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 (TG) 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.
History In 1978, the Air Force awarded a full-scale development contract for the YF-117A Nighthawk to Lockheed Corporation's Advanced Development Projects. On 17 January 1981 the Lockheed test team at Groom Lake accepted delivery of the first full Scale Development (FSD) prototype #79-780, designated YF-117A.DREAMLAND: Fifty Years of Secret Flight Testing in Nevada By Peter W. Merlin At 6:05 a.m. on 18 June 1981, Lockheed Skunk Works test pilot Hal Farley lifted the nose of YF-117A #79-780 off the runway of Groom Lake.
Origins
Meanwhile, Tactical Air Command (TAC) decided to set up a group-level organization to guide the F-117A to an initial operating capability. That organization became the 4450th Tactical Group (Initially designated "A Unit"), which officially activated on 15 October 1979 at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Its first home was an isolated corner of Nellis known as the Lake Mead Base, officially designated Nellis Area Two. Officially activated on 15 October 1979, by early 1980 a handful of officers and enlisted men recruited into the program and were told that they were laying the groundwork for a unit whose mission would be to run avionics tests and evaluations for A-7D Corsair II weapon systems.
Eight A-7D aircraft were transferred from England AFB, Louisiana in June 1981, which was converting to the A-10 Thunderbolt II. The A-7s were given the "LV" tailcode (for Las Vegas) and had a dark purple/black paint motif. The aircraft were assigned nominally to the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing and in addition, the group acquired the prototype A-7K two-seat dual control trainer from Edwards AFB (73-1008) that had been converted from its original A-7D configuration in 1978. In doing so, the group became the only active-duty unit to fly the A-7K. The first order of business was to set up acceptance procedures for the aircraft and develop an A-7D training program.Pace, Steve (1992) F-117A Stealth Fighter, Aero Publishers; 1st edition
The A-7 had been chosen as an interim trainer because its cockpit layout and avionics were considered similar to those in the F-117. It was also a single-seat attack fighter, as the F-117 programmed to be. Training demands, however, soon forced the 4450th to delegate initial A-7D training and checkouts to the Arizona Air National Guard 162d Fighter Wing at Tucson, which was responsible for training Air National Guard pilots in the aircraft. Pilots assigned to the 4450th required a minimum of 1,000 fighter hours, and nearly all of the initial cadre for the F-117 were A-7D pilots due to the similar flight characteristics of the A-7D and F-117. Initially pilots in the program were sent to the 152nd Fighter Squadron, Arizona Air National Guard at Tucson for a quick refresher course in A-7Ds that included academics, simulator time and six or seven flights to re-qualify them in the Corsair. When other fighter pilots began to be assigned, they were assigned to either a three or six-month course. depending on their experience in fighters.
These operations continued at Nellis until 15 October 1982 under the guise of an avionics test mission when the Corsairs were moved north to Tonopah Test Range Airport to provide a cover story for the increased activities at the airport. Flying squadrons of the 4450th TG were the 4450th Tactical Squadron (Initially designated "I Unit") activated on 11 June 1981, and 4451st Tactical Squadron (Initially designated "P Unit") on 15 January 1983. The 4450th TS, stationed at Groom Lake, was the first F-117A squadron, while the 4451st TS was stationed at Nellis AFB and was equipped with A-7D Corsair IIs painted in a dark motif, tail coded "LV". Lockheed test pilots put the YF-117 through its early paces. A-7Ds was used for pilot training before any F-117A's had been delivered by Lockheed to Groom Lake, later the A-7D's were used for F-117A chase testing and other weapon tests at the Nellis Range
15 October 1982 is important to the program because on that date Major Alton C. Whitley, Jr. became the first 4450th TG pilot to fly the F-117A. Everyone aware of the top-secret flight waited with an expectancy reminiscent of the early space launches. Though Major Whitley could remember scrambling from an alert pad at night as a young lieutenant in South Vietnam, it is doubtful that he was any more keyed up in combat than he was on that night, sitting in an operational F-117A at the end of the runway. The flinty sparkle of the stars in the desert sky seemed to accentuate the vast blackness, reminding him that night operations were always scary. Finally cleared for takeoff, Major Whitley pushed the throttles forward and scanned the F-117's instruments for any warnings as the aircraft lumbered noisily down the runway. After passing the point of no return, he gripped the controls hard, willing the F-117 into the air. Then, as he climbed into the darkness, he thought about the small American flag he had stuffed into the pocket of his G-suit for this historic occasion. He would be the first Night Hawk to go aloft in an F-117. It would make a great story for his grandchildren. As far as Major Whitley could tell, his children might be grown before he could tell them about it.
Baja Scorpions By early 1982, four more YF-117A airplanes were operating out of the southern end of the base, known as the "Southend" or "Baja Groom Lake." After finding a large scorpion in their offices, the testing team (Designated "R Unit") adopted it as their mascot and dubbed themselves the "Baja Scorpions." Testing of a series of ultra-secret prototypes continued at Groom Lake until mid-1981, when testing transitioned to the initial production of F-117 stealth fighters. The F-117s were moved to and from Groom Lake by C-5 under the cloak of darkness, in order to maintain program security. This meant that the aircraft had to be defueled, disassembled, cradled, and then loaded aboard the C-5 at night, flown to Lockheed, and unloaded at night before the real work could begin. Of course, this meant that the reverse actions had to occur at the end of the depot work before the aircraft could be reassembled, flight-tested, and redelivered, again under the cover of darkness. In addition to flight-testing, Groom performed radar profiling, F-117 weapons testing, and was the location for training of the first group of frontline USAF F-117 pilots.
Production FSD airframes from Lockheed were shipped to Groom Lake for acceptance testing. As the Baja Scorpions tested the aircraft with functional check flights and L.O. verification, the operational airplanes were then transferred to the 4450th TG.
The R-Unit was inactivated on 30 May 1989. Upon inactivation the unit was replaced by Detachment 1, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing (FWW). In 1990 the last F-117A (#843) was delivered from Lockheed. After completion of acceptance flights at Groom Lake of this last new F-117A aircraft, the flight test squadron continued flight test duties of refurbished aircraft after modifications by Lockheed. In February/March 1992 the test unit moved from Groom Lake to the USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale and was integrated with the Air Force Systems Command 6510th Test Squadron. Some testing, especially RCS verification and other classified activity was still conducted at Groom Lake throughout the operational lifetime of the F-117. The recently inactivated (2008) 410th Flight Test Squadron traces its roots, if not its formal lineage to the 4450th TG R-unit.Baja Scorpions
Tonopah Test Range Airport 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.Groom Lake
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).4450th Tactical Group
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.Tonopah Test Range Airport
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.