Blytheville Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base that operated under the Tactical Air Command and Strategic Air Command from 1954 until its closure in 1992. The facility originally served as a B-25 pilot training school during WW2. For the majority of its operation, the base served as a home for SAC's B-52 ground alert program. In 1988, the facility was renamed Eaker Air Force Base in honor of World War II General of the Eighth Air Force, Ira C. Eaker.[1] It was located 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Blytheville, Arkansas. The facility now operates as the Arkansas Aeroplex and Arkansas International Airport.
History
Construction and World War 2
Constructed on former agricultural land, the site was originally activated as the Blytheville Army Airfield in 1942. During World War II, the site served as a training airfield as part of the 70,000 Pilot Training Program. It was one of many air fields created in the country's interior during the war for this purpose. Blytheville, Arkansas was selected as a training location due to its proximity to the Mississippi River, where supplies could easily be shipped to and from the site.[2] Construction of the airfield at Blytheville was quicker than other pilot schools in Arkansas, so the first groups to train at the base were originally intended for Walnut Ridge Army Airfield and Helena Aerotech for their basic training.[3] There were also additional auxiliary airfields at Luxora, AR, Manilla, AR, Hornersville, MO, Steele, MO, and Cooter, MO.[4]
Buildings 430, 431, 432, 438, 439, and 440. These warehouses were constructed in 1942, and are the only WW2 era buildings left on the property.
The first casualty of the flight school was Herbert Perkins, a native of Virginia whose BT-13 crashed near the intermediate air field at Luxora, AR.[5] The airfield was used as the Southeastern Training Command's flight training school. Cadets trained on the AT-6, AT-9, and AT-10 to learn to fly the B-25.[2] Additionally, the flight school hosted a small number of TB-25Gs, a trainer version of the B-25.[6] In 1945, the base also hosted a glider school to train servicemen to fly the Waco CG-4.[7] The airfield closed in October 1945 after the Second World War ended.[1] Then the airfield briefly became a processing center for the rapid demobilization of military personnel being discharged. The War Assets Administration officially closed down the installation in 1946, at which point control and responsibility for the land was transferred to the city of Blytheville.[2]
Reopening under Tactical Air Command
A Cold War-era image of a B-52 being refueled by a KC-135
On 15 July 1955, the facility was reopened by the Tactical Air Command as Blytheville Air Force Base (AFB), when the 461st Bombardment Wing was moved from Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Blytheville AFB became fully operational when it was equipped with a wing of three squadrons of B-57 bomber on 19 July 1955.[1] While the 461st never saw any combat during its time at Blytheville Air Force Base, it was assigned to a number of training exercises and experiments. The 461st Wing's B-57Bs participated on Operation Sagebrush,[8]Operation Redwing,[9][10] Operation Mobile Charlie, Operation Counter Punch, and Operation Able Vista.[11]
Transfer to Strategic Air Command
Bunkers used to store nuclear weapons at Blytheville (Eaker) Air Force Base
On April 1, 1958, the base was formally transferred into the Strategic Air Command, as part of a planned expansion of the B-52 bomber program. In July 1959, the 97th Bombardment Wing subsequently assumed control of the base and brought with it the long-range B-52G bomber and the KC-135A Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft to support bomber operations and SAC's ground alert program. A Ready Alert Facility was constructed on the base in 1960, similar to others being built all over America at the time. Blytheville AFB experienced a great deal of activity throughout the Cold War era. The base was taken to a heightened state of alert on three occasions. First, the 4229th Air Base Unit was taken to a "personnel alert" during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis. Second, the base was taken to DEFCON 2 and the 97th Bombardment Wing was placed on airborne alert on 22 October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Two B-52G bombers were readied to strike the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons if necessary—for which the wing received the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its performance during the crisis. And third, the base was taken to DEFCON 3 in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War.[1][12]
Hangar 207 was constructed in 1954 for B-57 maintenance. It later served as the headquarters for the 97th Organizational Maintenance Squadron
During the Vietnam War the 97th Bomber Wing at Blytheville supported strike operations throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. A bomber crew from Blytheville was among the first shot down during Operation Linebacker II, a December 1972 mission targeting complexes in North Vietnam. Three crewmen died in the crash.[13] Six more men from the 97th were also lost in Vietnam, whose names are recognized on a memorial placard at the former base. In 1972, all of the bombers were temporarily moved to Guam before being returned to Blytheville AFB, at which time the installation resumed normal functions.[2] It launched rescue missions from the base to Grenada in 1983 and in August 1990,[2] the pilots of the 97th Bomber Wing began practicing for missions in the Middle East and eventually supported Operation Desert Storm.[14]
B-52 releasing its payload over Vietnam
Renamed Eaker AFB and base closure
In 1988, the U.S. Air Force officially renamed Blytheville AFB to Eaker AFB in commemoration of World War II General Ira Eaker, the former commander of the 8th Air Force. Officials had hoped, after hearing rumors of the base's possible closure, that the name would endear the base among military leaders and be enough to incentivize its continued existence. Unfortunately, Eaker Air Force Base topped the Strategic Air Command's list of base closures in 1991 and with the Cold War coming to an end, the installation was officially chosen; in March 1992, the last aircraft left the base. Extensive efforts to offset the negative economic effects on the community of Blytheville were undertaken by local and federal officials, who cleaned up the site and then distributed the land to various organizations, including the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Some of the land has since been declared a National Historic Landmark.[1]
Building 202 was constructed in 1954 as a pilot training center for the 461st BMS. It now houses the BAFB Exhibition, the first permanent exhibit of the National Cold War Center
The base closure cost the community over 700 civilian jobs, but half of these were recovered through the adaptive reuse of the former base, such as United States Post Office's utilization of the base in the late 1990s as an airport hub during the holidays, some of the base housing being converted by Westminster Village of the Mid-South for a retirement community, the construction of a $2.5 million sports complex by the local community, and the private investment of some $3 million for the creation of the Thunder Bayou Golf Course.[1]
Arkansas Aeroplex and The National Cold War Center
Within a decade of the base's closure, the facility was reopened as the Arkansas Aeroplex, also known as the Arkansas International Airport. The main tenant of the Aeroplex is Aviation Repair Technologies, which specializes in large aircraft repair.[15]
In 2020, the National Cold War Center was created by local citizens to take the base's former SAC Alert Facility and turn it into the primary exhibit for a museum that focused on the many aspects of the Cold War.[16]
Historic Districts
United States historic place
Blytheville Air Force Base Strategic Air Command (SAC) Alert and Weapons Storage Areas Historic District
The facility houses two historic districts, the Blytheville Air Force Base Strategic Air Command (SAC) Alert and Weapons Storage Areas Historic District and the Blytheville Air Force Base Capehart Housing Historic District. Both were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.[17]
_is_refueled_by_Boeing_KC-135A-BN_(SN_55-3127)_061127-F-1234S-009.jpg)
