planes and pilots

CIA A-12 pilot about Kelly Johnson.

CIA pilot Ken Collins on Recruitment for CIA Project Oxcart.

CIA A-12 pilot Jack Layeon on his bailouts from burning C-47 and F-101

CIA A-12 pilot Jack Layton on his recruitment

CIA A-12 pilot on his bailout of burning YF-12

CIA A-12 pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan of Blackshield Missions.

CIA pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan about Lovelace Clinic

CIA A-12 pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan about the Groom Lake Flying Club

CIA A-12 pilot, BGen Dennis Sullivan on his recruitment by the CIA Megan Kelly Interviews NVAHOF Director TD Barnes NVAHOF Director TD Barnes intoduces CIA OXCART Panel at the National Atomic Testing Museum NVAHOF Director TD Barnes on the history of Project Oxcart TD Barnes states his belief that the United States has UAVs providing the surveillance previously provided by the CIA A-12 and Air Force SR-71 Blackbirds T D Barnes discusses the topic of secrecy at Groom Lake during CIA Project Oxcart In the 1960s T.D. Barnes first participated in the CIA Project Palladium as the agency prepared a replacement plane for the U-2 flying over the Soviet Union. He later supported the A-12 project codenamed Project Oxcart while on at the Beatty station of the NASA High Range as a hypersonic flight support specialist.M/p> First Flight of the A-12 narrated by its pilot, Lockheed Test Pilot Lou Schalk

NVAHOF’S ORAL HISTORY BIOS OF THE AREA 51 VETERANS SERVING THE CIA AT AREA 51 IN NEVADA

Adams Alber Amundson Andersen Anderson Archer Armentrout Bacalis Banks Bard Barnes, Jim Barnes, TD Barrett Bassick Baylor Beswick Bevacqua Bolich Brown Burgeson Budzynski Buyse Byrnes Cahill Calhoun Calvin Carmody Carpenter

Choate Christian Christensen Colle Collins Cooney Corzine Cravotta Culp Dake Davenport Delap Deluna Donohue Dunaway Dupuis Dye Eastham Evans Fancher Faraldo Farrell Fogel Fox Freedman Fulton Gardiner Garvin

Gibbs Giles Gilliland Girard Goodwin Gordon Grace Gross Goudey, Ray Gugin Habegger Haen, Dave Haen, Denise Halloran Harnage Haugen Haupt Havener Henderson Holbury Hua Hughes Jackson, Bob Jackson Jenkins Johnson, D Joseph Kabat Kelly Kershner Kitten

Knutson Koopman Larsen Law Layton Leavitt Ledford Lipscomb Losh Martin McCoy McCullough Meierdierck Meyler Micalizzi Milam Miller Miller,Bob Mills Moe Moeschl Murphy Murray Nelson Nelson, Norm Nelson, Wayne Nichols Noce Osman Overstreet

Pao Park Pendleton Piantosi Pizzo Power, Ed Powers Pryor Ransdell Ray Reed Robarge Rogers Rosario Rossetti Roussell Ruseckus Sampson Schalk Schlesinger Schrecengost Setter Seymour Shingler Simon Simon, J. Skliar Skliar, Janis

Slater Stanks Stockman Sullivan Thomas Trost Turnage Ursini Vickers Vining Vito Vojvodich Weaver Weeks Weigel Weiss Welsh Wheelon White White, Fred Williams, Col. Williams, MSgt Wilson Wittlake Wood Yancey Yang Yingling

COLD WAR STORIES OF THE AREA 51 VETERANS FROM THE CIA ERA IN NEVADA

AFOSI officer at Area 51

YF-12 Stories by Vern Henderson

YF-12 Stories by Fred Trost

Company Cover Names by: Bill Goodwin

Checking out in A-12 by: Lon Walters

Starting the F-100 by Bill Fox

Been There – Done That by Slip Slater

Dobber Dick by Anonymous

Asia from Above by Col. Roy Stanley

The Crash of Article 928 by Bill Goodwin

Kelly Johnson by Dave Adrian

The Demise of Article #129 by James Beam

First Flight of the A-12 by Bill Fox

Genesis of the Roadrunner by O.B. Harnage

The Way It Was Back When by Sam Pizzo

Air Force Nostalgia by Anonymous

The Flight That Never Happened by Pizzo

As Good as it Gets By: Sam Pizzo

Arming the HAWK Missile By: TD Barnes

U-2 Pilot Selection by Harry Cordes

Super Duper Sonic by Harold Mills

Wife of A U-2 Piloy By: Rogene Cordes

Deployed Dependants by: Doris Barnes

Recruitment for Area 51 by: M/Gen Doug Nelson

Secret Hero by: Robert DeWitt

Recovery of Article #131 by: Frank Murray

Last Flight of the A-12 by: Frank Murray

Blackbird Remembrances by: Dr. Tom Budzynski P.h.D.

