WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE:

The First Century
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History Office

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center

Air Force Materiel Command

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

2015
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents........................................................................................................................... iii

Auspicious Origins...........................................................................................................................1

Three Military Installations..............................................................................................................2

A New Engineering Center..............................................................................................................6

Patterson Field ...............................................................................................................................10

World War II..................................................................................................................................11

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base...................................................................................................17

The Korean War and Its Aftermath ...............................................................................................19

The Vietnam Era ............................................................................................................................22

End of the Cold War ......................................................................................................................25

Transition to Contingency Operations...........................................................................................28

A Global War on Terrorism...........................................................................................................31

Revamping the Acquisition Enterprise ..........................................................................................35

A Changing Installation Landscape ...............................................................................................39

A Focus on the Future....................................................................................................................42

Appendix A: Wright-Patterson AFB and Its Antecedents............................................................43

Appendix B: Wright-Patterson AFB Installation Commanders ...................................................44

Appendix C: The Story of Areas A, B, C, and D..........................................................................45

Appendix D: Wright-Patterson AFB Personnel Strength, ............................................................46

Appendix E: Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Personnel Strength...............................47
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Appendix F: 88th Air Base Wing Personnel Strength..................................................................50

Appendix G: Wright-Patterson AFB Deployed Personnel ...........................................................53

Appendix H: Wright-Patterson AFB Memorials..........................................................................54

Appendix I Air Force Units Assigned at Patterson Field, Wright Field, and

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base ............................................................................57
1

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE:

THE FIRST CENTURY

right-Patterson Air Force Base is 

the most organizationally complex 

base in the U.S. Air Force. This 

8,145-acre military reservation 

located near Dayton, Ohio, has over 600

office, laboratory, and support buildings in 

addition to 127 family housing buildings. It 

employs over 27,000 people and generates an 

annual payroll of $2.2 billion. The base is the 

largest employer in the state of Ohio at a 

single location and the largest employer 

among Air Force bases worldwide. Its 

occupants include over 60 on-base tenant 

units. With over 600 structures, many dating 

from the pre-1946 period, Wright-Patterson 

may also be the Air Force’s most historically 

significant base. Major military units 

assigned to the installation are HQ Air Force 

Materiel Command, HQ Air Force Life Cycle 

Management Center, HQ Air Force Research 

Laboratory, the Air Force Institute of 

Technology, the National Air and Space 

Intelligence Center, the National Museum of 

the U.S. Air Force, 445th Airlift Wing 

(AFRC), a National Park, a regional 

Department of Defense medical center, and 

numerous other Air Force, Department of 

Defense, and government agencies. Since 

1944, the 88th Air Base Wing has been 

responsible for operating the base.

AUSPICIOUS ORIGINS

While Wright-Patterson traces its 

military origins to World War I, its aviation 

history began with the origins of manned, 

powered, controlled flight. Following their 

successful proof-of-concept flights at Kitty 

Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903, 

Wilbur and Orville Wright returned home to

Soaring over the Huffman Prairie where the Wright

Brothers “really learned to fly”

Dayton, Ohio. They then selected an 84-acre 

plot of land near Dayton to serve as an

experimental flying field while they 

transformed their invention into a real flying 

machine. The Huffman Prairie Flying Field, 

now a part of Wright-Patterson AFB and a 

National Park site, is where they developed 

the first practical airplane (the 1905 Flyer III). 

Over this prairie the brothers accomplished 

the first turn and circle in an airplane and 

solved the final mysteries of flight during 

1904 and 1905. Here, too, they invented and 

used the first successful aircraft catapult 

launcher. The Huffman Prairie was also, as

Orville wrote, where they “really learned to 

fly.”

The brothers returned to the Huffman 

Prairie Flying Field in 1910. This time the site

served as home to the Wright Company School 

of Aviation, the Wright’s flight exhibition 

company, and a test field for their aircraft 

company. Their aviation school trained 119 

pilots. For $250, they delivered a two-week 

course of instruction that included “four hours 

of actual practice in the air and such instruction 

W
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The 1910 hangar and flying operations, about 1912

in the principles of flying machines as is 

necessary to prepare the pupil to become a 

competent and expert operator.” The tuition 

fee also covered any incidental damage to the 

equipment. Among their graduates were Army 

Lieutenant Henry “Hap” Arnold, who was sent 

to the school in 1911 to earn his wings, and A. 

Roy Brown, the Canadian ace who would 

receive aerial credit for downing Baron von 

Richthofen, the Red Baron in 1918. By the 

time operations on the Huffman Prairie ended 

in 1916, the Wrights had used the field as a 

research and development facility, flight test 

center, logistics depot, and training center. 

These functions would define the future of the 

Huffman Prairie and its surroundings for the 

next century. Equally important, the “can-do” 

spirit of invention and innovation that Wilbur 

and Orville brought to their flying field would 

inspire their heirs to continue pushing 

aeronautical engineering to its technological 

limits.

THREE MILITARY 

INSTALLATIONS

Following the United States declaration 

of war on Germany in 1917, the War 

Department began a rapid expansion of military 

facilities. Edward A. Deeds, a prominent 

Dayton industrialist and member of the U.S. 

Munitions Standard Board and Aircraft 

Production Board, assisted his home town with

Lt. Henry “Hap” Arnold as a Wright Brothers student on 

the Huffman Prairie Flying Field

acquiring three military installations: McCook 

Field, Wilbur Wright Field, and the Fairfield 

Aviation General Supply Depot. McCook 

Field opened on December 4, 1917. This 254-

acre leased complex was located just north of 

downtown Dayton between Keowee Street and 

the Great Miami River. It was named after the 

“Fighting McCooks” family of Civil War fame 

who once owned part of the land. McCook 

Field was an engineering and research center 

responsible for the advanced design of all 

airplanes and their accessories. It was erected 

as a temporary home for the Airplane 

Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Signal 

Corps pending completion of Langley Field,

Virginia. McCook was exempted from the 

Civil Service and control by the Secretary of 

War, which enabled it to operate more like a 

private business than a military post. McCook

Field quickly emerged as the center of 

American air power technology. Its engineers
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McCook Field (Mrs. Darlene Gerhardt)

and technicians researched, developed, 

manufactured, tested, and evaluated military 

aircraft, plus all associated components and 

equipment. Their achievements were so 

substantial that in May 1919 all experimental 

aircraft activities being handled at Langley 

Field were transferred to McCook Field.

