30 June 1961 - The Black Vault

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During the time Colonel Signa A. Gilkey commanded the Mojave
Desert installat1on, he was tirelessly working up a base master plan
.for the orderly development of a flight test activity. Although not
resolved until several years later, one of his prime conoerns was
...
removal of the Atchison, Topeka, end Santa. Fe Railroad l1ne ' and
.c0!nll1erc1al ttmud-d.:2;ggl;ngs" or llmud mines" I"'rom Rogers Dry Lake.
at such ·an early date, Colonel Gilkey recognized that larger and
fast 'er~j,rcraft
Even
woUld require all of the .Lake area in land1.ng, per­
[ormine; tax1 t ·ests,ahdfor emergencies.
Brigadier General Albert Boyd foLlowed Colonel Gilkey assum1.nS
.coramand 01' the' Q.esertba·se on 7 Septemberl949 ,1
long~expe;r:'ienoed
D1vifJio Jl , Headquarters A~r
General Bo;9'd was
in fU.ght test .havmgbeen C.hier of the Flight Teat
Mater:1.el Command, Wright-Patterson A1r
Pbrce l3ase, prior to com1ngtotbe MOjave Desert.
He was wellgrounded
ob the requirements for impI'O\7ed flight test f'acilities and 3
d~~p1te .reductions in the National Def'ense posture at the tlme~
wen·t aheadw1th the Master .Plan as in1t1ateu by Colonel Gil,l{cy.
G-~nel'al Boyd inherit.ed a cons1derably run-down base. But~ on 7
November 1949..
the 804th Eng1.n.eer Ayiat10n Battalion arrived here
from Camp Gordon, Georgia, to rehabilitate the Ma.LTl Base on the
eouthwest edge of Rogers Dry Lake.
Muroc A1r Force Base became Edwards Air Force Base, Mur.Jc, un
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8 December 1949 8 1n honor of Capta1.n Glen W. Ed\li-ards J Lincoln,
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California, who was killed here when his experimental '{B-49 FlyinG;
he
* R,emoval completed: 21 Dec 1953 at ,a ".ost near $9 .. 000,000.
7 0 Hq A:f£ SO No. 1551. 22 A oS 1949. I>h1!'Oc AFB 00 No 5, 7 Sep 19 1~9 °
8 . DAE! GO No. 105, 14 .De'C 19l ~9 .
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