Avon Park Cold War Data

Located 75 miles from MacDill Air Force Base and about six miles east-northeast of Avon Park, Florida, Avon Park Air Force Range originated as a bombing and gunnery range in December 1941. Neighboring the range was an installation known as Avon Park Army Air Field and Avon Park Army Air Base. In 1946, Avon Park Army Air Field was largely unoccupied, kept on stand-by status as a satellite of MacDill. By 1947, most of its buildings and structures had been disposed. The Continental Air Forces had become the host command at MacDill in April 1945, followed by Strategic Air Command (SAC) in spring 1946. SAC is not known to have conducted major missions at Avon Park during the late 1940s and early 1950s, although did put procedures in place during 1947 for limited use of the Avon Park Bombing Range. In the late 1940s, only three (of an original seven) practice bombing ranges remained functional, along with the central emergency bomb release area and a dive bombing site in a small lake. With the outbreak of the Korean War, Air Proving Ground Command at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle began using the Avon Park Bombing and Gunnery Range for chemical warfare tests. Air Proving Ground Command conducted tests of growth inhibitors and defoliants in 1950 and 1951. These tests were known as the Avon Park Trials and as the Avon Park Project. Also in 1951, the United States Bureau of Prisons opened a minimum security prison at Avon Park. By this date, about 50 World War II buildings were still on base. Prisoners dismantled the majority of these buildings for use as salvage materials. After the Korean War, activities at Avon Park continued to focus on agent testing. In 1956, the Second Air Force began using the range for pilot, bombing, and gunnery training. SAC also established an advanced water survival school on the range in 1958. MacDill continued to have responsibility for the Avon Park range until 1961, when the range became a satellite of McCoy AFB. Avon Park returned to MacDill the next year, 1962, with Tactical Air Command assuming the base host role. For the remainder of the Cold War, TAC used the Avon Park Range for training activities. In the early 1970s, toward the end of the Vietnam War, TAC set up electronic warfare training on Avon Park. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, TAC trained pilots and weapons systems personnel at Avon Park, configuring the range lands with renewable targets over the years.

阿冯帕克空军靶场（Avon Park Air Force Range）坐落于麦克迪尔空军基地（MacDill Air Force Base）以北75英里处，佛罗里达州阿冯帕克东北偏东约6英里的区域，其前身为1941年12月启用的轰炸与射击靶场。靶场毗邻阿冯帕克陆军航空基地（Avon Park Army Air Field）与阿冯帕克陆军空军基地（Avon Park Army Air Base）。1946年，阿冯帕克陆军航空基地基本处于空置状态，作为麦克迪尔的附属基地维持待命状态。至1947年，该基地的绝大多数建筑与设施已被处置。1945年4月，大陆空军（Continental Air Forces）成为麦克迪尔的驻场司令部，1946年春季战略空军司令部（Strategic Air Command, SAC）接掌该指挥职责。目前无记录显示战略空军司令部在1940年代末至1950年代初于阿冯帕克开展过重大任务，但该司令部曾于1947年制定规程，允许有限使用阿冯帕克轰炸靶场。1940年代末，最初规划的7座练习轰炸靶场中仅余3座仍可正常运作，同时保留了中央紧急投弹区与一处位于小型湖泊内的俯冲轰炸靶场。随着朝鲜战争爆发，位于佛罗里达狭长地带埃格林空军基地（Eglin Air Force Base）的航空试验场司令部开始将阿冯帕克轰炸与射击靶场用于化学战试验。该司令部于1950年与1951年开展了生长抑制剂与脱叶剂的相关试验，此类试验被称为“阿冯帕克试验”（Avon Park Trials）与“阿冯帕克项目”（Avon Park Project）。同样在1951年，美国联邦监狱管理局（United States Bureau of Prisons）在阿冯帕克开设了一所最低安全级监狱。截至此时，基地内仍留存有约50座二战时期建筑，囚犯们拆除了其中大部分建筑以回收利用建材。朝鲜战争结束后，阿冯帕克的相关活动仍聚焦于战剂试验。1956年，第二空军（Second Air Force）开始利用该靶场开展飞行员、轰炸与射击训练。1958年，战略空军司令部还在靶场内设立了高级水上生存学校。麦克迪尔一直负责管理阿冯帕克靶场，直至1961年该靶场成为麦科伊空军基地（McCoy AFB）的附属设施。1962年，阿冯帕克靶场重新划归麦克迪尔，由战术空军司令部（Tactical Air Command, TAC）承担基地驻场职责。在冷战剩余时期，战术空军司令部持续利用阿冯帕克靶场开展训练活动。1970年代初，也就是越南战争末期，战术空军司令部在阿冯帕克设立了电子战训练场地。在1960年代、1970年代与1980年代，战术空军司令部在此训练飞行员与武器系统操作人员，并逐年在靶场区域设置可重复使用的靶标。