The Engineering Division’s facilities 

included a 1,000 foot by 100 foot macadam and 

cinder primary runway to support test flight 

operations. A 14-inch walnut wind tunnel 

patterned after one designed by Orville Wright 

helped calibrate airspeed instruments and study 

the aerodynamic properties of shapes. In 1921, 

the field’s technicians built a five-foot wind 

tunnel which was immediately put to use 

testing a scale model of the XNBL-1 Barling

Civilian guards working at the main entrance to McCook 

Field

Bomber. When McCook Field closed, the fivefoot tunnel was moved to Wright Field where it

remained in use until 2011. Work at McCook 

Field encompassed liquid- and air-cooled 

engines, superchargers, controllable-pitch 

propellers, fuels and fuel systems, armament 

systems for aircraft, flight instrumentation, 

parachutes, flight clothing, advanced materials, 

aerial photographic equipment, a large number 

of experimental aircraft, and specialized 

equipment to test all of these items. McCook’s 

technicians even tested airplanes designed or

Colonel Thurman H. Bane, first commandant of the Air 

Service Engineering School

manufactured by foreign nations. In fact, 

virtually all significant aeronautical engineering 

developments at the time took place at McCook 

Field. These achievements included 

controllable and reversible pitch propellers, 

aircraft engine superchargers, bullet-proof and

leak-proof gasoline tanks, the radio beam, a 

non-magnetic aircraft clock, an air ambulance, 

the air-cooled radial engine, mapping and night 

observation cameras, the Nelson machine gun 

synchronization control system, and the first 

practical free-fall parachute. Also developed 

were night flying techniques and a model 
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airway that became the forerunner of the 

modern network of continental and 

intercontinental commercial air routes.

Under the leadership of Colonel 

Thurman H. Bane, McCook Field made 

another lasting contribution to aeronautical 

engineering. In 1919, Colonel Bane 

established the Air Service Engineering School 

to provide “proper technical training” to Air 

Service officers. The school would eventually 

evolve into the Air Force Institute of 

Technology.

Dayton’s other two military facilities, 

Wilbur Wright Field and the Fairfield Aviation

Air Service Engineering School classroom in the 1920s

General Supply Depot, were co-located in what 

is now Area A (formerly Area C) of WrightPatterson AFB. Wilbur Wright Field sat on 

2,075-acres next to the Mad River. The Army 

leased the land, which included the Huffman 

Prairie Flying Field, from the Miami 

Conservancy District. The field hosted a 

Signal Corps Aviation School to train pilots. 

School operations began June 28, 1917 with 

cadets flying Curtiss JN-4D and Standard SJ-1 

single-engine biplane trainers. The school 

graduated 82 pilots by December when flight 

training operations were moved to installations

in the south for the winter. They resumed at 

the field in April 1918.

Wilbur Wright Field

Wilbur Wright Field also housed an 

Aviation Mechanics’ School which opened 

December 17, 1917. The school graduated 

1,181 airplane, airplane motor, and motor 

transport mechanics. A related program sent 

students to local civilian airplane and engine 

factories and garages to receive on-the-job 

training.

An Aviation Armorers’ School 

inaugurated operations on March 18, 1918. Its 

six week course encompassed a complete study 

of machine guns, their sights and 

synchronization mechanisms, and the storage 

and mounting of bombs. The school sent 485 

enlisted graduates to the Air Service. The 

Signal Corps also assigned Wilbur Wright 

Field the mission of testing all machine guns 

issued to the Aviation Section to ensure that 

they were properly adjusted and in good firing

Fairfield Air Depot and Building 1, 1919

(U.S. Air Force Museum)
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Mechanics School students study an airplane fuselage, 

January 25, 1918. (U.S. Air Force Museum)

condition. During a test on June 19, 1918, 

Lieutenant Frank Stuart Patterson, the son of 

Frank J. Patterson and nephew of John H. 

Patterson, co-founders of Dayton’s National 

Cash Register Company, was killed when his 

DH-4 crashed after successfully completing 

tests of a Nelson machine gun synchronizer. 

The conclusion of the war to end all wars in 

November 1918 ended all training.

Cooperation between Wilbur Wright 

Field and McCook Field began March 1, 1918 

when McCook Field requested hangar space 

and use of the airfield for experimental test 

flying. Wilbur Wright Field’s large, open, and 

relatively isolated flying field was ideal for 

testing the Air Service’s experimental aircraft 

and the larger, more powerful models being 

developed. With the arrival of three Italian 

aircraft eighteen days later, Wilbur Wright 

Field resumed its historic role as an aviation 

test site.

Construction of the Fairfield Aviation 

General Supply Depot∗ got underway in the fall

 

∗ The depot would undergo a series of 

organizational redesignations between 1917 

and its inactivation in 1946. To avoid 

confusion, it is referred to as the “Fairfield 

Air Depot” throughout this narrative.

Building 1 with its covered trainway is the oldest military 

building at Wright-Patterson AFB

of 1917 on 40 acres of land adjacent to Wilbur 

Wright Field that the Army had purchased from 

the Miami Conservancy District. The depot’s 

mission was to provide logistics support to 

Wilbur Wright Field and other aviation schools 

in the Midwest. Building 1, the first military 

building on the installation, stored freight and 

supplies as well as serving as the depot 

headquarters until 1933. The U-shaped 

structure housed a 600-foot double rail spur 

between its outstretched wings. The spur 

connected the depot to the Big Four Railroad 

Company line in the nearby town of Fairfield. 

