Before we look at the evolution of the 45th Space Wing, it is necessary to relate some background information on the Banana River Naval Air Station and its selection as the home base for the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. Construction of the Banana River Naval Air Station was authorized by the Hepburn Board, which was created by the Naval Expansion Act of 1938. The station was planned as an auxiliary operating base for the Navy's installation at Jacksonville. Both stations would be built to reinforce the Atlantic Coast Defense System. In June 1939, Commander W. M. Angus, Public Works Officer for the Seventh Naval District, conferred with civilian officials from Cocoa, Melbourne and Eau Gallie to select the site for the naval air station. Work began on the site in December 1939 and the station was commissioned on Oct. 1, 1940. The station supported seaplane patrol operations during World War II. It also supported a PBM seaplane pilot training program and an advanced navigation school.

The Banana River Naval Air Station continued to operate as a Navy support base for two years after the war, but the installation was finally inactivated and placed in caretaker status on Aug. 1, 1947. Normally, the Navy would have returned the property to the local community, but efforts were underway elsewhere to give the station a new lease on life.

In October 1946, the Joint Research and Development Board (under the Joint Chiefs of Staff) established the Committee on the Long Range Proving Ground to study possible locations for the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. The committee considered northern Washington state (with a range along the Aleutian Islands), El Centro, Calif. (with a range down the coast of Baja, Calif.) and the Banana River Naval Air Station (with launching sites at Cape Canaveral and a range over the Bahamas). The idea of an Aleutians range was rejected very quickly; it would be too cold, too remote and too difficult to support. After weighing all the options, the committee selected El Centro as its first choice for the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. Cape Canaveral was offered as the committee's second choice. The choices were approved in September 1947 and the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Group was created to carry out the committee's recommendations. The California range would have been very convenient for American aerospace contractors, but it had to be abandoned as an option after Mexico's President Aleman refused to allow missile flights over Baja, Calif. The British, on the other hand, were willing to allow missile flights near the Bahamas and they later agreed to lease land to the Americans for their range stations. As a potential hub for missile launching operations, the Cape was remote from heavily populated areas, but it was accessible and supportable by road, waterway and railway transportation. Aside from bouts of wet weather and thunderstorms, the climate was generally sunny and warm. The Banana River Naval Air Station was only 20 miles from the Cape and it would make an excellent support base for the Eastern Range.

While negotiations with the British continued, enabling legislation for the Joint Long Range Proving Ground was passed by the 81st Congress and signed by President Truman on May 11, 1949. The Bahamian Agreement, which allowed the establishment of range stations in the Bahamas, was signed by the British on July 21, 1950. Anticipating those developments, the Navy transferred the Banana River Naval Air Station to the Air Force on Sept. 1, 1948. The station remained in standby status, but it was renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground (JLRPG) Base on June 10, 1949. On Oct. 1, 1949, the Advance Headquarters, Joint Long Range Proving Ground and the Air Force Division, Joint Long Range Proving Ground were established. The base was activated on the same date.

It must be emphasized that the Advance Headquarters, the Air Force Division and the JLRPG Base were three separate entities. Though the JLRPG Command was established by the Department of the Air Force under the direction of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, it was a joint service organization. As such, the JLRPG Commander could be selected from the Army, Navy or Air Force. Colonel Harold R. Turner, U.S. Army, assumed command of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on Oct. 1, 1949.

On the same date, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. As Commander of the Air Force Division, Colonel Othel R. Deering assumed command of the base, which was essentially another command. Colonel Deering was: 1) the Air Force Division Commander and 2) the Base Commander. In the spring of 1950, the Defense Department announced the redelegation of guided missile test centers from joint service commands to separate branches of the military service. As a result of that decision, the Air Force Division, Joint Long Range Proving Ground was redesignated the Long Range Proving Ground Division on May 16, 1950. The Long Range Proving Ground Division replaced the JLRPG Command and it gained jurisdiction over the launching area at Cape Canaveral and the Bahama downrange facilities. The Long Range Proving Ground Division was given major air command status and, as such, it reported directly to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Its mission was to establish, operate and maintain the Long Range Proving Ground.