Romano, Angelo Point Mugu Test Centers. A Pictorial History. Part 1: 1945-1975

The US Navy has established and maintains several test and trial centres for testing and evaluating aircraft and weapon systems. Few centres match the size and scope of the centre in Point Mugu, California. Over the years, the Naval Air Missile Test Centre, together with the Pacific Missile Range, developed into the Naval Missile Centre and the Pacific Missile Test Centre. This reflects the technological development, complexity and sophistication required for accurate evaluation of weapon performance. This book by Angelo Romano is an illustrated work on the aircraft and missiles used during the first thirty years of operation (19451975) at Naval Air Station Point Mugu and its surrounding stations and training areas. The book describes a wide variety of projects, aircraft, squadrons and modifications to the base and facilities up to 1975. Readers will find a fascinating wealth of technical and historical information about aircraft and associated weapons since the beginning of operations at Point Mugu, arranged in chronological order. The text is accompanied by approximately 600 almost entirely unpublished black-and-white and colour photographs illustrating the aircraft, modifications and details of the projects.