Six other buildings, including three steel 

storage hangars and a garage, enabled the depot 

to receive, store, and issue equipment and 

supplies to the Signal Corps’ schools 

throughout the region.

Rapid demobilization and 

reorganization followed the Great War’s

conclusion. On January 10, 1919, Wilbur 

Wright Field merged administratively with the 

Air Service Armorer’s School and the Fairfield 

Depot to form the Wilbur Wright Air Service 

Depot. The depot commander assumed control 

of all three organizations. The flying and 

armorers’ schools demobilized the next month 

and the depot transitioned to a civilian 

workforce. It went through numerous name 

and organization changes, but was commonly 
6

The McCook Field motto posted on the main hangar. 

(Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library)

known as the Fairfield Air Depot (FAD). In 

addition to its role as a supply center, the depot 

added several new missions, notably equipment 

repair and engine overhaul, and served as a 

storage, inventory, and disposal center for 

surplus war supplies and equipment. In 1921 

the depot became home to the Property, 

Maintenance and Cost Compilation Section, 

the earliest antecedent of the logistics 

component of today’s Air Force Materiel 

Command. The Air Corps moved its weather 

station from McCook Field to the depot in 1923 

and in 1925 transferred administrative control 

of the model airway system from McCook to 

the depot. The Fairfield Air Depot also 

managed logistics support for the Douglas 

World Cruisers during their 1924 Round-theWorld Flight and it hosted the 1924 

International Air Races.

A NEW ENGINEERING CENTER

McCook Field had been built as a 

temporary wartime experimental testing site 

and its shortcomings soon became evident. 

Short runways and obstructed approaches

challenged pilots. Larger, more powerful 

aircraft overwhelmed the field. “This Field Is 

Small, Use It All,” was painted on the hangars. 

Because rivers and housing surrounded the 

field, it could not be expanded and the 

construction of new support facilities began 

encroaching upon the flightline. McCook Field 

was becoming unsafe for aircrews and the local 

population. The temporary buildings were 

expensive to maintain, the field lacked a 

railroad line, the rent was extremely high and 

increasing, and the landowners wanted to 

convert their land to more profitable uses. 

These factors sent the War Department in 

search of a new, permanent site for the 

Engineering Division.

When Colonel Bane informed Dayton’s 

business and civic communities that they might 

lose the engineering center, they took action. 

The Engineering Division gave Dayton a 

stable, expanding economic base and was a 

great source of pride for the city that considered 

itself the birthplace of aviation. Local 

industries also directly benefited from 

McCook’s technological developments and the 

skilled workforce the field attracted. Led by 

the Patterson family (founders of the National 

Cash Register Company), the city’s prominent 

citizens formed the Dayton Air Service 

Committee. The Committee reached an 

agreement with the War Department to build a 

permanent engineering facility in Dayton 

provided the land was donated to the federal 

government. A 48-hour fundraising campaign 

collected $425,000 to buy the land and fund a 

monument to the Wright Brothers.

In 1924, the Dayton Air Service 

Committee purchased 4,520.47 acres of land 

northeast of Dayton and presented the deeds to 

President Calvin Coolidge. The land donation 

included the previously leased site of Wilbur
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Orville Wright and other dignitaries at the dedication of 

Wright Field, October 12, 1927

Wright Field. The War Department combined 

this gift with its adjacent site at the Fairfield Air 

Depot and redesignated the entire acreage as 

Wright Field to honor both Wilbur and Orville 

Wright.

Construction began April 16, 1926 on 

the portion of Wright Field west of Huffman 

Dam (Area B). Soon a modern state-of-the-art 

industrial facility appeared. Buildings 11 

(administration) and 16 (the primary 

laboratory) shared a common foundation and 

were the first to be built. Building 31 (the main 

aircraft assembly hangar and control tower) and 

Building 56 (the main warehouse) followed. 

These two structures established the pre-World 

War II “Wright Field style” of architecture with

Wright Field, 1930

their low pitched roofs, brick facades, multipaned steel sash windows, and decorative brick 

corner columns containing elements of the 

Greek Revival style. Other primary facilities 

built in this style were the Radio Lab (Building 

17), the Power Plant Lab (Building 18), the 

five-foot wind tunnel (Building 19), and 

Building 32 which housed the wood, machine, 

and sheet metal shops.

The transfer of equipment and 

operations from McCook Field to Wright Field 

occurred from March to June 1927, although

Materiel Division emblem above Building 11 entrance

the last equipment was not moved until May 

1929. The formal dedication of Wright Field 

was held October 12, 1927 with Orville Wright 

raising the first flag over the new engineering 

center. The dedication established three 

precedents. It was the first time that an Army 

installation was named for two civilians who 

had never been in military service. It was the 

first time an installation was named for a living 

individual. It was also the first time that the 

honored individual was present at his own 

memorialization.
8

Mounted above the entrances to 

Building 11 were blue and gold circular 

porcelain shields inscribed “Materiel Division, 

U.S. Army Air Corps” around a likeness of 

Rodin’s The Thinker. The emblem was derived 

from the insignia of McCook Field where 

“Engineering” stood in the place of “Materiel.” 

Wright Field had become headquarters of the 

newly created Materiel Division in 1926 when 

supply, procurement, and aircraft maintenance 

were added to the engineering functions 

performed at McCook. The mission of the new 

organization was to develop and furnish the

Interior of Building 12 showing museum displays, 1937

Army Air Corps with all of its aircraft and 

aeronautical equipment, procure and provide 

maintenance for the systems, and manage the 

Air Corps depot system. Fairfield Air Depot 

was one of six depots that came under its 

jurisdiction.

The new field bustled with activity. 

Flight testing operations moved from 

temporary facilities at the Fairfield Air Depot 

to the Wright Field flightline. The Air Corps 

Engineering School took up residence in 

Building 11. A wealth of sophisticated 

equipment such as the three altitude chambers, 

the five-foot and 14-inch wind tunnels, the 

engine and propeller torque stands, a variety of

Building 12, Technical Data Library and Museum

dynamometers, and the temperature chambers 

supported the cutting edge research. Wright 

Field’s capabilities further increased in 1934 

with the addition of the static structural test 

facility (Building 23). The aviation museum 

that originally resided in a McCook Field 

hangar also found new quarters at Wright Field. 

