Sandia Base
Encyclopedia
Sandia Base was, from 1946 to 1971, the principal nuclear weapons installation of the United States Department of Defense
. It was located on the southeastern edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico
. For twenty-five years, the top-secret Sandia Base and its subsidiary installation, Manzano Base, carried on the atomic weapons research, development, design, testing, and training commenced by the Manhattan Project
during World War II
. Fabrication, assembly, and storage of nuclear weapons was also done at Sandia Base. The base played a key role in the United States nuclear deterrence capability during the Cold War
. In 1971 it was merged into Kirtland Air Force Base
.
on the west, and Eubank Avenue SE and the Sandia Mountains on the east, and Isleta Pueblo lands on the south. There were security gates on Gibson Avenue SE and Wyoming Boulevard SE.
, once the major Albuquerque airport. A competing airport took most of the local traffic in the 1930s. The US Army bought the field after 1939.
Leslie Groves
and Robert Oppenheimer
faced the challenges of turning a war-driven, short-term bomb design effort into a stable peacetime operation in charge of producing and maintaining a nuclear stockpile for the nation. A serious short-term problem was retaining personnel, particularly at Los Alamos where many scientists and technicians were eager to return to civilian pursuits. The solutions to the challenges led directly to the transformation of Albuquerque's old Oxnard Field
into the nation's principal nuclear weapons installation.
Atomic Bomb engineering was carried out by the Z Division, named for its director, Dr. Jerrold R. Zacharias from Los Alamos. Z Division was conceived as an ordnance design, testing, and assembly arm. However, space was at a premium at Los Alamos. Additionally, members of Z Division needed to work closely with the military. Groves also decided as part of an effort to retain personnel to focus the laboratory more on weapons development by relocating various weapons production and assembly activities away from Los Alamos. Thus, the decision was taken to move Z Division to the old Oxnard Field. Already at the close of the war, the engineering group of Z Division had begun consolidating weapons assembly functions there. Z Division was initially located at Wendover Field but moved to Oxnard Field
, New Mexico, in September 1945 to be closer to Los Alamos. By 1946, the site was being referred to as "Sandia Base" after the nearby Sandia Mountains
.
In January 1947, the rest of Z Division completed its move to Sandia Base. That same month, Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson
and Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal established the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
(AFSWP) to assume all of the military functions of the Manhattan Engineering District. The ASWP took over the Albuquerque base. Z Division and AFSWP brought to Sandia Base the strict secrecy which had prevailed at Los Alamos. In 1947, amid much public speculation about what was going on at Sandia Base, the military would only say that the activities at Sandia Base were secret under the Atomic Energy Act. When Secretary of the Army Kenneth Claiborne Royall
visited Sandia Base in 1948, he falsely announced that "guided missile" development was underway at the base.
. Concerned about the postwar status of the nation's nuclear stockpile, Groves had already dispatched Col. Gilbert M. Dorland to Sandia Base to evaluate the engineering efforts being made there. Dorland eventually assembled a group of about sixty young Army officers, later nicknamed the "Sandia Pioneers," to oversee the bomb fabrication efforts. Dorland also established a nuclear weapons training school at Sandia Base.
The Pioneers learned and practiced how to assemble atomic bombs and how to load them onto aircraft for long range missions. The aircraft used for these practice missions were Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers similar to the ones that flew the first atomic missions over Japan in 1945. The Pioneers and the 509th Bombardment Group (successor to the 509th Composite Group
that flew the 1945 missions) flew the practice missions from Kirtland AFB to Wendover, Utah
. The 509th was stationed at Walker Air Force Base near Roswell, New Mexico
.
On April 12, 1950, a B-29 from the 509th Bombardment Group crashed at Sandia Base shortly after takeoff. Thirteen crewmen were killed. The military imposed strict security over the crash site. The official version of the crash stated that the B-29 was on a routine "navigation training flight." The Air Force said the B-29 had taken off from Walker AFB and had landed at Kirtland AFB to "refuel."
