Hurricane Mesa

WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY     (Washington County, Utah)

HURRICANE MESA TEST FACILITY

Hurricane Mesa, Washington County, Utah

LOCATION

North of Highway 9 between LaVerkin and Zion National Park, a little west of Virgin.
On and covering most of Hurricane Mesa.

37° 14' 17" North Latitude,   113° 13' 11" West Longitude
37.238° North Latitude,   113.217° West Longitude
5,115 feet MSL


HISTORY

The Hurricane Mesa Test Facility includes a 12,000 foot long test track. It was initially owned by the U.S. Air
Force, constructed in 1954 and 1955 by Coleman Engineering and subsequently operated by Coleman. The
site was used in the testing of ejection seat systems and other aviation systems. The U.S. Air Force ceased
operations in 1961 at the site. Since 1963 the facility has been owned and operated by Goodrich Corporation,
Aircraft Interior Products, Propulsion Systems. It remains in operation as a private test facility.


PHOTOS


Hurricane Mesa as seen from the air
WCHS-00140     Aerial view of Hurricane Mesa looking north

Quonset hut main building
WCHS-00141    Main building at the test facility
      Test dummies on a rack
      WCHS-00142     Test dummies
 
Rocket test track
WCHS-00148     Segment of the test track
      Break room trailer on the cliff edge
      WCHS-00155     Break room trailer

Other WCHS photos:
WCHS-00143     Photo of test dummies in the main building at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00144     Photo of the nose section of an aircraft at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00145     Photo of the nose sections of two aircraft at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00146     Photo of some rocket sleds at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00147     Photo of leftover material from the making of the movie, "Octapussy", at the Test Facility
WCHS-00149     Photo of the rocket sled track at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00150     Photo of a section of the rocket sled track at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00151     Photo of the south end of the rocket sled track at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00152     Photo of the structures at the south end of the rocket sled track at the Test Facility
WCHS-00153     Photo of a tower at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility
WCHS-00154     Photo of the lunchroom trailer at the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility

Other photos on the web:
Photo of Hurricane Mesa looking northwest and the dirt road leading up to it
Photo of Hurricane Mesa from Highway 9, looking northeast


REFERENCES

Wikipedia article on the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility

History of the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility

Early history of the Hurricane Mesa Test Facility

History of the Hurricane Mesa Airport with photos

Supersonic Escape System (10-minute YouTube video)
Convair, A Division of General Dynamics Corporation

Mystery on the plateau
Article by Loren Webb, Photos by Steve Fellers, The Daily Spectrum, May 2, 1993, Page C1

1960 TV episode, "The Man and the Challenge: Hurricane Mesa"

Advertisement   in the   1961 Dixie Roundup Program

Hurricane Mesa Rocket Project (S.M.A.R.T.)
Pages 13-16 in "Selected Topics Related To Hurricane, Utah"
Written and/or compiled by Victor Hall, 2003.

Romancing the Mesas: An Anecdotal History of the Settling of Southern Utah
Book by Ruth Cornelius and Russell B. Cornelius
See the information page.