It occupied space in a laboratory building until 

1935 when it moved into the newly completed 

Building 12. This high art deco masterpiece, 

specially designed to display artifacts and 

exhibits, became the first permanent home of 

the Army Aeronautical Museum (now the 

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force).

As the nation’s foremost aeronautical 

engineering center, Wright Field became 

involved in every aspect of aircraft design and

Building 31, Wright Field Assembly Hangar, with control 

tower atop southwest corner
9

Largest of three altitude test chambers in the 

Physiological Research Laboratory, 1937

production. The focus in the 1930s was toward 

diversifying, expanding, and modernizing 

aircraft design. Engineers and scientists 

worked to improve aircraft structure and 

aerodynamics. They developed a wide range of 

experimental and production aircraft 

categorized by mission: attack, pursuit, 

transport, bombardment, observation, 

photographic, training, and rotary wing. 

Wright Field was also instrumental in 

marketing aircraft to foreign nations. The work 

performed in the 1930s proved critical-the air 

arsenal that helped win World War II was 

either in development or production when the 

conflict began.

Lt. George W. Goddard developed the techniques that 

created this night aerial photograph of Wright Field 

during the 1931 Air Corps Maneuvers.

Wright Field’s contributions to aviation 

in the pre-war period were not limited to 

aerodynamics and airframes. The field’s staff 

worked on every aspect of aeronautical 

engineering. Wright Field engineers designed 

engines, propellers, and a vast array of products 

from pressurized cabins to gun sights and nondestructive inspection techniques. They 

perfected superchargers and the controllablepitch constant speed propeller that permitted 

greater speeds and higher altitudes. The 

field’s scientists researched better fuels, 

lubricants, and anti-freeze solutions. They 

developed plastic impact resistant glass for 

windshields and invented a myriad of synthetic

Physiological Research Laboratory centrifuge. Test 

subject is positioned “head-in” at the end of the rotating 

arm.

materials. George Goddard supervised 

significant advances in aerial photography. 

Captain Harry G. Armstrong led the 

Physiological Research Unit that conducted 

pioneering aeromedical research on flight 

stresses and equipment to aid and protect 

aviators. Wiley Post made major discoveries 

and innovations in high-altitude flying. While 

this work was in progress, the Technical Data 

Library in Building 12 culled its collection of 

domestic and foreign aeronautical publications 

for technical data, produced and stored both 

historical and technical films, and planned the 

wartime expansion of the nation’s aviation 

industrial base and logistics requirements.
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PATTERSON FIELD

Although the entire installation had 

been named “Wright Field” in 1924, there was 

considerable community support to formally 

recognize the Patterson family’s leadership in 

keeping the Engineering Division in Dayton. 

This recognition occurred on July 1, 1931 when 

the War Department redesignated that portion 

of Wright Field east of Huffman Dam as 

“Patterson Field.” The area encompassed the 

original Wilbur Wright Field, the Fairfield Air

Lt. Frank Stuart Patterson was killed during a test flight 

over Wilbur Wright Field, June 19, 1918

Depot, and the Wright Brothers’ flying field at 

Huffman Prairie. Patterson Field specifically 

honored Lieutenant Frank Stuart Patterson, a 

son and nephew of the founders of the National 

Cash Register Company. Lieutenant Patterson 

was a test pilot who lost his life in the crash of 

his DH-4 aircraft during a test flight at Wilbur 

Wright Field on June 19, 1918.

The two fields remained physically 

separated until after World War II, but their 

missions continued to be closely intertwined. 

Patterson Field was a logistics center 

throughout the pre-war period. The Fairfield 

Air Depot retained its title and operated as the 

major organization on the installation. The 

depot had support responsibilities in 28 states 

and serviced 28 of the Air Corps’ 50 stations in 

the United States. Its headquarters moved from 

Building 1 to the newly completed Building 11 

in 1933.

Several acres of Patterson Field were 

set aside in 1934 to house a Transient Camp for 

temporary workers employed under 

Depression-era programs. During 1934 and 

1935, these men labored on building renovation 

and landscaping projects. Young men residing 

in the Civilian Conservation Corps camp that 

was set up on the field helped landscape the 

installation in 1935 and 1936. These workers 

also contributed to the construction of WrightPatterson’s Brick Quarters. The 92 units were 

erected to house all the officers assigned to 

Wright and Patterson Fields. Designers 

arranged the $1,722,000 complex in the shape 

of a horseshoe with the Turtle Pond centered 

along its main axis and the Officers’ Open 

Mess situated at the crown of the curve. Large,

Patterson Field, 1942
11

Building 11 served as Patterson Field Headquarters from 

1933 to 1948

private back yards enhanced the neighborhood 

and created an atmosphere of informal 

tranquility in these junior executive style 

homes. The jewel of the complex was Quarters 

1, since memorialized as “The Robins House” 

for its first occupant, Brigadier General 

Augustine Warner Robins. It was the residence 

of the installation’s senior officer.

Patterson Field supported Air Corps 

operations throughout the nation. It hosted the 

1933 Air Corps Anti-Aircraft Exercises and in 

1934 modified and supported military aircraft 

assigned to carry the U.S. Mail. When 

Lieutenant Colonel Henry “Hap” Arnold 

(a former depot commander) initiated the 1934

Wright Memorial overlooking Wright Field

long-distance Alaskan flight, Patterson Field 

prepared the aircraft and supported the 

operation. The field was also the scene of the 

world’s first entirely automatic landing, which

took place in 1937. The Patterson Field 

community welcomed the Air Corps Weather 

School in 1937 and the first military Autogiro 

School in the United States the next year 1938.

