page_title: 4450th Tactical Group
section_title: Tonopah Test Range Airport
hierarchical_section_title: 4450th Tactical Group / History / Tonopah Test Range Airport
caption_attribution_description: English: Two 4450th Tactical Group F-117As refueling from KC-135 tanker and an A-7D chase plane Nevada. Note the aircraft in the for ground with the grey/black paint, this is the first F-117, 780. This photo dates from about 1984
context_page_description: The 4450th Tactical Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and operationally located at Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada. It was inactivated on 5 October 1989.
  The United States Air Force F-117A Stealth Fighter program began on 15 October 1979 with the activation of the Tactical Air Command 4450th Tactical Group at the Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada. 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.
  On 10 November 1988, the Air Force officially announced the F-117A's existence to the public, and set the 4450th on the road to inactivation. On 5 October 1989, its F-117A aircraft, equipment personnel and mission were transferred to the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing was transferred from George Air Force Base, California, to carry out the F-117's sensitive worldwide mission.
context_section_description: Groom Lake was too small to be useful as the base for an operational unit. In addition, there were security concerns because an operational unit based at Groom Lake would involve many more people who could see things that they should not. Therefore, a new covert base had to be established for F-117 operations.
  The USAF decided to build facilities at the Tonopah Test Range Airport.  It was constructed in the 1950s, and during the 1960s and 1970s it was used for clandestine testing of acquired Soviet aircraft by the Tactical Air Command 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron. The facility is not perfect from a security standpoint, since it is overlooked by public land and is 32 miles from the town of Tonopah. However, the security surrounding the Tonopah Test Range was effective.  It was designated for the operations of the first USAF F-117 unit, the 4450th Tactical Group (TG).
  Beginning in October 1979, the Tonopah Airport base was reconstructed and expanded for the F-117 mission. The 6,000 ft runway was lengthened to 10,000 ft. Taxiways, a concrete apron, a large maintenance hangar, and a propane storage tank were added.
  On 17 May 1982, the move of the 4450th TG from Groom Lake to Tonopah was initiated, with the final components of the move completed in early 1983. The "Baja Scopion" unit remained at Groom Lake until the last production F-117 was delivered from Lockheed in July 1990.  During the operational lifetime of the F-117, personnel from Tonopah and later Holloman AFB were temporarily deployed to Groom Lake for checkout flights of classified elements of the aircraft.
  The 4450th achieved initial operational capability on 28 October 1983, with a total of 14 production F-117A aircraft on hand plus its A-7D trainers. A second group of nine A-7Ds were added to the squadron from Air National Guard squadrons along with a second A-7K trainer to accommodate the increasing number of pilots assigned to the F-117s. A total of approximately 20 A-7D aircraft used in developing the F-117, along with two A-7K trainers.  The stealth fighter turned out to be easy to fly, and it was concluded that no two-seat trainer version was required. There was a ground-based training simulator.
  To avoid having the 4450th's aircraft seen during the day by Soviet reconnaissance satellites, all F-117 flying took place at night. During the day, the aircraft were kept inside special hangars. Its A-7Ds were parked outside on the ramp, and training flights were flown during the day to deceive Soviet Intelligence about the true mission of Tonopah. Thus, the impression that activities there were only the cover story of avionics tests and evaluations involving some old A-7Ds, which was well-known to Soviet intelligence.
  Tonopah Airport continued to grow with more production F-117s being delivered from Lockheed and the size of the 4450th growing to accommodate mission requirements.  New construction at the airport was split between two areas known as the Industrial Area and the Main Camp. Modern, two-story brick dorms were built. Eventually a recreation center was built, with a bowling alley, gymnasium, racquetball courts, and weight room, as well as a book and video library. Tonopah became much like any other isolated Air Force base, but it lacked dependents, and nights in the Man Camp were punctuated by the distant sound of jet aircraft taking off and landing.
  Group personnel worked four days per week and would be flown to Tonopah either on Monday or Tuesday morning using Key Airlines contractor-provided Boeing 727 and later 737 passenger jets from Nellis AFB.  On Thursday or Friday afternoons,  the reverse would take place, leaving only essential personnel at Tonopah over the weekend.  At Nellis, the passenger jets sitting at the flight line became a common sight. If the base personnel knew—and many of them did—that the contractor aircraft were there to ferry most of the 2,500 inhabitants of Tonopah to work, they didn’t talk about it. It was part of what became known as the "Night Hawk spirit", the devotion to a secret worth keeping. It pervaded Tonopah a
caption: An F-117A and A-7D refueling over the Nevada desert
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