Bangor Air National Guard Base

Coordinates: 44°48′51″N 068°49′51″W / 44.81417°N 68.83083°W / 44.81417; -68.83083 (Bangor ANGB)
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For civil use of this facility, see Bangor International Airport.

Bangor Air National Guard Base
AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
15/33 3,486.9 metres (11,440 ft) Asphalt
Airfield shared with Bangor International Airport
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Bangor Air National Guard Base is a

United States Air National Guard base located on the grounds of Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine
.

Created in 1927 as the commercial Godfrey Field, the airfield was taken over by the U.S. Army just before World War II and renamed Bangor Army Air Field and later Dow Field. It became Dow Air Force Base (AFB) in 1948, when the newly formed U.S. Air Force took over many Army air assets.

In 1968, Dow AFB was closed as part of a nationwide reduction in stateside air force bases and naval air stations to free up funds for combat operations in Southeast Asia. The base was given to the city of Bangor by the

lease agreement
with the city, in an area they had previously occupied when the base was under Air Force control.

History

Godfrey Field opened in 1927 as a commercial airport. Northeast Airlines began commercial operations there in 1931.

World War II

Dow Field, July 1944. Around 1950, the facilities on the south side of the airfield were razed and a new Air Force Base built on the north side of the main runway.

Just before

RCAF Stations in Newfoundland for eventual transport to Britain. The Army expanded the civil airport, adding three hard-surfaced 7,000-foot runways, aligned 01/19 (N/S), 08/26 (NE/SW) and a main (NW/SE) runway aligned 14/32; along with many hardstands and taxiways to allow the temporary parking of large numbers of aircraft.[3]

In 1942, the station's name was changed to Dow Field to honor James Frederick Dow, an Army Air Corps pilot whose bomber collided with another near

Milford Auxiliary Airfield was opened nearby at the Bangor Precision Bombing Range.[4]

On 28 February 1942, Dow Field was transferred to

Air Transport Command
's North Atlantic Wing. In 1944, more than 8,400 aircraft passed through Dow, and about 2,150 in January through May 1945.

After the end of the European war in May 1945, many aircraft returned to the United States via Dow.[2]

Cold War

Air Defense Command

37th Fighter Squadron Republic F-47N-25-RE Thunderbolt, AF Ser. No. 44-89416, Dow AFB, 1948. This aircraft was part of the Last Thunderbolt production block manufactured at Farmingdale, New York.
F-84G Thunderjets from the 14th Fighter Group

The base was drawn down during the demobilization in late 1945, and placed in a standby status on 7 May 1946 as a satellite base of

Westover Field, Massachusetts.[2]
Still, Dow remained part of ATC's North Atlantic Transport route for strategic air transportation between the United States and the United Kingdom, and ATC aircraft passed through the field occasionally.

In November 1946,

P-47N Thunderbolts of the 37th, 48th and 49th Fighter Squadrons. One of the first USAAF groups assigned to Air Defense Command, the unit was responsible for the air defense of the northeastern United States.[2][6][7][8]

In July 1947, the group deployed to

F-84B Thunderjets. (The 14th Fighter Group became the 14th Fighter Wing in August 1947.) First operational production USAF F-84Bs arrived at Dow AFB on 7 November; the last P-84B was delivered in February 1948. Throughout the winter of 1947–48, the 14th Fighter Wing lost three F-84s at Dow. Investigators found that the aircraft performed better in the cold Maine climate than during testing in the California desert, yet accidents continued even as spring arrived in 1948.[2][8]

On 25 August 1948, Dow Air Force Base was assigned to one of ADC's first Air Divisions, the

Mitchel AFB, New York, flew the missions at night and in poor weather.[6][9]

That year, Deblois Bombing Range was opened nearby and the old Milford Air Force Auxiliary Airfield became part of an Air Force survival school a few years later.[4]

In July 1949, the 14th Fighter Wing sent sixteen F-84Bs to celebrate New York City's new

Idlewild Airport. The group was inactivated on 2 October 1949 due to budget cuts.[2]

In the early 1950s, Dow AFB was expanded and rebuilt. A long jet runway was laid down parallel to the wartime NW/SE main runway, and a permanent Air Force Base was built on the north side of the World War II and prewar facility. The older facilities were abandoned and ultimately were torn down. Today, they are a wooded area on the southwest side of the airport.[2] Dow AFB was activated on 1 January 1951. The 4009th Air Base Squadron supported the facility and supervise the remaining construction.[2]

During the

49th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Dow.[2][7][9]

The ADC 32d AD also activated several Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons (128th (WI ANG), 679th, 765th), which were Ground Intercept Radar units. These squadrons were formed at Dow, and later deployed to new radar stations being constructed in Maine which were equipped with long-range radars and then directed the interceptor aircraft at Dow to unknown aircraft which entered their coverage.[6][10]

On 9 September 1952,

C-54 Skymasters from Dow, and its primary mission was to support Northeast Air Command bases and radar stations in Newfoundland and Labrador, Baffin Island, and Greenland. It was reassigned to the 1610th Air Transport Group at Grenier AFB, New Hampshire effective 1 July 1953, however, on 29 May 1953, the eight C-54s of the 83rd ATS departed in a permanent change of station.[2]

In November 1952, jurisdiction of Dow AFB was officially transferred from ADC to

Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts in November 1955.[2][6]

ADC returned to on 1 June 1959, when the

75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron which was moved from the closing Presque Isle AFB, Maine to Dow to keep interceptors in Maine. The Bomarc missiles remained active until 15 December 1964 when they were inactivated due to limited funding The 75th FIS remained until April 1968 when Dow was inactivated.[6][11]