Walter Ray Accident by: BG Dennis Sullivan

Jack Weeks Accident by:BG Dennis Sullivan

U-2 Self contained Navigation Systems by:Bill Reed

M-209 Secret Code Machine by: Charles Christian

First U-2 Operational Flight by: Carl Overstreet

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On 8 May 2019, TD Barnes, former Area 51 Special Projects and the current Executive Director of the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame, joined a long list of distinguished speakers before the Aerospace Physiology Society when he was presented the Smith W. Ames Memorial Lecture at the Aerospace Physiology Society luncheon at the Rio All Suites Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. Barnes conducted a presentation depicting the Central Intelligence Agency’s pioneering Aerospace Physiology with its high flight in the U-2, A-12 Mach-3+ surveillance planes followed by the YF-12 Kedlock Project, the M-21/D-21 Mach-3 mothership/drone flights, the Soviet Migs, and other projects declassified by the CIA. For his lecture and prior participation at Area 51, Barnes was presented the 2019 Smith W. Ames Award before a large attendance of Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps professionals in the science and practice of Aerospace Physiology.

 

Nevada, the Battleborn State, became the nation’s West Coast Line of Defense for the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard during World War II. NASA followed with two tracking stations along its High Range flight test corridor across Nevada and its nuclear rocket engine development at NRDS, the Nuclear Rocket Development Station at Jackass Flats. The Atomic Energy Commission established the Nevada Proving Grounds for atomic bomb testing and the Central Intelligence Agency created Area 51 for flight testing its spy planes and other black projects. 

Because so much remains unknown about Nevada’s unique aviation, and aerospace history, NVAHOF, through its student participant program is capturing from those who were there this fragile and elusive history through its oral history investigation, collection, and recordation program. The NVAHOF shares this knowledge and documentation as a public service to agencies, academia, historians, authors, media, and publications. Much of this oral history comes from external sources for which NVAHOF can not vouch for its accuracy.

NVAHOF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dependent on private and corporate tax-deductible donations to finance its educational and annual induction of deserving individuals and organizations into the NVAHOF for participation and contributions that advanced aerospace and aviation from within the state of Nevada.

 

On April 16, 2019, NVAHOF Executive Director TD Barnes spoke as the plenary speaker before the American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers (ASTFE) at its 4TH Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference at the Westin Las Vegas Hotel & Spa, Las Vegas, NV, USA. Following the banquet with over 500 attendees, Director Barnes spoke on the declassified CIA projects at Area 51 where both thermal and special fuels were pioneered for the Central Intelligence Agency’s Mach-3+ A-12, high-flying reconnaissance plane that preceded the Air Force’s SR-71.

Nevada, the Battleborn State, became the nation’s West Coast Line of Defense for the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard during World War II. NASA followed with two tracking stations along its High Range flight test corridor across Nevada and its nuclear rocket engine development at NRDS, the Nuclear Rocket Development Station at Jackass Flats. The Atomic Energy Commission established the Nevada Proving Grounds for atomic bomb testing and the Central Intelligence Agency created Area 51 for flight testing its spy planes and other black projects. 

Because so much remains unknown about Nevada’s unique aviation, and aerospace history, NVAHOF, through its student participant program is capturing from those who were there this fragile and elusive history through its oral history investigation, collection, and recordation program. The NVAHOF shares this knowledge and documentation as a public service to agencies, academia, historians, authors, media, and publications. Much of this oral history comes from external sources for which NVAHOF can not vouch for its accuracy.

NVAHOF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dependent on private and corporate tax-deductible donations to finance its educational and annual induction of deserving individuals and organizations into the NVAHOF for participation and contributions that advanced aerospace and aviation from within the state of Nevada.

The Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the Class of 2019. Celebrate with us as we honor those who greatly served and contributed to the U-2 “Dragonlady’ program. This high altitude reconnaissance aircraft was tested right in the desert of our great Silver State. The U-2 – an integral part our national security. Visit www.nvahof.org for details and full bios of our enshrinees.
Warm Regards,

Contact for further information
  

Connie Director of Public Affairs cpardew@att.net

TD Barnes Director – NVAHOF tdbarnes@nvahof.org