Creech Air Force Base
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| It is requested that this article, or a section of this article, be expanded See the request on the listing or elsewhere on this talk page. Once the improvements have been completed, you may remove this notice and the page's listing. |
Creech Air Force Base is an air base located in Clark County, Nevada about 35 miles north of Las Vegas. It is named after General William L.Creech who is considered the Father of the Thunderbirds for his early support of the program.
Previously known as Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Airstrip when it was a part of Nellis Air Force Base.
While being an Air Force Base, it will not have its own base commander. Instead, the base will be under the command of the Nellis Air Force Base commander.
| Contents |
Indian Springs history
The field was activated in 1942 by the US Army as a gunnery school becoming an Air Tranning Command field in 1948. For most of the 1950s, the field served as a special weapons center.
As the Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Airstrip, the facility was little known.
For many years, Indian Springs was used by the Thunderbirds as their practice field.
Taking advantage of the remote location, Indian Springs was the host for fire power demonstrations several times a year. The fire power demonstration was used to show military and political VIPs the impact of various munitions and the capabilities of the aircraft that deliver them. On several occasions the quantify of munitions delivered was so large that the impact was felt in the Las Vegas suburbs.
Indian Springs became the Predator base. It was home to the 11th, 15th and 17th Reconnaissance Squadrons which operate the Predator RQ-1, MQ-1 and MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). In February 2001, a Predator successfully test fired its first Hellfire missile on the Nellis test range becoming an offensive weapon rather then just a reconnaissance tool.
Pilots located at Indian Springs have been flying predator combat missions in support of anti terrorists actives around the world. Including support for the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Creech history
Creech was named an Air Force base on June 20, 2005.
In 2005, it was announced that a fourth reconnaissance squadron would be created and based at Creech. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Center for Excellence was also established at the same time.
Units Assigned
While not based here, the 57th Wing, based at Nellis, runs Creech Air Force base.
Current
- 11th Reconnaissance Squadron - traces its history back to February 5, 1942. Reactivated on July 29, 1995, at Nellis under command of the 57th Operations Group.
- 15th Reconnaissance Squadron - traces its history back to May 9, 1917. Reactivated on August 1, 1997, at Indian Springs under command of the 57th Operations Group.
- 17th Reconnaissance Squadron - Activated on March 8, 2002, at Indian Springs under command of the 57th Operations Group.
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Center for Excellence
Categories: Articles to be expanded | Airports of Nevada | Clark County, Nevada | United States Air Force bases
