Vandenberg Air Force Base present . Today, Vandenberg stands as the third-largest Air Force base after Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and Edwards Air Force Base in California. On 4 October 1958, Cooke AFB was renamed Vandenberg AFB, in honor of General Vandenberg, the Air Force's second Chief of Staff. The transition from Army camp to missile base solidified on 15 December 1958 when Vandenberg AFB successfully launched its first missile, a PGM-17 Thor IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) The launch from Vandenberg inaugurated the intermediate-range ballistic missile portion of the Pacific Missile Range and was fired by a crew from the 1st
Edwards Air Force Base the newly created Air Research and Development Command. Activation of the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) followed on 25 June 1951. Units designated and assigned to the Center at the time of activation were the 6510th Air Base Wing for station support units. The test flying units at Edwards were assigned directly to the AFFTC . That same year, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School moved to Edwards from Wright Field, Ohio. Its curriculum focused on the traditional field of performance testing and the relatively new field of stability and control, which had suddenly assumed critical importance with