At Sandia Base, the Pioneers worked with Sandia Laboratory and the AEC to perfect the design, assembly, storage, and delivery of atomic weapons. In 1948, the Pioneers supported Operation SANDSTONE, the atmospheric test series at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands
.
The SANDSTONE test series was successful, but logistics, weather, security, and safety suggested the need for a continental test site. Thus, AFSWP conducted a top secret study, named Project Nutmeg, to search for such a site. In 1950, AFSWP concluded that a site on the Air Force's Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range in Nevada
was the right place. President Truman approved the location, known as Frenchman Flat
.
The first continental atomic test was conducted on January 27, 1951. A weapon assembled at Sandia Base was dropped from a Boeing B-50 Superfortress
("D" model) bomber ( in the successful "Able" shot. Thereafter, some 927 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests occurred at what is now known as the Nevada Test Site
. These tests were supported by AFSWP and its successors from Sandia Base and its successor.
In 1959, because AFSWP was redesignated the Defense Atomic Support Agency
(DASA), the Sandia Base was designated Headquarters Field Command, DASA. Over the next dozen years, Field Command was headed by Army, Navy, and Air Force officers.
Sandia Base personnel were dispatched to assist in two major incidents involving the loss and recovery of nuclear weapons in the 1960s. In 1966, a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber and a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling plane collided in mid-air over the Mediterranean Sea
off the coast of Spain. This event is referred to as the Palomares incident. Three of four missing nuclear weapons were found near the fishing village of Palomares
in Spain
. The fourth was found in the sea after a lengthy search. The second incident occurred in 1968 when a B-52 bomber crashed near Thule, Greenland. Three weapons were recovered; a fourth is believed to remain in the ocean.
Always on the itinerary of key political figures, Sandia Base hosted President John F. Kennedy
on December 7, 1962. On April 17, 1966, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey toured facilities at Sandia Base.
In 1971, DASA was redesignated Defense Nuclear Agency. The field activities remained at Sandia Base, which was merged into Kirtland Air Force Base. Defense Nuclear Agency returned to its roots by being renamed Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) without further change of mission or functions in 1996. DSWA was abolished, effective October 1, 1998, with functions transferred to the newly established Defense Threat Reduction Agency
(DTRA).
, the organization continued to grow to approximately 1000 employees by mid-1948.
The University of California
, long-time manager of Los Alamos, indicated that it no longer desired to be involved in the engineering part of nuclear weapons development. Thus, in 1949, AT&T
's manufacturing arm, Western Electric
, accepted the management role on a no-profit, no-fee basis. Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Electric, was formed to manage the lab. AT&T maintained the contract until 1993 when Martin Marietta
(now Lockheed Martin
) took over. The largest organization at Sandia Base, it became Sandia National Laboratories
in 1979. It now operates facilities in Albuquerque and Livermore, California
. The organization continues to expand into new areas of research, such as renewable energy sources.
southeast of Sandia Base. The military responded by issuing a statement that operations and construction near Sandia Base were top-secret. In fact, however, the AFSWP was building one of several bases around the country that would be used for nuclear weapons storage. The AFSWP code-named the base "Site Able."
Construction of Site Able was delayed by a workers strike in which laborers demanded a 25-cent per hour increase in their minimum wage of $1.75 per hour.
On February 22, 1952, the now-completed Site Able was renamed Manzano Base and turned over to the operational control of the Air Force. The Denver Post story apparently was correct insofar as it described the general nature of the base. What appeared to be secure bunkers were visible to people (mostly military personnel) who went to a recreational camping area nearby known as Coyote Canyon. The military, however, never officially confirmed the nature of the activities at Manzano Base. At one point, a military spokesman said that Manzano Base had nothing to do with Sandia Base. Manzano has since been identified as the first of six original National Stockpile Sites (NSS) (for nuclear weapons). The other original NSS installations similar to Manzano were: Site Baker at Killeen Base, adjacent to Gray Air Force Base and Fort Hood, Texas; Site Charlie at Campbell Air Force Base and adjacent to Fort Campbell
(Tennessee and Kentucky); Site Dog at Bossier Base, adjacent to Barksdale Air Force Base
, Louisiana; Lake Mead Base, adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base
, Nevada, and Medina Base, adjacent to Lackland Air Force Base
, Texas.
