U.S. grant to help Wendover Airfield

The Wendover Airfield on Thursday got a kick-start, in the form of a federal grant, for what could be a full-fledged renovation of one of Utah's most fascinating and controversial historical sites.

The ethics of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 60 years ago are still widely debated today, and it was the Air Corps base along the Utah-Nevada border that was instrumental in perfecting the bombs that ended World War II.

Fine-tuning of the top-secret mission to drop bombs Little Boy and Fat Man took 155 test bombs at Wendover Airfield, which covered 1.8 million acres. Bomb crews trained in total secrecy at the base, where the aircraft Enola Gay that dropped Little Boy was housed.

Although the airfield has fallen into disrepair over the years, a nonprofit group keeping it alive was pleased to learn that Preserve America, chaired by first lady Laura Bush, has awarded Wendover Airfield a $75,393 grant. Tooele County, which owns the site, will match the grant.

The money will be used to create a documentary about the airfield and a master plan to restore the training grounds.

"The story of the training in Utah is just not well-known," said Jim Peterson, founder of Historic Wendover Airfield Foundation and manager of the airfield. Peterson started the foundation in 2002 after visiting the airfield and making it his crusade to preserve the historic place. Currently, the airfield has a small museum and working terminal.

Peterson has ambitious plans, hoping for a living history attraction like Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia. The foundation estimates it will cost $80 million to restore the 1940s training base, but the Preserve America grant establishes credibility for the efforts and may help draw tourists, volunteers and future donors.

Tooele County officials hope the grant will lead to a major tourist hot spot on the Utah side of the city, which is a far cry from the thriving gambling destination on the Nevada side.

"We get a lot of tourists through there, obviously to the Nevada side, but there's another story besides the casinos," said Nicole Cline, Tooele County planning and economic development division adviser, who wrote the grant proposal. "There's a critical part of the nation's history sitting there and so few people know what that is or what role that played."