Badlands Bombing Range
{{infobox military test site
|name= Badlands Bombing Range
|image= Badlands Bombing Range Oct. 3, 2011.jpg
|image_size= 300px
|caption= Controlled explosion of unexploded ordnance at the Air Force Retained Area (October 3, 2011)
|map=
|map_caption=
|type= Bombing range
|coordinates= {{Coord|43|40|55|N|102|17|55|W|display=inline, title}}
|nearest_town= Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
|country= United States
|area=
| pushpin_map = South Dakota
|operator= 1942–1945: United States Army
{{circa|lk=no| 1946-59}}: North Dakota National Guard
1960–1968: Strategic Air Command
1968–present: United States Air Force
|status= Closed
|dates= 1942–1968
|remediation=
|subcritical_tests=
|nuclear_tests=
|thermonuclear_tests=
|other_tests= Bombing range
Gunnery range
Bomb Plot
Retained Area
}}
The Badlands Bombing Range (BBR) refers to Rapid City Army Air Base target ranges for World War II which included the current Air Force Retained Area, an inactive {{Convert|2486|acre|km2|adj=on|abbr=on}} United States Air Force site "20 miles southeast"{{Specify|Coordinates?|date=January 2013}} of Scenic, South Dakota.{{r|Walker}} The retained area is the remainder of {{Convert|341726|acre|km2|abbr=on}} federally acquired in 1942 under eminent domain at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Oglala Sioux).{{r|NPS}} In addition to use by World War II aircraft, BBR was used for a post-war Army National Guard gunnery range and a Cold War Radar Bomb Scoring site.
Rapid City AAB ranges
Rapid City AAB aircraft (e.g., for Bombardier training used the Butte County #1 Precision Bombing Range (Newell Bombing Range) {{Convert|37|mi|km|abbr=on}} North of the base, Rapid City #2 Precision Bombing Range (Pierre Bombing Range) {{Convert|129|mi|km|abbr=on}} East, the Air to Ground Range of {{Convert|11532|acres|km2|abbr=on}}{{cite web |url=http://forum.armyairforces.com/Practice-bomb-and-target-ranges-m95646.aspx |title=Practice bomb and target ranges |accessdate=2013-01-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130215130910/http://forum.armyairforces.com/Practice-bomb-and-target-ranges-m95646.aspx |archivedate=2013-02-15 }} & {{Convert|33|mi|km|abbr=on}} East-Northeast, and the Air to Air Range {{Convert|33|mi|km|abbr=on}} Southeast.{{cite web |url=http://forum.armyairforces.com/Badlands-Bombing-Range-m156511.aspx |title=Badlands Bombing Range |accessdate=2013-01-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130215144914/http://forum.armyairforces.com/Badlands-Bombing-Range-m156511.aspx |archivedate=2013-02-15 }} The "air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery ranges" were on {{Convert|337|acre|km2|abbr=on}} of the Badlands National Monument.{{r|NPS}}
Badlands gunnery range
Post-war the South Dakota National Guard "used portions of the bombing range as an artillery range".{{r|NPS}} Firing took place within most of the present day Badlands National Park with old car bodies and 55 gallon drums painted bright yellow for targets.{{Citation needed|reason=this sentence is from the Badlands National Park wikiarticle|date=January 2013}} By 2008 the National Park Service had placed an interpretive sign for "The Badlands Gunnery Range".{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jvstin/2916889378/|title=Badlands Gunnery Range sign|date=23 September 2008}}
Badlands Bomb Plot
The Interior Radar Bomb Scoring Site (callsign Badlands Bomb Plot) opened in August 1960{{Cite web |last=MacDonald |first=Ray |date=29 January 2002 |title=1 CEVG/DET 2 History (A fluid Document) |publisher=1CEVGA.com |type = history anecdotes|url=http://1cevga.com/det2.htm |accessdate=2013-01-20 |quote=1 CEVG/Det. 2 was moved from Wall, SD to Holbrook, AZ in 1968. We were up and running around the middle of April. …1990 when we became 99 ECRG/DET 2 . The last RBS/ECM sortie was on or about September 13, 1993. The last ECM-only sortie was on or about September 30, 1993. A B1-B from Dyes (not positive) flew the last RBS/ECM mission. A C-130 from Hulburt Field flew the last ECM mission. The period of time between October 1, 1993 and Christmas was used for decommissioning the systems}} on Hurley Butte ({{Coord|43.719846|-102.14294}}) adjacent to the Pine Ridge Reservation and a few miles from Interior, South Dakota{{r|Yahoo}} to replace the Los Angeles Bomb Plot at Cheli AFS. Operated and maintained by Detachment 2 of the 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron (initially by temporary duty personnel), the RBS site was 1 of ~14 that remained after the 1965-6 deployment of RBS site personnel for Vietnam Combat Skyspot. Family housing for the detachment "was on the western edge of Wall", a nearby town,{{r|Yahoo}} and barracks initially used for the station were shared by Boeing facility contractors for the Ellsworth Air Force Base 850th SMS's HGM-25A Titan I ICBMs. Concrete pads at Hurley Butte remain from when the RBS equipment and personnel transferred to Holbrook, Arizona (1968-1993,{{Cite web |date=2007 |title=Detachment 2 Holbrook, AZ |url=http://1cevga.com/det2.htm |publisher=1CEVGA.com |format =history anecdote |accessdate=2013-01-20 |quote=1 CEVG/Det. 2 was moved from Wall, SD to Holbrook, AZ in 1968. We were up and running around the middle of April. The site remained in Holbrook until 1990 when we became 99 ECRG/DET 2 . The last RBS/ECM sortie was on or about September 13, 1993. The last ECM-only sortie was on or about September 30, 1993. A B1-B from Dyes (not positive) flew the last RBS/ECM mission. A C-130 from Hulburt Field flew the last ECM mission. The period of time between October 1, 1993 and Christmas was used for decommissioning the systems}} merged w/ Det 19 Poplar MT{{r|Yahoo}} to move to Det 4 Harrison AR).Except for the MPS-T1 all the systems from Holbrook, including the UHF radios and radio tower were shipped to Harrison, AR [https://web.archive.org/web/20201110133511/http://1cevga.com/det2.htm--]> -- control Holbrook AFS transferred to the Petrified NF). At the end of the Cold War, numerous nearby radar sites for RBS and electronic warfare simulation included those at the Alzada (2 sites), Ekalaka, & Hulett Mini-Mutes Radar Sites, the Clark & Colony Radar Bomb Scoring Sites, and the "Ellsworth Air Force Base" sites (Belle Fourche, Colmer, & Horman Radar Bomb Scoring Sites and the Antelope Butte Mini Mute Radar Bomb Scoring Site).