Home > Nuclear Weapons > Nevada Test Site Map > Area
|
|
|
Area 22 — Area 22 in the southeastern corner serves as the main entrance to the Nevada Test Site with vehicular access from Las Vegas via U.S. Highway 95.
The area between highway 95 and the Mercury town site was annexed to the NTS in 1964.
Area 22 was once home for Camp Desert Rock during the early days of atmospheric testing. Camp Desert Rock, also known as Desert Atom Camp, Nevada, was home to the U.S. Army's Atomic Maneuver Battalion in the 1950s. More than 2,300 soldiers were trained here in 1955. The 100 semi-permanent buildings and more than 500 tents often were filled to the 6,000 personnel capacity.
The camp was opened in September 1951 as a Sixth Army installation for housing troops taking part in military exercises at the test site; and, at that time, was primarily a trailer and test camp around a nucleus of semipermanent structures and an airstrip.
Desert Rock Airport, with its 7,500 foot runway, was built on the former Camp Desert Rock. At peak operation Camp Desert Rock comprised of 100 semi-permanent buildings, more than 500 tents and some 6,000 troops under the command of the U.S. Sixth Army, Presidio, San Francisco, California.
The
camp was activated in the Fall of 1951 for the Buster-Jangle series of 7 atmospheric
tests. The facility continued through the Operation Teapot series in the spring
of 1955.
The troops, from all four services,
were deployed. Many observed the detonations from trenches, tanks and armored
personnel carriers at distances of 2,500 to 7,000 yards.
During
the 1955 test series, the camp housed approximately 9000 men from the military
services, some of whom saw a single shot and departed for their home duty stations,
while others stayed throughout the entire test series.
This is a short
history of Pvt. Bill Bires' military duty with Co."A" 231st Engineer
Combat Battalion from Ft. Lewis, Washington. Co. "A" was assigned
temporary duty at the Atomic Test Series, Buster-Jangle in the Nevada desert,
in the fall of 1951. Co. "A"'s military duty at the test site was
unique. While the rest of the battalion built the tent city known as Camp Desert
Rock, Co. "A" was sent further into the desert to construct the displays
of military equipment and postitioned them around the Ground Zeros for the atomic
tests.
Camp Desert Rock was not used by the military services after 1958, and many of the structures were relocated to other parts of the NTS. Essentially all of the residual facilities except the airstrip were dismantled and destroyed as scrap or salvaged
.
The AEC resurfaced and enlarged the Desert Rock airstrip to 1969, extending
the runway to a length of 7500 feet. Although this airstrip primarily serves
the NTS, it is an emergency landing site for all pilots. Currently, the airport
is open but no services are provided.