The Wright Memorial was dedicated on 

August 19, 1940. The Dayton community 

constructed this tribute to the Wright Brothers 

on a 27-acre site owned by the Miami 

Conservancy District. Funds raised by the 

Dayton Air Service Committee for its 

campaign to retain the Engineering Division 

helped finance the monument. The Olmsted

Patterson Field control tower, 1940

Brothers architectural firm designed the 

memorial which sits atop a 100-foot bluff 

adjacent to Wright Field overlooking the 

Huffman Prairie Flying Field. Six native 

American burial mounds are nestled close to

the memorial.

WORLD WAR II

World War II profoundly altered both 

Wright and Patterson Fields. From a 

combined population of 3,700 in 1939, the 

workforce at the two fields eventually peaked

at over 50,000. The workload shifted from a 

40-hour week to round-the-clock operations. 

The faces of the two installations also rapidly
12

German Prisoner of War mural

changed as massive construction programs 

erected new work centers and housing 

complexes to accommodate wartime 

operations. Existing facilities were modified 

and converted to new uses. The museum in 

Building 12 was closed to free up space and 

base contractors were forced to lease 

additional space in Dayton and the 

surrounding communities. Nonetheless, a

chronic work area shortage continued 

throughout the war.

Wright Field exploded from 40 

buildings in 1941 to over 300 in 1944. 

Leading the way was the addition of a third 

floor or “penthouse” on Building 11 that gave 

the Materiel Division headquarters much 

needed administrative space. Buildings 14

A B-50 taxies up the Accelerated Runway

Air Service Command, Building 262

and 15 were constructed to house the 

expanding headquarters. Wright Field gained 

a modern flightline complex that included a 

new control tower, hangars, an armament test 

facility (Building 22), and paved runways. 

While the runways were being constructed, 

captured enemy intelligence revealed that the 

Germans were building inclined runways 

along the French coast to shorten takeoff and 

landing distances. The Materiel Division 

decided to modify the Wright Field runway 

contract to include a similar structure. The 

result was the field’s signature “Accelerated 

Runway” with its 10 percent grade. It was 

completed in 1942, but extensive testing 

proved the concept impractical.

Numerous laboratory structures joined 

the Wright Field complex. Among these were 

20-Foot Massey Memorial Wind Tunnel
13

The completed Static Test Facility (Building 65) in 

November 1944

the vertical wind tunnel (Building 27) for 

parachute testing and a 20-foot wind tunnel 

(the world’s largest). The huge Static Test 

Facility (Building 65) was erected to test the 

B-36 bomber. Engineers designed and built 

an acoustical shell around the propeller test 

rigs (Building 20A) so the constant droning 

would not disturb the sleep of base personnel 

and the civilian community. Wright Field 

expanded in size as well when the Hilltop 

area along National Road was acquired. This 

area became home to the Wright Field 

headquarters, a parade field, barracks, and 

quarters for the prisoners of war who were 

interned at the field.

Wright Field reported to the Materiel 

Division and operated as the wartime center 

of aeronautical research, development, and 

procurement. Its logistics functions along with 

those of the division were separated in 1941 

and assigned to the Air Service Command 

which was located in the just completed 

Building 262 at Patterson Field. The division 

became Materiel Command in 1942. This 

separation of functions, however, proved 

cumbersome and confusing. The Army Air 

Forces addressed the problem in August 1944 

when it inactivated the two commands and 

assigned their functions to the newly 

established Air Technical Service Command. 

This action made Wright Field subordinate to

XB-36 fuselage and wing being prepared for structural 

testing in Building 65

the new headquarters at Patterson Field and had 

a psychologically divisive effect on the 

installation. To resolve this issue and give the 

new headquarters a common address, the 

portion of Patterson Field from Huffman Dam 

through the Brick Quarters (including the 

command headquarters in Building 262) was 

reassigned from Patterson Field to Wright 

Field. To clarify the two areas of Wright 

Field, the new accession was designated 

“Area A” of Wright Field and the original 

field became “Area B.”

Work at Wright Field centered on 

research, development, and especially on 

procurement. The race to increase propulsion 

power and efficiency was the field’s most 

significant research effort of the war. The 

aircraft under development or in production 

on Pearl Harbor day were the ones that the 

Army Air Forces flew to victory. Ongoing 

research introduced modifications that made 

the aircraft of 1944 and 1945 far superior to 

the original production models. The Wright 

staff worked on a wide range of experimental 

and production aircraft, dissected most enemy 

aircraft, and culled mounds of intelligence 

reports for technological insights. Work 

began on guided missiles and by wars end the 

nation’s first jet-power aircraft were entering 

the active inventory.
14

Building 8, constructed in 1943, housed Wright Field 

Operations and the Flight Test Division

Wright Field managers also supervised the 

second largest procurement division in the 

armed forces. They worked with numerous 

government agencies, foreign governments, 

and thousands of contractors. Each day over 

700 contractors and others visited the field. 

The Army Air Forces employed more than 

100 aircraft models and at its peak had 79,908

planes on hand. From an inventory of 2,755 

planes in June 1940, the field’s staff 

supervised the wartime production of almost 

300,000 military aircraft, 802,161 engines, 

and 807,424 propellers. It abandoned the 

traditional method of aircraft procurement in 

favor of quicker “off the shelf” procurement 

coupled with concurrent development and 

accelerated flight testing. In the process, 

Wright Field transitioned aircraft production 

from a handwork business to a mass 

production industry that condensed the 

aircraft design-to-delivery time from years 

down to months.

Victory brought great celebration. It 

also gave Wright Field an opportunity to 

educate the public on its achievements and the 

Wright Field, 1945
15

revolution in aviation technology that World 

War II had spawned. Wright Field hosted a 

two-day Army Air Forces Fair in October 

1945 that attracted 500,000 people. The fair 

was so popular that base officials extended it 

for a week. More than one million people 

from 26 foreign countries observed displays 

of Army Air Forces operational and 

experimental aircraft. Highlighting the event 

were exhibits of captured German and 

Japanese aircraft, rockets, and equipment. 

Over $150 million worth of equipment, much

of it previously classified, was put on display.

Victory also brought demobilization 

and a return to “normal” operations. 

