McClellan Air Force Base (1935-2001) is a former front-line United States Air Force base located 7 miles Northeast of Sacramento, California. For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClellan was a logistics and maintence facility for a wide variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies.

Current Status

After it officially closed on July 13, 2001, portions of McClellan and the surrounding area were converted into a business park.

McClellan's air traffic control tower remains standing, but was deactivated following the closure of McClellan AFB. However, the airfield's navigational aids such as the VOR-DME and ILS remain operational. McClellan Airfield now operates as an uncontrolled (non-towered) joint civil-military airfield with various mixed-use tenants as part of McClellan Park.^[1] The remaining military activity is comprised of Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, operating HC-130 Hercules aircraft, as well as an AAFES BX and a commissary which are primarily utilized by military retirees and National Guard and Reserve personnel. It is also the home of the Aerospace Museum of California.

History

McClellan Air Force Base, was named for Major Hezekiah McClellan (1894-1936) on 1 December 1939, a pioneer in arctic aeronautical tests, was established in 1935. Major McClellan was a posthumous recipient of the Distinghished Flying Cross who prepared early charts and records while pioneering Alaskan air routes. He died on 25 May 1936 when his Consolidated P-30 which he was flight testing, crashed near Centerville, Ohio.

Other names of the faciity were:

Pacific Air Depot, 1935 - 1 Feburary 1937
Sacramento Air Depot 1 Feburary 1937 - 1 December 1939
McClellan Field, 1 December 1939 - 13 January 1948

Major Commands to which assigned

Materiel Division, United States Army Air Corps, 24 August 1938 - 11 December 1941
Air Service Command, 11 December 1941 - 17 July 1944
Army Air Forces Materiel and Services Command, 17 July 1944 - 31 August 1944
Army Air Forces Technical Service Command, 31 August 1944 - 1 July 1945
Air Technical Service Command, 1 July 1945 - 9 March 1946
Air Materiel Command, 9 March 1946 - 1 April 1961
Air Force Logistics Command, 9 March 1946 - 1 July 1992
Air Force Materiel Command, 1 July 1992 - 13 July 2001

Operational History

Construction of the Pacific Air Depot began in 1935, and the main structures, including administrative buildigns, barracks, warehouses and a hospital was completed on 18 April 1938. It was one of only four such air depots in the country. In 1938 the base was renamed Sacramento Air Depot and underwent a major expansion as a repair and overhaul facility for P-38 and P-39 fighter planes. The planes were serviced on an assembly line basis. In 1940 an assembly line was added to overhaul P-40 fighters.

In December 1941, soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, P-40s as well as B-26 and B-17 bombers began arriving at the field to be armed and prepared for immediate shipment overseas. Some B-17s came direct to McClellan from the factories. During this time most of the Army Air Forces planes that went to the Pacific Theater were prepared at McClellan. In March 1942 Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's B-25s arrived at McClellan for arming in preparation for their famous Tokyo raid. The Doolittle Raiders practiced their takeoff techniques from an aircraft carrier at the Yolo County Airport, about 20 miles west. This airport runway was painted to represent the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

During World War II, numerous planes arrived here from all over the U.S. to be armed and otherwise prepared for shipment overseas to combat areas. After the war McClellan became a storage center of several types of aircraft including B-29 bombers.

The base was renamed McClellan Air Force Base in 1948 and its repair and overhaul mission continued throughout the Cold War as an installation of the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and later the Air Force Material Command (AFMC), with the overhaul facility being known as the Sacramento Air Logistics Center. During the 1950s and 1960s, the base also hosted the 552d Airborne Early Warning Wing, operating RC-121 and EC-121 Warning Star aircraft. After the Cold War ended, McClellan's closure was announced in 1995 by the BRAC Commission during the Clinton administration.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, McClellan functioned as the main depot for overhauling the F-111, FB-111 and EF-111 aircraft, as well as the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. It also supported the sophisticated electronic Operation Red Flag in Nevada, and hosted a WC-135 unit.

The chemicals used in aircraft maintenance, such as solvents, caustic cleaners, fuel oils and lubricants have caused extensive contamination at McClellan, particularly of groundwater. In addition, there are small amounts of radioactive waste at the base. The contamination was the result of leaks of pipes and storage tanks, spills, landfills and fire training areas. At one time, it was one of the most heavily polluted bases in the nation. Cleanup started in the 1980s. As of 2005, it is still ongoing and expected to take at least another decade. McClellan is listed on the EPA's National Priorities List as part of the Superfund created during the 1980s.^[2]^[3]

Accidents

While the Aviation Safety Network, part of FlightSafety.org, lists only one crash of a Curtis C-46 as originating from McClellan AFB on February 18, 1944^[4], another crash involving a RC-121 also took-off is documented on a military reunion site ^[5]

Aerospace Museum of California

The former McClellan Air Force Base is also the home of the Aerospace Museum of California. The museum itself was originally set up as the McClellan Aviation museum in 1986 (before the base closed). It was chartered by the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and later in 2005 it changed its name to the California Aerospace Museum. Various military aircraft sit on display inside one of the hangars, and many more are outside on the tarmac. The museum has display which highlight the mission of the base when it was active, as well as neighboring bases such as Beale Air Force Base. The museum hosts educational programs to schools in the local area.^[6]