Those who did were reassigned to the farthest-flung corners of the Earth, or jailed until war’s end. The government placed spies in local bars, and in some as far as Salt Lake City, to see if servicemen were spilling any info after tipping back a few. Paul Tibbets was assigned to lead the entire operation (the 509th Composite Group) at the base in the incredibly secretive training for the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan.Īt the base, perhaps only Tibbets knew exactly what was going on. When the base was purchased by the government in 1940, there were just 14 people in Wendover and it was only accessible by train or dirt road, which was ideally remote for the intended use of the place. No matter how often I attend races at the Bonneville Salt Flats, I will always take at least a few minutes to pass through the old Wendover Airfield in nearby Wendover, Utah. He wrote this piece back then and we’re rerunning it now as we were lamenting the fact that we’re not there to see it this year.) (EDITOR’S NOTE: Now that your eyes are bugging out of your head since you just saw the title, this item first ran on Januwhen we were known as Freiburger’s Junkyard and before Freiburger went back to Hot Rod Magazine.
