a push for development of a comprehensive organization, with training in navigation, bombing, personnel equipment, chemical warfare, physical training, synthetic training, and use of the gunnery range. A primary mission for Kirtland Field was recorded in the September 1946 narrative history: "[To] provide aerial and ground functioning testing facilities and conduct functional tests on all equipment and materiel related to the use of special weapons and radioactive materials". Between late 1946 and early 1947, after the Atomic Energy Act creating the Atomic Energy Commission was passed, the AFSWP was established with Sandia Base as an installation under its control. A special engineering battalion was also created to aid in the assembly and maintenance of atomic bombs at Sandia Base. In July and August 1946, Kirtland Field and Sandia Base personnel took part in Operation Crossroads at the Eniwetok Proving Ground in the Pacific's Marshall Islands. Operation Crossroads was the first of many atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the early Cold War years. The Kirtland Field Narrative Histories do not make specific reference to participation in Operation Crossroads by groups at Kirtland Field, but this is most likely due to the high security that the operation garnered. With the focus on atomic weapons, in early December 1946, Kirtland Field was again transferred, this time to the Air Materiel Command (AMC), specifically the Directorate, Research and Development, HQ, AMC. AMC was responsible for all USAF R&D, including atomic weapons. The transfer took place due to Kirtland Field's close proximity to Sandia Base and the Z Division. The AMC mission at Kirtland Field was "to provide flight services for the Manhattan [Engineering] District at Sandia and Los Alamos in atomic bomb testing". In early 1947, the AMC established Kirtland Field's mission as the USAAF nuclear weapons facility, a continuation of the wartime Wendover Army Air Base (509th Composite Group)–Manhattan Project operations. Kirtland's role in the testing and evaluation of atomic weapons increased in 1947 when Kirtland Army Air Field, became Kirtland Air Force Base. Secondary missions at Kirtland Field during the inception of the Cold War included furnishing facilities for the Air Force Reserve and Civil Air Patrol (CAP). The establishment of the Air Reserve facilities, and in July 1947 the New Mexico Air National Guard (NM ANG) was assigned to Kirtland Field and federally recognized as the 188th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. The unit was composed of a flight equipped with Douglas A-26 Invader