On July 1, 1971, Manzano Base was merged, along with Sandia Base, into Kirtland Air Force Base.
On May 22, 1957, a B-36 ferrying a nuclear weapon from Biggs AFB to Kirtland AFB dropped a nuclear weapon on approach to Kirtland AFB. The weapon impacted the ground 4.5 miles south of the Kirtland control tower and 0.3 miles west of the Sandia Base reservation. The weapon was complete destroyed by the detonation of its high explosive material, creating a crater 12 feet deep and 25 feet in diameter. Radioactive contamination at the crater lip amounted to 0.5 milliroentgen.
Although most of the base was restricted, the rest of the base resembled other U.S. military installations in the world. By the 1950s, there were places for several thousand military family members to live, shop, attend school, recreate, and worship. The Army was in charge of running these parts of the base.
Housing for military families existed in three areas of Sandia Base. In the southwest corner of the base was an area of Wherry housing known as Zia Park. On the northwest side of the base was an area of Capehart housing known as Pershing Park. This area stretched from Wyoming Boulevard almost to the Gibson Avenue gate. East of Wyoming Boulevard was an area of Capehart housing known informally as "The Loops" because the streets were circular and had names such as "10th Loop," 11th Loop, etc.
There were two schools on the base. Sandia Base Elementary School was on Wyoming Boulevard between Pershing Park and the Loops; Wherry Elementary School was located in Zia Park. Both schools were operated by the Albuquerque Public Schools
system. Older children from Sandia Base attended Van Buren Junior High School just outside the base and Highland High School in southeast Albuquerque.
Sandia Base had an officers club, an NCO club, a commissary, a base exchange, a movie theater, a swimming pool, a library, and a teen club. Sandia Base also had a club for civilian employees. There were two chapels, a hospital, and a pre-school on the base.
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
. It was located on the southeastern edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
. For twenty-five years, the top-secret Sandia Base and its subsidiary installation, Manzano Base, carried on the atomic weapons research, development, design, testing, and training commenced by the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Fabrication, assembly, and storage of nuclear weapons was also done at Sandia Base. The base played a key role in the United States nuclear deterrence capability during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. In 1971 it was merged into Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland...
.
Geography
Sandia Base was located at about 35° 02' 25" N, 106° 32' 59" W at an elevation 5394 feet (1,644.1 m) above sea level. It was in the southeast quadrant of Albuquerque, bounded roughly by Louisiana Boulevard SE and Kirtland Air Force BaseKirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland...
on the west, and Eubank Avenue SE and the Sandia Mountains on the east, and Isleta Pueblo lands on the south. There were security gates on Gibson Avenue SE and Wyoming Boulevard SE.
Early history
The base was created on the site formerly occupied by Oxnard FieldOxnard Field
Oxnard Field was the first airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It served as the home of commercial aviation in Albuquerque from 1928 to 1929 and remained in use for other purposes until 1948...
, once the major Albuquerque airport. A competing airport took most of the local traffic in the 1930s. The US Army bought the field after 1939.
Transition to Nuclear Weapons Activities
Leslie Groves
Leslie Groves
Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
and Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Oppenheimer
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Along with Enrico Fermi, he is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project, the World War II project that developed the first...
faced the challenges of turning a war-driven, short-term bomb design effort into a stable peacetime operation in charge of producing and maintaining a nuclear stockpile for the nation. A serious short-term problem was retaining personnel, particularly at Los Alamos where many scientists and technicians were eager to return to civilian pursuits. The solutions to the challenges led directly to the transformation of Albuquerque's old Oxnard Field
Oxnard Field
Oxnard Field was the first airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It served as the home of commercial aviation in Albuquerque from 1928 to 1929 and remained in use for other purposes until 1948...
into the nation's principal nuclear weapons installation.
