... and some other neat stuff. All photos official US Navy credit.
Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installations Command, and was originally known as Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS).
The installation is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately 150 miles (240 km) north of Los Angeles. Occupying land in three counties – Kern, San Bernardino, and Inyo – the installation's closest neighbors are the city of Ridgecrest and the communities of Inyokern, Trona, and Darwin.
China Lake is the United States Navy's largest single landholding, representing 85% of the Navy's land for weapons and armaments research, development, acquisition, testing, and evaluation (RDAT&E) use and 38% of the Navy's land holdings worldwide. In total, its two ranges and main site cover more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2), an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. As of 2010, at least 95% of that land is undeveloped. The roughly $3 billion infrastructure of the installation consists of 2,132 buildings and facilities, 329 miles (529 km) of paved roads, and 1,801 miles (2,898 km) of unpaved roads.
The 19,600 square miles (51,000 km2) of restricted and controlled airspace at China Lake makes up 12% of California's total airspace. Jointly controlled by NAWS China Lake, Edwards Air Force Base and Fort Irwin, this airspace is known as the R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex.
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5, 2019, whose epicenter was within the boundaries of NAWS China Lake, resulted in the facility being temporarily evaluated as "not mission capable" due to damage.
Amid World War II, adequate facilities were needed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for test and evaluation of rockets. At the same time, the Navy needed a new proving ground for aviation ordnance. Caltech's Charles C. Lauritsen and then U.S. Navy Commander Sherman E. Burroughs worked together to find a site that would meet both their needs.
In the early 1930s, an emergency landing field had been built by the Works Progress Administration in the Mojave Desert near the small town of Inyokern, California. Opened in 1935, the field was acquired by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in 1942. In November 1943, it was transferred to the Navy, which established China Lake as the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS).
The NOTS mission was defined in a letter by the Secretary of the Navy as ".... a station having for its primary function the research, development, and testing of weapons, and having an additional function of furnishing primary training in the use of such weapons." Testing began within a month of the Station's formal establishment. The vast and sparsely populated desert, with near-perfect flying weather and practically unlimited visibility, proved an ideal location for test and evaluation activities and a complete research and development establishment.
During 1944, NOTS worked on the development and testing of the 3.5-inch, 5-inch, HVAR and 11.75-inch (Tiny Tim) rockets.
Manhattan Project funding was used to construct a new airfield at NOTS, with three runways, 10,000 feet (3,000 m), 7,700 feet (2,300 m) and 9,000 feet (2,700 m) long, each 200 feet (61 m) wide to accommodate the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. Fuel storage was provided with a capacity of 200,000 US gallons (760,000 L) of gasoline and 20,000 US gallons (76,000 L) of oil. The airfield was opened on June 1, 1945, and named Armitage Field after Navy Lieutenant John Armitage, who was killed while testing a Tiny Tim rocket at NOTS in August 1944.[8][9][10]
Work done by Caltech at NOTS for the Manhattan Project - particularly the testing of bomb shapes dropped from B-29s - was included as part of codename Project Camel.
In 1950, NOTS scientists and engineers developed the air-intercept missile (AIM) 9 Sidewinder, which became the world's most used and most copied air-to-air missile. Other rockets and missiles developed or tested at China Lake include the Mighty Mouse, Zuni, Shrike, HARM, Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). In June 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited NAWS China Lake for an air show and to see the Michelson Lab.
Part 1
NAF China Lake F6F-5 Hellcat BuNo 79674, radar nacelle, NAF China Lake 04 April 1949.
NAF China Lake F6F-5 Hellcat BuNo 79674, radar nacelle, NAF China Lake 04 April 1949.
NAF China Lake F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 77722, Wash Rack, Armitage Field, NAF China Lake, 01 February 1960.
NAF China Lake F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 77722, Wash Rack, Armitage Field, NAF China Lake, 01 February 1960.
NAF China Lake F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 77722, Wash Rack, Armitage Field, NAF China Lake, 01 February 1960.
NAF China Lake F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 79448, thermic pots, Armitage Field, NAF China Lake, 04 March 1957.
NAF China Lake F6F-5K Hellcat drone, NAF China Lake, 26 April 1951.
NAF China Lake F6F-5N Hellcat BuNo 93662, with stbd wing radome and .60 gun, NAF China Lake, 01 June 1949.
NAF China Lake F6F-5N Hellcat BuNo xx879 with two 11.75" Tiny Tim rockets, NAF China lake, 29 April 1948.
NMC Pt. Mugu F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 79004, Armitage Field, China Lake, 03 March 1950.
NMC Pt. Mugu F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 79004, Armitage Field, Hot Line, China Lake, 03 March 1950.
NAF China Lake F6F-5 Hellcat BuNo 80003 in flight with HVAR's, 26 May 1949.
NAF China Lake F6F-5K Hellcat drone BuNo 79863, Armitage Field, NAF China Lake, circa 1959.
NMC Pt. Mugu F6F-5K Hellcat drones BuNo 79004 & 79279, Armitage Field, Hot Line, China Lake, 03 March 1950.
NMC Pt. Mugu F6F-5K Hellcat drones BuNo 79004 & 79279, Armitage Field, Hot Line, China Lake, 03 March 1950.
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