* * * * * 14 th January 1987 found me sitting at Nevada, in the bottom of a valley called “Cactus Flat,” with ranges of desert mountains to the west and east of me. It was after three in the afternoon, on a gloriously clear day, with a sky so blue it hurt my eyes. We had just parked our 737 inside the run-up area of Runway Three Two (320°/140° magnetic, NW/SE), at a covert USAF base code-named “Silverbow.” “Silverbow” – Tonopah Test Range Airport. Officially it was known as the Tonopah Test Range Airport, containing a super-long airstrip at 12,000 feet, with an elevation of 5,549 feet. It was located 31 miles southeast of the sleepy mining town of Tonopah, Nevada, and 140 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Previ...