Procurement moved to the back seat and 

Wright Field’s operations returned to research 

and development, with the work focus shifted 

from propeller-driven aircraft to jet 

propulsion. Wright Field also moved away 

from developing, modifying, and improving 

individual items in favor of a coordinated 

approach that emphasized new systems and 

models. In late 1945 the Air Documents 

Research Center moved to Wright Field from 

London. Working under T-2 Intelligence, a 

500-member team catalogued, abstracted, 

indexed, and organized 55,000 captured 

German documents representing Germany’s 

best aeronautical research and development. 

German aircraft and engines were shipped to 

Wright Field for analysis. Projects 

OVERCAST and PAPERCLIP also brought 

prominent German scientists to the field 

where they contributed their knowledge to 

American aeronautical engineering.

World War II turned Patterson Field 

into a major wartime logistics center and 

Midwest supply hub. The Fairfield Air 

Depot, Patterson Field’s main tenant, was 

responsible for a nine-state area (Ohio, 

Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, 

Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). 

It oversaw 21 storage depots, 16 sub-depots, 

three servicing detachments, four air depot 

detachments, two air cargo detachments, and 

two overhaul detachments. The field’s 

logistics and other activities mandated a 

major construction boom. Warehouses, 

An open house for Wright Field personnel drew a large crowd
16

shops, barracks, mess halls, hospitals, and 

an array

Civilian employees overhaul aircraft engines at 

Patterson Field

of other buildings sprang up at the field. An 

additional 851 acres of land (which eventually 

included the Cox family cemetery) was 

acquired at the northeast end of the runway. 

The advent of heavy bombers also led to the 

paving of the field’s runways and taxiways. 

Wood City, today’s Kittyhawk Center, was 

completely developed with barracks, training 

facilities, and a cantonment hospital. Skyway 

Park was erected at the intersection of 

Kauffman Avenue and Colonel Glenn 

Highway. It contained 546 family housing 

units and a dormitory that could 

accommodate 640 residents. In fact, the 

installation had so many civilians that in 1944 

a Civilian Club was built to serve their 

recreational needs.

The nation’s defense buildup brought 

a huge influx of supplies, equipment and 

workload to the Fairfield Air Depot. From 

500 employees in 1939, the depot reached a 

wartime peak of almost 19,500. Ten percent 

of its 1939 workforce was female with most 

concentrated in office positions because 

regulations prohibited them from working in 

storerooms and industrial areas. Shortly after 

the war began, women were working in 

warehouses, repair shops, and a host of other 

areas due to the shortage of manpower. The 

installation was so short of employees that it 

sent recruiting teams to Appalachia to find 

workers. By 1944, women represented 50 

percent of the Patterson Field workforce.

Work at the Fairfield Air Depot 

included supply operations, maintenance and 

repair of engines and instruments, training, 

and providing expertise to plan and establish 

new depots. The volume of wartime work 

soon mandated substantial changes in 

operational procedures. Stock control and 

other activities were simplified. In the 

maintenance and repair areas detailed work 

order records were kept, procedures were 

standardized and published, and job control 

replaced cost accounting. The Quartermaster 

passed control of base transportation to the 

Post Commander who organized more 

efficient motor and rail transport systems. 

The airfield was extremely active and the 

tactical organizations assigned to Patterson 

Field were primarily transport units. Fairfield 

Air Depot’s history and experience led the 

Army Air Forces to use FAD as a proving

The wartime shortage of male workers, led FAD to 
17

recruit women to work at the depot

Dinner being served at a Patterson Field mess hall

ground for new ideas, thereby enabling the 

depot to pioneer many of the advances in 

logistics management.

Patterson Field also had a major 

training role. Its supply technicians trained 

service units and depot repair squadrons. 

They taught air depot groups to operate 

mobile remote depots and sub-depots. The 

field even trained newly recruited nurses. 

Patterson Field operated the Army Materiel 

Division Supply School and the Engineering 

Maintenance Officers’ Training School. It 

established a shops training program for 

civilian employees and worked with Ohio and 

Kentucky school districts to establish preinduction or pre-service training programs.

When World War II ended, Patterson 

Field hosted an Army Air Forces Base Unit

Separation Center that processed over 35,000

Patterson Field Post Exchange, adjacent to Building 10

soldiers from the service. Peace dramatically 

reduced the depot’s supply and maintenance 

operations. In January 1946, depot operations 

formally ended at Patterson Field when the 

Fairfield Air Depot was officially inactivated 

and its functions transferred to Air Materiel 

Areas.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE 

BASE

As World War II was ending, Wright 

and Patterson Field managers were jointly 

planning and administering the two fields. In

A ward in the Wood City cantonment hospital

1945 they integrated the master plans for the 

two fields into a single document and 

increasingly administrated the functions and 

services of the fields as a single installation. 

This practice was formalized in December 

1945 with the establishment of the Army Air 

Forces Technical Base, Dayton, Ohio, which 

consolidated the two fields into an umbrella 

organization for administrative purposes. 

Brigadier General Joseph T. Morris, the 

Commanding General of Wright Field was 

appointed commander of the new 

organization and directed to provide base 

operations support to the combined fields.
18

General Morris was a master planner 

with an impressive breadth of vision. As the

Brigadier General Joseph T. Morris, the “Father of 

Wright-Patterson AFB”

installation commander from 1945 to 1952, he 

skillfully guided the base from wartime to 

peacetime, managed the transition from the 

Army to the Air Force, supervised the 

establishment of Wright-Patterson Air Force 

Base, supervised the racial integration of the 

base, and oversaw base operations support for 

the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War. His 

brilliant and sensitive stewardship earned him 

the nickname of “Uncle Joe” and recognition 

as the “Father of Wright-Patterson Air Force 

Base.”