Atomic Bomb engineering was carried out by the Z Division, named for its director, Dr. Jerrold R. Zacharias from Los Alamos. Z Division was conceived as an ordnance design, testing, and assembly arm. However, space was at a premium at Los Alamos. Additionally, members of Z Division needed to work closely with the military. Groves also decided as part of an effort to retain personnel to focus the laboratory more on weapons development by relocating various weapons production and assembly activities away from Los Alamos. Thus, the decision was taken to move Z Division to the old Oxnard Field. Already at the close of the war, the engineering group of Z Division had begun consolidating weapons assembly functions there. Z Division was initially located at Wendover Field but moved to Oxnard Field
Oxnard Field
Oxnard Field was the first airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It served as the home of commercial aviation in Albuquerque from 1928 to 1929 and remained in use for other purposes until 1948...
, New Mexico, in September 1945 to be closer to Los Alamos. By 1946, the site was being referred to as "Sandia Base" after the nearby Sandia Mountains
Sandia Mountains
The Sandia Mountains name posu gai hoo-oo, "where water slides down arroyo") are a mountain range located in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, immediately to the east of the city of Albuquerque in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is largely within the Cibola National...
.
In January 1947, the rest of Z Division completed its move to Sandia Base. That same month, Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson
Robert P. Patterson
Robert Porter Patterson was the United States Under Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman from September 27, 1945 to July 18, 1947....
and Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal established the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under the military after the the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on 1 January 1947...
(AFSWP) to assume all of the military functions of the Manhattan Engineering District. The ASWP took over the Albuquerque base. Z Division and AFSWP brought to Sandia Base the strict secrecy which had prevailed at Los Alamos. In 1947, amid much public speculation about what was going on at Sandia Base, the military would only say that the activities at Sandia Base were secret under the Atomic Energy Act. When Secretary of the Army Kenneth Claiborne Royall
Kenneth Claiborne Royall
Kenneth Claiborne Royall was a United States Army general and the last person to hold the office of Secretary of War...
visited Sandia Base in 1948, he falsely announced that "guided missile" development was underway at the base.
The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and its successors
AFSWP was given responsibility for discharging all military functions relating to atomic energy in coordination with the Atomic Energy Commission. General Groves was placed in charge and reported directly to the Joint Chiefs of StaffJoint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
. Concerned about the postwar status of the nation's nuclear stockpile, Groves had already dispatched Col. Gilbert M. Dorland to Sandia Base to evaluate the engineering efforts being made there. Dorland eventually assembled a group of about sixty young Army officers, later nicknamed the "Sandia Pioneers," to oversee the bomb fabrication efforts. Dorland also established a nuclear weapons training school at Sandia Base.
509th Composite Group
The 509th Composite Group was a United States Army Air Forces unit created during World War II, and tasked with operational deployment of nuclear weapons...
that flew the 1945 missions) flew the practice missions from Kirtland AFB to Wendover, Utah
Wendover, Utah
Wendover is a city in Tooele County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,537 at the 2000 census, with a 2006 estimated population of 1,632....
. The 509th was stationed at Walker Air Force Base near Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,366 at the 2010 census. It is a center for irrigation farming, dairying, ranching, manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum production. It is also...
.
On April 12, 1950, a B-29 from the 509th Bombardment Group crashed at Sandia Base shortly after takeoff. Thirteen crewmen were killed. The military imposed strict security over the crash site. The official version of the crash stated that the B-29 was on a routine "navigation training flight." The Air Force said the B-29 had taken off from Walker AFB and had landed at Kirtland AFB to "refuel."
At Sandia Base, the Pioneers worked with Sandia Laboratory and the AEC to perfect the design, assembly, storage, and delivery of atomic weapons. In 1948, the Pioneers supported Operation SANDSTONE, the atmospheric test series at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
.
