Wurtsmith Air Force Base

Wurtsmith Air Force Base
Wurtsmith Air Force Base
Part of Air/Aersopace Defense Command (ADC); and Strategic Air Command (SAC)
Oscoda Township, Iosco County, Michigan
	2006 USGS Airphoto. Note the christmas tree alert staging area at top center.
	Wurtsmith Air Force Base Location of Wurtsmith Air Force Base
Coordinates	44°27′09″N 083°22′49″W
Type	Air Force Base
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1923
In use	1923–1993
Garrison information
Garrison	379th Bombardment Wing

Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force base in Iosco County, Michigan. It operated from 1923 until decommissioned in 1993.

Oscoda Army Airfield, 1943

During the Cold War, it was one of three Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases in Michigan with the B-52 bomber, the others (Kincheloe, Sawyer) were in the Upper Peninsula. The base was named in honor of Major General Paul Wurtsmith, commander of SAC's Eighth Air Force, who was killed when his North American B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed on Cold Mountain near Asheville, North Carolina, on September 13, 1946.[1][2]

In 2022, Granot Loma was being touted as a potential space port in the Upper Peninsula.[3] This would be in tandem with Oscoda, Michigan's Wurtsmith Air Force Base.[3]

Previous names

Camp Skeel, November 1931
Oscoda Army Air Field, August 1942
Oscoda Air Force Base, 24 June 1948
Wurtsmith Air Force Base, 15 February 1953 – 30 June 1993

Major commands to which assigned

General Headquarters Air Force, 26 June 1936
Third Air Force, 2 September 1942
Air Service Command, 12 December 1942
Third Air Force, 5 March 1943
First Air Force, 14 August 1943
Continental Air Forces, 16 April 1945

Re-designated Strategic Air Command, 21 March 1946

Continental Air Command,1 January 1949
Air Defense Command, 1 January 1951
Strategic Air Command, 1 April 1960
Air Combat Command, 1 June 1992 – 30 June 1993

Major units assigned

First Pursuit Group, 15 October 1927
100th Base HQ and Air Base Squadron, 31 October 1942
524th Base HQ and Air Base Squadron, 21 June 1943
134th AAF Base Unit, 14 April 1944 – 12 April 1945
4301st Base Services Squadron, 1 August 1948

Re-designated 2476th Base Service Squadron, 1 January 1949

Re-designated 4655th Base Service Squadron, 1 December 1950

332d Fighter Group, 2 April 1943 – 9 July 1943
100th Fighter Squadron, 29 October 1943 – 8 November 1943
301st Fighter Squadron, 21 May 1943 – 10 July 1943
302d Fighter Squadron, 19 November 1943 – December 1943
403d Fighter Squadron, May 1943 – 15 December 1943
754th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 27 November 1950 – 20 July 1951
63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 5 January 1951 – 17 August 1955
527th Air Service Group

Re-designated 527th Air Defense Group, 16 February 1953 – 15 October 1955

75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 October 1968 - 30 November 1969
445th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 15 August 1955 – 30 September 1968
31st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 8 June 1956 – 20 August 1957
18th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 20 August 1957 – 27 April 1960
4026th Strategic Wing, 1 August 1958 – 9 January 1961
40th Air Division, 1 July 1959 – 8 June 1988
920th Air Refueling Squadron, 15 July 1960 – 15 June 1993
379th Bombardment Wing, 9 January 1961 – 30 June 1993
94th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 December 1969 - 30 June 1971

PFAS Contamination

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) became aware of PFAS concentrations in groundwater in March 2010 when EGLE staff performed sampling at a former fire training area on the base. Air Force has completed the PFAS Preliminary Assessment, Site Inspection, and is currently planning the Remedial Investigation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Air Force has performed three removal actions and is currently planning two interim remedial actions to address PFAS.[4]

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

"Dedication Program of Wurtsmith Air Force Base, July 4th, 1953". wafb.net.
"Major General Paul B. Wurtsmith 1906 - 1946". wafb.net.
Rompf, David (24 April 2022). "U.S. Journal: The Plan to Make Michigan the Next Space State: Residents are up in arms about a proposed spaceport project, the first of its kind in the Midwest, which would involve launching rockets near the shoreline of Lake Superior". The New Yorker.
"PFAS Response - Former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Iosco County". www.michigan.gov.

Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office 1961 (republished 1983, Office of Air Force History, ISBN 0-912799-02-1).
Ravenstein, Charles A. Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History 1984. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
Mueller, Robert (1989). Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. ISBN 0-912799-53-6, ISBN 0-16-002261-4
USAF Aerospace Defense Command publication, The Interceptor, January 1979 (Volume 21, Number 1).

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Dedication Program of Wurtsmith Air Force Base, July 4th, 1953". wafb.net.

[2] "Major General Paul B. Wurtsmith 1906 - 1946". wafb.net.

[Rompf-3] Rompf, David (24 April 2022). "U.S. Journal: The Plan to Make Michigan the Next Space State: Residents are up in arms about a proposed spaceport project, the first of its kind in the Midwest, which would involve launching rockets near the shoreline of Lake Superior". The New Yorker.

[4] "PFAS Response - Former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Iosco County". www.michigan.gov.

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