Dating to the 1960s, this filmic record of the U.S. Navy’s Point Mugu base, entitled WEAPONS THAT WORK, features Commander Glenn Ford as host. Pt. Mugu served in this era as one of the primary test ranges for guided missiles, sea launched weapons, and other important missiles and weapon systems of the Cold War.It is now part of Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC).

The film begins with images of the Sparrow III missile being used against a target drone, as well as many of the other missions of the base in this era, when nearly 10,000 people worked there. At 1:50, the Pt. Mugu command center and blockhouse is seen, where over 100 weapons have been tested and proven. At 3:45 some of the facilities at the Channel Islands and in Hawaii are seen, and Johnson Atoll, as well as Midway and Wake Islands are seen — all part of the Pacific Missile Range. USS Wheeling is seen, a Wheeling-class missile range instrumentation ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1962 and converted from her Victory ship cargo configuration to a missile tracking ship, a role she retained for a number of years before being sunk as a target by Harpoon missiles on 12 July 1981.

At 6:51, underwater launch of a test missile is seen, and various telemetry and tracking radars are seen. At 9:00, the self-destruct button that would be used to destroy an errant test missile is seen. At 10:53, computers are seen crunching data. At 11:00, the Barking Sands range is seen, with anti-submarine warfare exercises being conducted. Johnson Atoll is seen at 11:20. An Air Force missile is seen launching a missile at Vanderburg, for tracking in the PMR.

Walleye, Sparrow and Phoenix missiles are also tested as part of the Naval Missile Center Mission described at 12:40. An F-4 Phantom is seen at Mugu flying with Sparrow III.

Human factors are also tested at Mugu. At 14:17, a simulator is used to study pilot capabilities and limitations. At 14:50, sensors are attached to a pilot to evaluate him.

At 15:45, target drones are seen being prepped for launch, and at 15:59 these drones are seen in action, being knocked out of the sky by missiles.

At 17:50, animals such as porpoises are shown being trained and tested for use by the Navy.

At 18:00, Mugu’s art and photography departments are seen.

Air Development Squadron 4 is seen at 18:49. VX-4, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four, (AIRTEVRON FOUR), commonly referred to by its nickname, The Evaluators) was a United States Navy air test and evaluation squadron based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California. Their tail code was XF, and they flew the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet until their disestablishment in 1994.

At 20:50, a modern control center and tracking center, as well as computer center is seen, monitoring satellite transmissions.

The facility in Point Mugu, California, started as a United States Navy anti-aircraft training center during World War II and was developed in the late 1940s as the Navy’s major missile development and test facility. This facility was the site where most of the Navy’s missiles were developed and tested during the 1950/1960 era, including the AIM-7 Sparrow family and the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air, Bullpup air-to-surface, and Regulus surface-to-surface missiles.

After being selected as a site by Commander Grayson Merrill, Pt. Mugu dominated the Oxnard area since the 1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that was not part of the agricultural industry. The base has been home to many ordnance testing programs, and the test range extends offshore to the Navy-owned San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands.

In 1963 the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. The facility was relocated in 1967 to Point Loma in San Diego, California.

Point Mugu was the airfield used by former President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his Santa Barbara ranch. The airfield was used during the state funeral in 2004, as the place where the former President’s body was flown to Washington, D.C. to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The body was flown to Point Mugu aboard presidential aircraft SAM 28000 two days later. Until the late 1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX (VXE-6), the squadron of LC-130s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com