The SANDSTONE test series was successful, but logistics, weather, security, and safety suggested the need for a continental test site. Thus, AFSWP conducted a top secret study, named Project Nutmeg, to search for such a site. In 1950, AFSWP concluded that a site on the Air Force's Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
was the right place. President Truman approved the location, known as Frenchman Flat
Frenchman Flat
Frenchman Flat is a Tonopah Basin landform used as a nuclear weapons detonation site at the Nevada Test Site , some from Las Vegas, in the United States. Frenchman Flat is a dry lake, an alkaline desert depression which spans Area 5 and Area 11 within NTS...
.
The first continental atomic test was conducted on January 27, 1951. A weapon assembled at Sandia Base was dropped from a Boeing B-50 Superfortress
Boeing B-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress strategic bomber was a post-World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller fin, and other improvements. It was the last piston-engined bomber designed by Boeing for...
("D" model) bomber ( in the successful "Able" shot. Thereafter, some 927 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests occurred at what is now known as the Nevada Test Site
Nevada Test Site
The Nevada National Security Site , previously the Nevada Test Site , is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about northwest of the city of Las Vegas...
. These tests were supported by AFSWP and its successors from Sandia Base and its successor.
In 1959, because AFSWP was redesignated the Defense Atomic Support Agency
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is an agency within the United States Department of Defense and is the official Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction . DTRA's main functions are threat reduction, threat control, combat support, and technology development...
(DASA), the Sandia Base was designated Headquarters Field Command, DASA. Over the next dozen years, Field Command was headed by Army, Navy, and Air Force officers.
Sandia Base personnel were dispatched to assist in two major incidents involving the loss and recovery of nuclear weapons in the 1960s. In 1966, a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber and a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling plane collided in mid-air over the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
off the coast of Spain. This event is referred to as the Palomares incident. Three of four missing nuclear weapons were found near the fishing village of Palomares
Palomares, Almería
Palomares is an agricultural, fishing and tourist village on the Mediterranean Sea in the Almería province of Andalusia, Spain. It is about 20 meters above sea level...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The fourth was found in the sea after a lengthy search. The second incident occurred in 1968 when a B-52 bomber crashed near Thule, Greenland. Three weapons were recovered; a fourth is believed to remain in the ocean.
Always on the itinerary of key political figures, Sandia Base hosted President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
on December 7, 1962. On April 17, 1966, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey toured facilities at Sandia Base.
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is an agency within the United States Department of Defense and is the official Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction . DTRA's main functions are threat reduction, threat control, combat support, and technology development...
(DTRA).
Sandia National Laboratories
After the move to Sandia Base, Los Alamos Laboratory's Z Division grew to almost 500 people and became a separate branch of Los Alamos on April 1, 1948. Named Sandia LaboratorySandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
, the organization continued to grow to approximately 1000 employees by mid-1948.
The University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, long-time manager of Los Alamos, indicated that it no longer desired to be involved in the engineering part of nuclear weapons development. Thus, in 1949, AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's manufacturing arm, Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
, accepted the management role on a no-profit, no-fee basis. Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Electric, was formed to manage the lab. AT&T maintained the contract until 1993 when Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
(now Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
) took over. The largest organization at Sandia Base, it became Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
in 1979. It now operates facilities in Albuquerque and Livermore, California
Livermore, California
Livermore is a city in Alameda County. The population as of 2010 was 80,968. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area....
. The organization continues to expand into new areas of research, such as renewable energy sources.
Manzano Base
In August, 1947, the Denver Post ran a copyrighted story that claimed the military was building a secret base consisting of huge caverns for atomic weapons defense purposes. The Post said the new base was in the Manzano MountainsManzano Mountains
The Manzano Mountains are a small mountain range in the central part of the US State of New Mexico. They are oriented north-south and are about 40 miles long. The center of the range lies about 25 miles southeast of Albuquerque, and the northern foothills are just a few miles east of the edge of...
southeast of Sandia Base. The military responded by issuing a statement that operations and construction near Sandia Base were top-secret. In fact, however, the AFSWP was building one of several bases around the country that would be used for nuclear weapons storage. The AFSWP code-named the base "Site Able."
