Whiteman Air Force Base
Whiteman Air Force Base | |||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration[2] |
Whiteman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located just south of Knob Noster, Missouri, United States. The base is the current home of the B-2 Spirit bomber. It is named for 2nd Lt George Whiteman, who was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
History
World War II
In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Corps selected the site of the present-day base to be the home of Sedalia Glider Base, a training base for WACO glider pilots. In May 1942, construction workers began building a railroad spur for the new air base in an area known to locals as the "Blue Flats" because of the color of the soil. The new railroad line was built by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The base was officially opened on 6 August 1942. On 12 November 1942, the name was changed to Sedalia Army Air Field.[3]
After the end of World War II, operations at the airfield declined, and many of the buildings were abandoned. In December 1947, the base was put on inactive status.[4]
340th Bomb Wing
In August 1951, the base was renamed again, to Sedalia Air Force Base, as it was now part of the United States' newest military service branch, the US Air Force.[3]
In October 1952, the base was turned over to the 340th Bombardment Wing. Improvements were made to the 1942 runway, as well as other base facilities, and Strategic Air Command (SAC) scheduled the base to receive squadrons flying the B-47 Stratojet and the KC-97 Stratofreighter. The first B-47 landed at the base in March 1954.[4]
On 3 December 1955, the base was renamed Whiteman Air Force Base in honor of 2nd Lieutenant George A. Whiteman, an Army Air Corps pilot who was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while attempting to take off from Bellows Field. Whiteman was born in Longwood, Missouri, and graduated from Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, less than 20 miles from the base that would bear his name.[3]
ICBM era
In 1963, Whiteman AFB transitioned from being a bomber base to a missile base. SAC activated the
The transition of Whiteman AFB from a bomber base to missile base required massive military construction (MILCON) projects. 867,000 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated to make room for underground launch facilities and 15 launch control centers. 168,000 yards of concrete, 25,355 tons of reinforcing steel, and 15,120 tons of structural steel were used in the effort, and a vast underground intersite cable network was installed.[3]
The 351st employed the LGM-30 Minuteman weapons system, an ICBM capable of hitting targets up to 4300 miles away. In the mid-1960s, the Minuteman I missiles were swapped out in favor of the Minuteman II, an ICBM with increased range and an improved guidance system.[3][6]
In the 1980s, Whiteman AFB became the first missile base to field an all-female Minuteman missile crew, as well as the first male and female Minuteman crew.[3]
B-2 era
At the 1986
On 30 November 1988, SAC announced that the
On 1 Apr 1994, the
On 10 December 2022, there was a crash involving a USAF B-2. There were no other details released by the government. As a result of this crash all B-2 planes were grounded by ten days later.[10][needs update]
Based units
Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Whiteman, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location.
United States Air Force
Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC)
Air Combat Command (ACC)
Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC)
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Air National Guard (ANG)
United States Army
Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC)
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References
- ^ "New commander takes reins of 509th Bomb Wing". www.whiteman.af.mil. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ^ "Airport Diagram – Whiteman AFB (KSZL)" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 10 October 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Whiteman Air Force Base". 12 August 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ ISBN 9781467128124.
- ^ "340th Bomb Wing - SAC - Whitman AFB, B-47, B-52".
- ^ "The Minuteman IA & IB Missiles". National Park Service. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
- ^ "B-2 Spirit". 19 October 2019.
- ^ Mailes, Yancy (16 December 2013). "The B-2 comes to Missouri". Air Force Glocal Strike Command. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ^ Insinna, Valerie (29 April 2019). "Here's how B-2 bomber pilots pull off grueling 33-hour flights". Defense News. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ^ "US Air Force Grounds Entire B-2 Nuclear Bomber Fleet After December 10 Accident - Reports". 20 December 2022.
- ^ a b Hunt, Heidi (15 March 2013). "Naval reservists train in America's heartland > > Display". Whiteman AFB. US Air Force. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ "509th Operations Group". Whiteman Air Force Base. United States Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "509th Maintenance Group". Whiteman Air Force Base. United States Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "509th Medical Group". Air Force Medical Service. US Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "509th Mission Support Group". Whiteman Air Force Base. US Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Pine, Lt. Col. Louis (25 August 2017). "Evolution of airpower > Whiteman Air Force Base > Display". Whiteman AFB. US Air Force. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- ^ a b c "Units". Whiteman Air Force Base. US Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "Units". 442d Fighter Wing. US Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "Units". 131st Bomb Wing. US Air Force. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
External links
- Whiteman AFB official site
- Historic American Engineering Recorddocumentation, filed under Knob Noster, Johnson County, MO:
- HAER No. MO-86, "Whiteman Air Force Base, Bomber Alert Facility S-6", 29 photos, 6 measured drawings, 24 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
- HAER No. MO-87, "Whiteman Air Force Base, Oscar O-1 Minuteman Missile Alert Facility", 46 photos, 4 measured drawings, 31 data pages, 3 photo caption pages
- HAER No. MO-88, "Whiteman Air Force Base, Minuteman Missile Launch Facility Trainer T-12", 25 photos, 3 measured drawings, 22 data pages, 2 photo caption pages