Armitage Field

 airport, Second World War 1939-1945, military, United States Navy, nuclear research centre

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Armitage Field, opened in 1935, was originally built as an emergency landing field by the Works Progress Administration in the Mojave Desert near the small town of Inyokern, California.

The airfield was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Navy in October 1943 and commissioned as Naval Ordinance Test Station (NOTS) in December 1943. CalTech, contracted by the Office of Scientific Research and Development, carried on their Morris Lake naval ordinance development work here in 1944. NOTS worked on the development and testing of the 3.5-inch, 5-inch, HVAR and 11.75-inch (Tiny Tim) rockets.

By late 1944, the work of CalTech had tapered off and the field was used to conduct nuclear bomb research under the code name Project Camel. The name is said to have come from a remark by a Los Alamos scientist that once a camel (meaning Caltech) gets its nose under a tent flap it is hard to dislodge. Some of the nuclear bomb research and development conducted by CalTech here includes performing bomb drops to test bomb shapes, detonators, and developing the explosive lenses used in the Fat Man bomb.

Airfield: (760) 939-5464
Airfield Operations: (760) 939-5301

Hours:

Monday through non-flex Friday 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Sunday from 4:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Closed:

flex Fridays
Saturdays
Sunday until 4 p.m.

www.airnav.com/airport/KNID