Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School 1941 Tank Top

In October 1940, Maj. David Schlatter, of the U.S. Army Air Corps, surveyed several areas in Utah, Arizona and Nevada looking for a site to locate the first flexible aerial gunnery school. He was particularly interested in Nevada since about 90 percent of the area north, northwest and northeast of Las Vegas was desert wasteland. On Jan. 25, 1941, Las Vegas Mayor John L. Russell signed over the property to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for the development of the flexible gunnery school. The mission of the new school, the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School (located on the new Las Vegas Army Air Field), was defined as "training of aerial gunners to the degree of proficiency that will qualify them for combat duty."