The AAF Technical Base was 

redesignated the Air Force Technical Base on 

December 9, 1947 to reflect its status as part 

of the new, independent United States Air 

Force. The final evolutionary step came on

January 13, 1948 when Wright Field and 

Patterson Field were merged into a single 

installation and redesignated Wright-Patterson 

Air Force Base. To facilitate daily 

management, Patterson Field was designated

The 4000th Air Force Base Unit emblem

“Area C” and Skyway Park (located across 

Kauffman Avenue and encompassing the area 

that is now Wright State University) became 

“Area D” of the installation.

∗

Wright-Patterson AFB was assigned 

to Air Materiel Command and received its 

operations support from the 4000th Air Force 

Base Unit. This unit was redesignated several 

times in 1948 and again on October 4, 1949 

when it became the 2750th Air Base Wing. 

(It was renamed the 645th Air Base Wing in 

1992 and the 88th Air Base Wing in 1994.) 

The wing’s mission was to manage the 

installation and provide base operations 

support (civil engineering, airfield operations, 

transportation, logistics, billeting, personnel 

management, finance, recreational services, 

etc.) to all organizations assigned to WrightPatterson. Its commander was the Base 

Commander and host for the installation.

 

∗ For an explanation of the evolution of Areas 

A, B, C, and D see Appendix A.
19

THE KOREAN WAR AND ITS 

AFTERMATH

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 

became a unified installation just as the Cold 

War was heating up. The Berlin Airlift, 

Korean War, and other Cold War activities 

directly impacted its operations. The Berlin 

Blockade and Airlift began in June 1948 and 

lasted until September 1949. The 

installation’s manpower soon rose from a 

postwar 1947 low of 21,000 to 25,000 in 1949. 

The aircraft logistics support that made the 

airlift possible was directed by Headquarters 

Air Materiel Command in Building 262. 

AMC managed the transfer of the larger and 

faster C-54 transports to Germany,

maintained a pipeline of parts and supplies 

that kept the aircraft flying, and arranged 

maintenance contracts to handle the 

overwhelming workload.

When the Korean War broke out, 

Wright-Patterson’s workload and labor force 

rapidly expanded. Base personnel strength 

surged to 34,000 in 1951 and then gradually 

declined to about 25,000 by 1959. The

expanded workforce quickly produced a 

housing shortage and the growing volume of 

automobile traffic required staggered work 

shifts to relieve rush hour congestion. The

U.S. Air Force Museum resided in Building 89, Area C, 

from 1954 to 1971

Wright Air Development Center Headquarters, 

Building 14, Area B

outbreak of the conflict sent Air Materiel 

Command into high speed supervising the 

recall and overhaul of stored aircraft, setting 

acquisition goals, and overseeing an industrial 

effort that placed new technology like the 

F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre into the 

hands of warfighters. AMC also established 

and maintained the logistics pipeline that 

flowed supplies to the theater of war. The 

base hospital received its first combat 

casualties in October 1950 and was kept busy 

treating the wounded throughout the conflict. 

Furthermore, the American Red Cross 

designated the hospital as a special blood 

collection center to meet the increased need 

for blood products.

Wright-Patterson remained an 

acquisition, logistics, and research and 

development center, but the scope and 

management of these activities were 

changing substantially. Automation and 

decentralization became major Air Materiel
20

In 1956, the new permanent USAF hospital opened in 

Area A

Command trends. Headquarters AMC 

entered the computer age on September 3, 

1954 with its first computer—a Remington 

Rand UNIVAC. The headquarters began 

decentralizing functions as it moved away 

from operations and focused on program 

management. The Air Force’s increased 

emphasis on research and development led 

AMC to transfer this function to a new major 

command in 1951. The Air Research and 

Development Command (ARDC) was 

established to supervise all research and 

development engineering on aircraft and 

aeronautical equipment. At the same time, 

the establishment of the Wright Air 

Development Center (WADC) organized 

Wright Field’s laboratories (included 

engineering, flight testing, the All-Weather 

Flying Division, and Office of Air Research) 

and brought them under ARDC’s control. 

The rapid acceleration and expansion of 

aerospace technology led to new, specialized 

research centers throughout the country. 

During the 1950s, Wright-Patterson 

transferred its large engine testing and 

ballistic missile development to these centers 

as well as its electronic support systems, 

armament, and rocket engine work. Air 

Materiel Command’s mission was limited to 

the acquisition and maintenance of aerial 

weapon systems and their supporting 

subsystems. Finally, an overall “systems” 

approach to acquisition replaced the 

traditional practice of developing individual 

components. This new methodology 

necessitated the creation of Joint Project 

Offices to coordinate planning and production 

between the various offices and commands. 

These offices would soon evolve into the 

System Program Offices used today.

The 2750th Air Base Wing was 

actively involved with flightline operations. 

In 1951, Area B and C flightline operations 

were consolidated and moved to Building 8 in 

Area B. WADC’s Flight Test Division 

relocated to Area C to take advantage of the 

better runway and safer approach areas. This 

point was reinforced in 1958 when the Air 

Force closed the Wright Field runway to jet 

aircraft. A further consolidation of flightline 

operations came in 1959 when the wing 

gained responsibility for WADC’s standard 

aircraft field maintenance. The air base wing 

also operated support and training aircraft. 

It’s assigned T-33 jet trainers and F-80s 

helped Wright-Patterson pilots transition to jet 

aircraft. Wright-Patterson also became a 

major hub in the Logistics Aircraft 

(LOGAIR) air supply network created in 

1954.

Building 4010 on the West Ramp housed a Strategic Air 

Command B-52 alert force
21

When completed, the all-wooden Radar Test Facility 

(Building 821) supported pioneering stealth technology 

research

Tenant organizations added to the 

flightline activity. F-86Ds and F-104 

Starfighters belonging to Air Defense 

Command’s 97th Fighter-Interceptor 

Squadron (later redesignated the 56th FIS) 

provided air defense for the industrial areas of 

the Miami Valley from 1951 to 1960. The 

58th Air Division operated an air defense 

control center for an eleven state area from 

1955 to 1958. When Strategic Air Command 

initiated nuclear alert operations, WrightPatterson hosted nuclear armed B-52 

bombers. SAC stationed the 4043rd Strategic 

Wing (later 17th Bomb Wing) at WrightPatterson from 1959 to 1975. To 

accommodate the wing, the base acquired 465 

acres on the northeast corner of the 

installation where it built the West Ramp 

complex to house SAC’s operations. Several 

tenant organizations that ceased operations 

during World War II were reactivated. The 

Army Air Force Institute of Technology 

reopened its doors in December 1945 and the 

Air Force Museum opened for business in 

1954.