Construction of Site Able was delayed by a workers strike in which laborers demanded a 25-cent per hour increase in their minimum wage of $1.75 per hour.
On February 22, 1952, the now-completed Site Able was renamed Manzano Base and turned over to the operational control of the Air Force. The Denver Post story apparently was correct insofar as it described the general nature of the base. What appeared to be secure bunkers were visible to people (mostly military personnel) who went to a recreational camping area nearby known as Coyote Canyon. The military, however, never officially confirmed the nature of the activities at Manzano Base. At one point, a military spokesman said that Manzano Base had nothing to do with Sandia Base. Manzano has since been identified as the first of six original National Stockpile Sites (NSS) (for nuclear weapons). The other original NSS installations similar to Manzano were: Site Baker at Killeen Base, adjacent to Gray Air Force Base and Fort Hood, Texas; Site Charlie at Campbell Air Force Base and adjacent to Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astraddle the Kentucky-Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee...
(Tennessee and Kentucky); Site Dog at Bossier Base, adjacent to Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-southeast of Bossier City, Louisiana.The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing , the oldest Bomb Wing in the Air Force. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force...
, Louisiana; Lake Mead Base, adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base
Nellis Air Force Base
Nellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is under the jurisdiction of Air Combat Command .-Overview:...
, Nevada, and Medina Base, adjacent to Lackland Air Force Base
Lackland Air Force Base
Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located west-southwest of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....
, Texas.
On July 1, 1971, Manzano Base was merged, along with Sandia Base, into Kirtland Air Force Base.
Other incidents at Sandia Base
On March 18, 1950, a fire of undetermined origin swept through the stockade at Sandia Base, killing fourteen prisoners. Several officers and military firefighters were seriously injured.On May 22, 1957, a B-36 ferrying a nuclear weapon from Biggs AFB to Kirtland AFB dropped a nuclear weapon on approach to Kirtland AFB. The weapon impacted the ground 4.5 miles south of the Kirtland control tower and 0.3 miles west of the Sandia Base reservation. The weapon was complete destroyed by the detonation of its high explosive material, creating a crater 12 feet deep and 25 feet in diameter. Radioactive contamination at the crater lip amounted to 0.5 milliroentgen.
The Sandia Base community
Because of the presence of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and its successors, Sandia Base had military personnel of all of the services as well as Department of Defense civilian employees. Sandia Lab brought more civilians to the base community.Although most of the base was restricted, the rest of the base resembled other U.S. military installations in the world. By the 1950s, there were places for several thousand military family members to live, shop, attend school, recreate, and worship. The Army was in charge of running these parts of the base.
Housing for military families existed in three areas of Sandia Base. In the southwest corner of the base was an area of Wherry housing known as Zia Park. On the northwest side of the base was an area of Capehart housing known as Pershing Park. This area stretched from Wyoming Boulevard almost to the Gibson Avenue gate. East of Wyoming Boulevard was an area of Capehart housing known informally as "The Loops" because the streets were circular and had names such as "10th Loop," 11th Loop, etc.
There were two schools on the base. Sandia Base Elementary School was on Wyoming Boulevard between Pershing Park and the Loops; Wherry Elementary School was located in Zia Park. Both schools were operated by the Albuquerque Public Schools
Albuquerque Public Schools
Albuquerque Public Schools is a school district based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Founded in 1891, the Albuquerque Public School District is the largest of 89 public school districts in the State of New Mexico....
system. Older children from Sandia Base attended Van Buren Junior High School just outside the base and Highland High School in southeast Albuquerque.
Sandia Base had an officers club, an NCO club, a commissary, a base exchange, a movie theater, a swimming pool, a library, and a teen club. Sandia Base also had a club for civilian employees. There were two chapels, a hospital, and a pre-school on the base.