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）距离麦克迪尔空军基地（MacDill Air Force Base）75英里，位于佛罗里达州阿冯帕克东北偏东约6英里处，于1941年12月作为轰炸与射击靶场始建。该靶场毗邻一处名为阿冯帕克陆军机场（Avon Park Army Air Field）与阿冯帕克陆军航空基地（Avon Park Army Air Base）的设施。1946年，阿冯帕克陆军机场基本处于空置状态，作为麦克迪尔空军基地的卫星设施维持待命状态。至1947年，该机场绝大多数建筑与设施均已处置完毕。1945年4月，大陆空军（Continental Air Forces）成为麦克迪尔空军基地的主驻司令部，随后于1946年春季由战略空军司令部（Strategic Air Command, SAC）接任。目前尚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大型任务，但该司令部于1947年制定了相关规程，允许有限使用阿冯帕克轰炸靶场。1940年代末，原本7座练习轰炸靶场中仅余3座仍可使用，同时保留了中央应急投弹区域与一处位于小型湖泊内的俯冲轰炸场地。随着朝鲜战争（Korean War）爆发，位于佛罗里达狭长地带的埃格林空军基地（Eglin Air Force Base）下属的空军试验场司令部（Air Proving Ground Command）开始将阿冯帕克轰炸射击靶场用于化学战测试。该司令部于1950年至1951年间开展了生长抑制剂与脱叶剂测试，这些测试被称为“阿冯帕克试验”与“阿冯帕克项目”。同年，美国监狱管理局（United States Bureau of Prisons）在阿冯帕克开设了一所低度安保监狱。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以回收建筑材料。朝鲜战争结束后，阿冯帕克的活动仍以制剂测试为核心。1956年，第二空军（Second Air Force）开始使用该靶场开展飞行员、轰炸与射击训练。战略空军司令部还于1958年在靶场内设立了高级水上生存学校。麦克迪尔空军基地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）的卫星设施。1962年，阿冯帕克靶场重新划归麦克迪尔空军基地管理，由战术空军司令部（Tactical Air Command, TAC）承担基地主驻职能。在冷战剩余时期，战术空军司令部均使用阿冯帕克靶场开展训练任务。1970年代初，即越南战争末期，战术空军司令部在阿冯帕克开设了电子战训练项目。在1960、1970与1980年代，战术空军司令部均在阿冯帕克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训练靶标。