Strategic Air Command

506th Strategic Fighter Wing F-84G Thunderjets 1954

The SAC

F-84G Thunderjets. SAC was founded by men who had flown bomb raids against Germany during World War II. They usually encountered swarms of enemy fighters and knew the importance of having fighter escorts, so they had fighter wings placed under their own operational control. Although assigned to SAC, the group was associated with the ADC units at Dow.[6][7][9][12]

The wing was deployed to

Tinker AFB, Oklahoma on 20 March 1955.[2][12]

The escort fighters were replaced by the SAC

B-47 Stratojet deployments to Europe and Morocco, with air refueling taking place over the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, during the late 1950s, SAC extended the runway at Dow to 11,000' and alert pads were constructed at the end of Runway 15.[7][12]

On 15 February 1960, SAC established the 4038th Strategic Wing at Dow as part of SAC's plan to disburse its

KC-135-equipped 71st Air Refueling Squadron. Half of the aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled, armed, and ready for combat. SAC Strategic Wings were considered a provisional unit by HQ, USAF and could not carry a permanent history or lineage.[12]

The 4038th SW was redesignated as the 397th Bombardment Wing (397th BW) on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesignation and was assigned to SAC's

596th Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's World War II historical bomb squadrons. The 71st ARS designation was unchanged, and component support units were also redesignated to the 397th numerical designation of the newly established wing.[12]

The 397th Bomb Wing continued to conduct strategic bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet operational commitments of

Indochina, which led to the closure of several other domestic air force bases and naval air stations that year.[12]

Dow AFB officially closed and the "keys" to the major portions of the base were passed to the City of Bangor on 1 April 1968. The 397th Bombardment Wing was inactivated on 25 April 1968, and its aircraft were reassigned to other SAC units. The city of Bangor purchased most of the base which then reopened in 1969 as Bangor International Airport. The western portion of Dow AFB not turned over to the city and occupied by the Maine Air National Guard since its federal recognition on 4 February 1947, became the basis for the current Bangor Air National Guard Base. Co-located near the current terminals, but not part of Bangor ANG Base, is the Maine Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility.[2][12]

Maine Air National Guard

2006 USGS Aerial Photo

With the inactivation of Dow AFB in 1968, most of the base was purchased by the city of Bangor and reopened the following year as Bangor International Airport. That portion of Dow AFB not turned over to the city became the basis for the current Air National Guard Base and the Maine Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility.

Under Maine ANG jurisdiction, the airfield was initially the home to the

KC-135 Stratotanker
.

The 101 ARW was later re-equipped with the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker, which it continues to operate today. and shares the runway with the civilian airport facilities. With the disestablishment of SAC in 1992, the 101 ARW is now operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command (AMC).

Over the horizon radar

Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMap

Download coordinates as:

About 1985, the

Columbia Falls AFS, Maine 44°47′42″N 067°48′41″W / 44.79500°N 67.81139°W / 44.79500; -67.81139 (Columbia Falls AFS)
. These systems were inactivated in 1997, and the unit was inactivated.

Previous names

  • Godfrey Army Airfield, 1941
  • Dow Army Airfield, 1942
  • Dow Air Force Base, 1947–1968

Major commands to which assigned

  • Air Service Command, 1941
  • Air Transport Command
    , 1944
On standby status, May–November 1946
Air Defense Command controlled tenant units, 1952–1968

Major units assigned

  • 101st Fighter Group, 4 April 1947
Re-designated 101st Fighter Wing, 1 October 1950
Re-designated 101st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, 1952
Re-designated 101st Air Defense Wing, December 1960
Re-designated 101st Air Refueling Wing, 1976–present

Previous aircraft operated

  • KC-135R Stratotanker
    (2007–present)
  • KC-135E Stratotanker
    (1984–2007)
  • KC-135A Stratotanker
    (1956–1968) (1976–1984)
  • KC-97G Stratofreighter
    (1955–1963)
  • KC-97F Stratofreighter
    (1955–1963)
  • KB-29P Superfortress
    (1953–1955)
  • F-101B Voodoo
    [1969–1976)
  • F-102A Delta Dagger
    (1969)
  • F-89J Scorpion
    (1959–1969)
  • F-89D Scorpion
    (1957–1959)
  • F-94A Starfire
    (???-???)
  • F-86D Sabre
    (???-???)
  • P-51H Mustang
    (???-???)
  • P-51D Mustang
    (1950)
  • P-80C Shooting Star
    (1948–1950)
  • P-47D Thunderbolt
    (1947–1948)
  • F-84G Jan 1953 to Jan 1954
  • F-84F Jan 1954 to 1955

Based units

Flying and notable non-flying units based at Bangor Air National Guard Base.[13]

United States Air Force

Air National Guard

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "Airport Diagram – Bangor Intl (BGR)" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n www.flybangor.com
  3. ^ a b Military Airfields in WW2 – Maine Archived 8 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Freeman, Paul. "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Northern Maine". Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  5. ^ John D. Carter, “The Air Transport Command,” The Army Air Forces in World War II, vol. 7, Services Around the World, ed. Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, 42, 44–45 (Washington, D.C., Office of Air Force History, new imprint, 1983).
  6. ^ a b c d e f A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-912799-02-1
    ).
  8. ^
    ISBN 0764304445
  9. ^
    ISBN 0-912799-12-9
    .
  10. ^ Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
  11. ^ U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles 1949–1969 The Pioneers by George Mindling and Robert Bolton, Lulu Press, 2008
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Moody, Walton S. Dr., Building a Strategic Air Force, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1998.
  13. ^ "Units". 101st Air Refueling Wing. US Air Force. Retrieved 23 February 2020.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

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