Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Springs Auxiliary Airfield was constructed as a training camp for aerial gunnery training. When the Airfield first opened there were no facilities in the area, so air crews were housed in a "tent city" until barracks could be constructed in 1942. Then, after the war, the facility was deactivated.
Due to the facility's remote location, and proximity to the Nevada Test Site, in 1948 the facility was reactivated as the Indian Springs Air Force Base for weapons systems and aircraft research and testing. Since that time the Base has been used for testing some of the most advanced aircraft and air weapons systems in the world, support of the nuclear testing programs at the Nevada Test Site, high altitude balloon search and retrieval, new gunnery and rocketry systems, and testing of experimental aircraft.
In 1956, the "Thunderbirds" moved to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas and the Indian Springs facility became their primary air demonstration practice site. General Wilbur L. Creech was the original commander and a pilot of the "Skyblazers" aerial demonstration team, which later became the "Thunderbirds;" thus, in 2005, the Indian Springs facility was renamed "Creech Air Force Base" in honor of General Creech.
In 1996 a remotely piloted RQ-1 Predator aircraft was first flown at the Indian Springs facility and was instrumental in transformed the Base into a world-wide operations center for remotely piloted aircraft. Then, in 2001 a Predator was used for the first successful firing of a Hellfire missile from a remotely piloted aircraft and that successful firing changed air warfare forever.
As I occasionally drive by Creech AFB, I am amazed at the new construction and expansion of the Base facilities over the last ten years. Today, the Base continues to serve as the demonstration training site for the "Thunderbirds," but it is also the home base for remotely piloted aircraft systems that fly missions around the world. From outside of the security fence, you can often watch remotely piloted aircraft doing touch-and-go landings and other aerial maneuvers. Bring a lunch and have an enjoyable afternoon watching the remotely piloted aircraft as they circle the base!
(Web Picture - Photographer Unknown)
(Web Picture - Photographer Unknown)
(Web Picture - Photographer Unknown)
(General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.)
(General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.)
(General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.)
(General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.)
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