page_title: Tonopah Test Range Airport
section_title: 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron
hierarchical_section_title: Tonopah Test Range Airport / History / Foreign Technology Evaluation / 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of the 4477th Tactical Evaluation Squadron standing in front of a MiG-21 under evaluation
context_page_description: Tonopah Test Range Airport, at the Tonopah Test Range is 27 NM southeast of Tonopah, Nevada and 140 mi northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a major airfield with a 12,000 ft × 150 ft runway, instrument approach facilities, and nighttime illumination. The facility boasts over fifty hangars and an extensive support infrastructure.
context_section_description: In July 1975, the 4477th Tactical Evaluation Flight (“Red Eagles”) was formed at Nellis AFB as tactical evaluation organization.  Also in the early 1970s, the concept of "Aggressor Squadrons", was born, using the Northrop F-5E Tiger II, which was found to be nearly identical in terms of maneuvering and speed with the MiG-21 to train front-line combat pilots in Soviet Air Force tactics.  Aggressor training was done where the units went head to head against USAF fighters in mock dogfights at this time to find out and exploit possible weaknesses.
  Foreign military sales of United States fighter aircraft to Indonesia and Egypt in the mid-1970s to replace the Soviet fighter aircraft allowed these nations to clandestinely transfer un-needed MiG-21 and ultra modern MiG-23s aircraft to the United States for evaluation.  Up to 25 of these Soviet aircraft made their way to Groom Lake and pilots assigned to Detachment 1, 57th FWW at Nellis were sent to the facility for training as "Aggressor" pilots.  These pilots then were reassigned to the aggressor training units at Clark AB, Philippines,  RAF Alconbury, England and Nellis AFB.    However, by the mid-1970s, as the fleet of Soviet aircraft grew at Groom Lake,  the facilities there were becoming crowded and the MiGs needed another clandestine home.
  Several locations were considered, Michael Army Airfield at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, and the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field on the Goldwater Range in Arizona. The Tonopah Test Range Airport, however, was only 70 miles to the northwest of Groom Lake and was on the controlled AEC Test Range, so it better fit the need for a new home. The AEC airport had the potential for improvement and expansion, with the only public land overlooking the base miles away. Although not as hidden as Groom Lake, the airport was remote enough to operate the Soviet aircraft in secrecy. In fact, the security surrounding the Tonopah Test Range was so effective that the new base was not publicly reported as an Air Force military airfield until 1985.  On 1 April 1977, the 4477th TEF was reassigned to Tonopah.  In December 1977 the 6513th Test Squadron (“Red Hats”) was formed at Edwards AFB to perform technical evaluations of these aircraft.
  In 1980 the 4477th TEF was re-designated as the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron and the operation was renamed again to Constant Peg. The squadron developed realistic combat training operations featuring adversary tactics, dissimilar air combat training, and electronic warfare. Planes kept coming in from other sources as well. No less than three Cuban pilots brought their MiGs to Florida. A number of Chinese made MiGs were purchased outright from China via the front company Combat Core Certification Professionals Company (CCCP!) and imported in crates. Three Syrians flew their MiG-23 and MiG-29s to Turkey in 1988.
  Over the course of its history U.S. test pilots flew several models of Soviet-designed MiGs.
  Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 were a subsonic, early jet aircraft design. Though originally meant to counter American bombers of the 1950s and 1960s, durable, cigar-shaped MiG-17s became North Vietnam's primary fighter and eventually served in at least 20 air forces worldwide.  MiG-17s were designated as:
  YF-113A Soviet MiG-17F NATO:"Fresco-C" used in HAVE DRILL program
  YF-113C Chinese J-5 used in HAVE PRIVILEGE program
  YF-114C Soviet MiG-17F NATO:"Fresco-C" used in HAVE FERRY program
  YF-114D Soviet MiG-17PF NATO:"Fresco-D" (Serial: 75-008)
  Shenyang J-6 (J-6/Jianjiji-6 (Fighter Aircraft, Type 6)/F-6 (Export model) Farmer, is a 30mm gun Chinese license built version of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, Russia's first supersonic interceptor.  While the USSR produced less than 2,000 MiG-19s, later discarding it in favor of the MiG-21 due to excessive accidents, the Chinese endorsed the aircraft, fixed the reliability problems and built over 3,000 of them; more than any other nation.  J-6s were exported to North Vietnam at the end of Operation Rolling Thunder which ended in 1968, but saw extensive aerial combat during operat
caption: l1986 photo of members of the 4477th Tactical Evaluation Squadron standing in front of "Red 85", a former Indonesian MiG-21F-13 under evaluation
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