Nellis AFB

Nellis began as the Las Vegas Army Air Base, hosting the Army Air Corps Flexible Gunnery School in 1941, initially training B-17 gunners. During the height of World War II, more than 600 B-17 gunners and 215 co-pilots graduated from the school every five weeks. In March 1945 the B-17 gunnery program gave way to crew training for the new B-29. Following the end of the war, the base was placed on temporary standby status, finally closing in January 1947.
The base was reopened in 1949 and renamed the next year in honor of Lieutenant William Harrell Nellis, a Nevada resident killed in action Dec. 27, 1944, on his 70th P-47 combat mission over Luxembourg.

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