{{Cite map |publisher=United States Census Bureau |date=October 22, 2011 |title=2012 Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS): Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land |url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/www/bas12/aia/r2490_northern_cheyenne/BAS12R49901652490_000.pdf |cartography=Geography Division |accessdate=|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812210142/http://www2.census.gov/geo/www/bas12/aia/r2490_northern_cheyenne/BAS12R49901652490_000.pdf |archivedate=August 12, 2014 }}
Decommissioning and environmental mitigation
{{External media
|image1=[https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.719846,-102.14294&spn=0.3,0.3&t=p&q=43.719846,-102.14294 remains of RBS site]
|image2=[https://www.flickr.com/photos/jvstin/2916889378/ Gunnery Range interpretive sign]
}}
After the Badlands Bomb Plot closed, "the USAF declared most of the range excess property" in 1968, and Public Law 90-468 restored control of {{Convert|202357|acre|km2|abbr=on}} to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The Oglala Sioux protested the designation of {{Convert|136882|acre|km2|abbr=on}} "of formerly held Tribal lands" as the Badlands National Monument{{Cite news |last=Ingvalson |first=E.L |date=July 12, 1968 |title=Oglala Sioux Ranchers Protest Legislation on Gunnery Range |url=http://cdm16384.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15307coll2/id/177/rec/1 |format = summary listing |newspaper=Rapid City Journal |accessdate=2013-01-20}} In 1999 at the "BBR 1" target, "40 M 38 practice bombs, 4 rocket bodies (2.25-inch SCAR) or rocket warheads (2.75-inch), [and] 33 pieces of ordnance scrap (mostly tail fins)" were recovered.{{r|ESTCP}} At the BBR 2 site used as an aerial gunnery target, 2.25-inch SCAR and 2.75-inch rockets were used and 28 "SCAR rocket bodies were recovered" along with 17 M38 bombs and 11 intact warheads from 2.75-inch rockets.{{r|ESTCP}}
A 2008 USAF & Oglala Sioux agreement initiated "a three-month $1.6 million project to remove unexploded ordnance" on the Air Force Retained Area. "The last four known munitions" were exploded on October 3, 2011.{{Cite web|last=Walker |first=Airman Kate |date=12 November 2011 |title=Ellsworth contractors work with tribe to destroy bombs |url=https://www.acc.af.mil/News/story/id/123275231/ |format=USAF news release |publisher=28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs |access-date=2013-01-20 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216060433/http://www.acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123275231 |archive-date=16 December 2013 }}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{Cite web |title=World War II Comes to the Badlands |url=http://www.nps.gov/badl/planyourvisit/upload/Badlands-Gunnery-Range-Bulletin.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725025911/http://www.nps.gov/badl/planyourvisit/upload/Badlands-Gunnery-Range-Bulletin.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |publisher=NPS.com |accessdate=2013-01-18 |quote=The Badlands Gunnery Range}}
- {{Cite web
|last=Denning
|first=B
|date=January 23, 2002
|title=Re: History
|url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/message/3215
|format=message 3215
|accessdate=2013-01-20
|quote=Det. 2 moved from Los Angeles to South Dakota in 1960. The site was up and running in early October. ... It was on top of Hurley Butte, 6 miles west of Interior
}}
- {{Cite web
|title=Message 3257
|url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/message/3257?l=1
|quote=I was at Det 9 11th RBS '60 to '63 ... The family housing unit was on the western edge of Wall
}}{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- {{Cite web
|title=Message 3279
|url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/messages/3279?o=1&xm=1&m=p
|quote=Interior RBSS, atop Hurley Butte ... Havre {{sic|Trainig}} Site MT (Different place from the earlier Havre AFS air defense radar
}}{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- {{Cite news |title=Re: … Sites not found. |quote=Det 19 was Dickinson ND. The site was actually Southeast of New England ND. Det 19 was merged with Holbrook AZ and moved to Harrison AR. Det 21 was Havre MT}}
- {{Cite web
|last=Withers
|first=Daniel A.
|date=January 30, 2005
|title=RE:…Oil Burner Routes
|url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/message/12886
|accessdate=2013-01-21
|quote=desolate outpost bordering the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In the early sixties, Detachment 2, 11th RBS...Badlands Bomb Plot
}}
}}
Category:Ranges of the United States Air Force
Category:Military installations in South Dakota
Category:World War II sites in the United States