Brooksville Turret Gunnery Range

 

Brooksville Turret Gunnery Range comprised about 10,200 acres and was located south of present day Centralia Road (County Road 476), north of Cortez Boulevard (State Road 50), east of Melanie Avenue and west of Citrus Way (County Road 491).

The War Department acquired the site in 1943 for a turret gunnery range to train aerial gunners. The Army constructed a moving target range where a jeep with a target above it went around a track while men fired .50 caliber machine guns at the target. Training activities expanded to include infantry training such as jungle warfare and firing practice with rifles, rifle grenades, machine guns, bazooka (rockets), mortars and antitank guns. After World War II ended, the site was no longer needed, and by November 1946, the government had disposed of the property.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has conducted numerous investigations at the former Brooksville Turret Gunnery Range to find and remove munitions. The site was divided into two areas, Remaining Lands and Rocket Ranges. No further action is necessary in Remaining Lands where teams did not recover any munitions.

Rocket Ranges is comprised of two non-contiguous areas: one is west of Webster and Taft Streets between Weeping Willow Street and Jayson Drive and the other is between Montour Road to the south, Exile Road to the west, Pinetree Avenue/Harrison Street to the north and Weeping Willow Street to the east. While no munitions were found in Rocket Ranges during the most recent investigation, rockets were found in these areas previously. 

USACE will continue to let property owners know how the land was used historically and will re-evaluate the area every five years. A five-year review was completed in August 2018. No one reported finding any military munitions within the Rocket Ranges. There has been no significant changes to how the land is used.

The Remedial Alternative, public awareness, continues to be sufficient to protect people from any potential buried munitions.

RECOGNIZE - The object you found could be dangerous.
RETREAT - Leave the area without touching or moving the object.
REPORT - Call 911 immediately.