UXO Site selected: PUEBLO PRECISION BOMBING RANGE #2, CO |
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General Area: La Junta, CO Site Type/Program: FUDS Location: The former Pueblo Air-to-Ground Gunnery Range is located approximately 25 miles southwest of La Junta, Colorado in Otero County. The site consisted of 23,006.48 acres. Brief History: The gunnery range was one of a series of ranges used by Pueblo Army Air Base and Army Air Forces stations, such as the nearby La Junta Army Air Field. Other ranges included Pueblo PBR #1 and Pueblo PBR #2. Primarily, the gunnery range provided a location for the bomber crews from B-17, B-24, B-25, and B-29 bombers to practice air-to-ground gunnery using .50 caliber machine guns. Construction of the gunnery range began in 1942. In 1943, bomber training groups went through a three phase training program. The third phase emphasized long distance missions, tactical problems, intense precision bombing practice from all altitudes and high altitude gunnery. Because the training program specified firing from every gun position on nearly all daylight flights, the air-to-ground gunnery targets received very intensive use. By May 30, 1943, the Second Air Force planned to use its air-to-ground gunnery ranges for minimum altitude training, also known as skip-bombing training. In March 1944, in the second phase of training for bombardiers in the Combat Crew Training School at Pueblo Army Air Base, bomber crews devoted their training to bombing, gunnery, formation navigation, crew coordination, and completing most of the AAF requirements for combat crew training. Bomber crews made bombing runs on a flight pattern using PB-7 as a target. Target PB-7 is located in the southern part of the gunnery range. Beginning July 1, 1944, Headquarters Second Air Force assigned temporary joint use of the gunnery Range to Walker AAF, Pratt AAF, Great Bend AAF, and Smoky Hill AAF, all in Kansas. At the end of July 1945, Headquarters Second Air Force assigned the use and maintenance of the gunnery range exclusively to La Junta AAF. On November 6, 1945, Headquarters Second Air Force notified the Commanding Officer of Pueblo AAB that all ranges assigned to Pueblo were no longer required for training purposes and could be declared surplus to the needs of the command. |
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Range / Site Description: Associated Munitions: Activities Completed: The Archive Search Report was completed in September 1995, by the US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District. Issues: None Other Information: EE/CA |
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