Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington

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Website

fairchild.af.mil

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History

Fairchild Air Force Base is named in honor of General Muir S. Fairchild (1894–1950). Born in Bellingham, he graduated from Olympia High School and attended the University of Washington in Seattle.

Fairchild received his wings and commission in 1918, and served as a pilot during World War I. He held various air staff positions during World War II and received his fourth star in 1948. While serving as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he died on 17 March 1950.

Operational history

Since 1942, Fairchild Air Force Base/Station has been a key part of the United States' defense strategy—from World War II repair depot, to Strategic Air Command bomber wing during the Cold War, to Air Mobility Command air refueling wing during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Today, Fairchild's aircraft and personnel make up the backbone of the Air Force's tanker fleet on the west coast.

Fairchild's location, twelve miles (20 km) west of Spokane, resulted from a competition with the cities of Seattle and Everett in western Washington. The War Department chose Spokane for several reasons: better weather conditions for flying, the location 300 miles (480 km) from the coast, and the Cascade Range providing a natural barrier against possible Japanese attack.

As an added incentive to the War Department, many Spokane businesses and public-minded citizens donated money to purchase land for the base. At a cost of more than $125,000, these people bought 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) and presented the title to the War Department in January 1942. That year, the government designated $14 million to purchase more land and begin construction of a new Spokane Army Air Depot.

Spokane Air Depot was served by a rail connection to the Great Northern Railway.

From 1942 until 1946, the base served as a repair depot for damaged aircraft returning from the Pacific Theater. The depot command at the base went through several name changes, at one point being designated the Spokane Air Technical Service Command. Effective at 2359L on 31 August 1947, the base was transferred to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and assigned to the 15th Air Force (15 AF). Beginning in the summer of 1947, the 92nd and 98th Bomb Groups arrived. Both of the units flew the most advanced bomber of the day, the B-29 Superfortress. In January 1948, the base received the second of its three official names: Spokane Air Force Base.

With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, both groups deployed to Japan and Guam. The 92d departed on 4 July 1950 and the 98th followed in August. After only a few months, General MacArthur released the 92nd to return to the states while the 98th remained in the Far East. The 98th was then reassigned to Nebraska. Upon its return to Fairchild, the 92nd was re-designated the 92d Bombardment Wing (Heavy). In November 1950, the base took its current name in memory of Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, General Muir S. Fairchild, a native of Bellingham. The general entered service as a sergeant with the Washington National Guard in June 1916 and was an aviator in World War I. He died at his quarters at Fort Myer while on duty in the Pentagon in March 1950. The formal dedication ceremony was held 20 July 1951, to coincide with the arrival of the wing's first B-36 Peacemaker.

B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker

In 1956, the wing began a conversion that brought the first of 45 B-52 Stratofortress bombers on 26 March 1957 to Fairchild, followed by first of twenty KC-135 Stratotanker on 21 February 1958. In 1961, the 92d became the first "aerospace" wing in the nation with the acquisition of the Atlas-E intercontinental ballistic missile, operated by the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron. With the new role and the addition of missiles, the 92d Bomb Wing was re-designated the 92d Strategic Aerospace Wing. However, the designation remained longer than the missiles, as the Atlas missiles were soon obsolete and removed in 1965.

The weapons storage area (WSA) for the bombers was located south of the runway at Deep Creek Air Force Station, a separate installation constructed from 1950 to 1953 by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and operated by the Air Materiel Command. The facility was one of the thirteen original sites built for storage, maintenance, and operational readiness of the nuclear stockpile. Deep Creek became part of Fairchild AFB on 1 July 1962, with operations transferred to SAC.

On 15 March 1966, the 336th Combat Crew Training Group was established at Fairchild. In 1971, the group became a wing and assumed control over all Air Force survival schools. Later reduced to a group level command, the unit, now known as the 336th Training Group, continues this mission for the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).

To provide air defense of the base, U.S. Army Nike-Hercules surface-to-air missile sites were constructed during 1956/1957. Sites were located near Cheney (F-37) 47°32′30″N 117°32′46″W; Deep Creek (F-87) 47°39′29″N 117°42′55″W; Medical Lake (F-45) 47°35′10″N 117°40′32″W, and Spokane (F-07) 47°40′50″N 117°36′28″W. The Cheney site was active between 1957 – June 1960; Deep Creek Sep 1958 – March 1966; Medical Lake 1957 – March 1966 and the Spokane site between 1957 and June 1960.

On 16 October 1984, an unarmed B-52G (57–6479) from Fairchild crashed in northeast Arizona during a nighttime low-level training flight, with five survivors and two fatalities: the gunner and a colonel in the observer jump seat.

In 1985, Fairchild's fifteen B-52G aircraft were replaced with nineteen B-52H; a slightly newer version with more powerful turbofan engines.

Air refueling

As military operations in Vietnam escalated in the mid-1960s, the demand for air refueling increased. Fairchild tanker crews became actively involved in Operation YOUNG TIGER, refueling combat aircraft in Southeast Asia. The wing's B-52s were not far behind, deploying to Andersen AFB on Guam for Operation Arc Light and the bombing campaign against enemy strongholds in Vietnam.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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