Cold War operations changed the 

physical appearance of Wright-Patterson AFB 

as temporary World War II structures were 

removed to make way for new construction.

Wright Air Development Center emblem

A housing shortage spawned several 

construction programs. In 1953, the Page 

Manor housing complex added 2,000 family 

units to the base. A new bachelor officer 

quarters (Building 825) opened in 1954 and in 

1959 the completion of Building 826 added 

194 visiting officer quarters to the base. 1957 

found enlisted airmen moving from World 

War II temporary wooden barracks into a new

barracks complex in Wood City. A 

permanent hospital in Area A replaced the 

World War II cantonment facility in 1956. 

Finally, the last of 536 Skyway Park family 

housing units in Area D was removed in 

1959.

New laboratory and research facilities 

in Area B reflected the advance of 

technology. Some technologies required the 

expansion of existing facilities while others 

mandated new structures like the Rocket Test, 

Microwave, and Gas Dynamic Research 

Facilities. Perhaps the most unique structure 

was the Radar Test Facility completed in 

1947 along National Road. It was built 

entirely of wood (even metal nails were 

avoided) to prevent interference with radar 

reflection and cross section testing performed 

there. Pioneering research done in Building 

821 paved the way for stealth technology.
22

THE VIETNAM ERA

The Air Force opened the decade of 

the 1960’s with a major restructuring that 

would govern Wright-Patterson AFB 

operations for the next thirty years. On April 

1, 1961, the Air Force transferred Air 

Materiel Command’s procurement and 

production functions for new systems to 

ARDC. It then redesignated AMC as the Air 

Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and 

ARDC as the Air Force Systems Command 

(AFSC). In Area B, the procurement and 

production duties of AMC’s Aeronautical 

Systems Center were combined with the 

research and development responsibilities of 

WADC to create a new Air Force unit, the 

Aeronautical Systems Division (ASD) which 

was assigned to AFSC. The laboratories were 

separated from engineering development and 

assigned to Headquarters AFSC so they could 

better concentrate on advanced technology 

research. The newly created Air Force 

Systems Command was responsible for new 

weapon systems from the research and 

development phase through initial 

deployment. AFLC became responsible for

Original 1969 version of the 2750th Air Base Wing 

emblem

Building 262 became Headquarters Air Force Logistics 

Command in 1961

supporting the systems during their 

operational lifetimes. The 2750th Air Base

Wing was assigned to Air Force Logistics 

Command, which was headquartered at 

Wright-Patterson. Headquarters AFSC 

moved to Andrews AFB, Maryland.

Daily routines at Wright-Patterson 

soon yielded to the increasing demands of 

military operations in Vietnam. AFLC’s 

combat support grew rapidly and by 

September 1964 the command was calling 

upon the 2750th Air Base Wing for 

assistance. The wing immediately began 

shipping materiel and support personnel to the 

combat theater and became a prime procurer 

of loaders, revetments, and shelters. In 

November 1965, the wing provided 

15 members for AFLC’s first Air Force 

Prime BEEF (Base Engineering Emergency 

Force) mobility military civil engineering 

force. Other base support included flight 

training, small-arms weapons training, vehicle 

operator training, and laundry management 

courses. The Air Force Institute of 

Technology established extension courses in 

the combat zone and participated in project 

Corona Harvest to glean lessons learned. 

Wright-Patterson’s most public role came in 

1973 when the U.S. Air Force Medical Center 

Wright-Patterson became one of ten Air Force 

medical facilities selected to receive and 

process former prisoners of war. Operation
23

Major William J. Baugh being welcomed home during 

Operation Homecoming

Homecoming eventually brought 30 Air Force 

officers to the base for processing and 

reorientation.

The laboratories and Aeronautical 

Systems Division in Area B were busy 

inventing and improving the systems used by

the combatants. The laboratories developed 

jet fuels and lubricants for all services, 

worked on phased array radars and airborne 

lasers, explored the use of composite 

structural materials, and pursued stealth and 

fly-by-wire technologies. ASD established a 

special division to quickly respond to combat 

requirements and evaluate new hardware. Its

hundreds of rapid response programs ranged

from developing tactical electronic warfare 

systems and guided bombs to modifying 

cargo aircraft into side-firing gunships. Its 

efforts produced products ranging from 

AC-47 and AC-130 gunships to intrusion 

alarms and a mobile tactical air control 

system. The division deployed the F-4C, 

F-111, C-141, C-5A, SR-71, F-15, and A-10 

and conducted extensive research on the 

XB-70 and B-1.

The base population rose as in

previous conflicts. By 1964 it reached over 

30,000 before stabilizing at 25-26,000 for the 

rest of the war. Meanwhile, consolidation and 

automation continued to influence base 

support operations. In 1960, on base units 

transferred their aircraft to the 2750th Air 

Base Wing so the wing could provide 

consolidated mission support airlift to base 

organizations. The wing automated its base 

supply activities and in 1962 established a 

Consolidated Military Personnel Center to 

take advantage of mechanized payroll and 

record services. In 1971 the wing and ASD 

merged their Consolidated Base Personnel 

Offices. The Wright-Patterson Central 

Command Post was established in 1960 to 

provide a single control point for emergency 

operations and test exercises. In 1975, the 

wing assumed operation of AFLC’s command 

and control functions and jointly operated the 

Wright-Patterson and AFLC Operations 

Centers. The opening of a new Area C 

control tower in 1963 facilitated the shifting

of flight operations from Area B and the 

eventual closure of the Area B runway.

A tragic November 21, 1961 fire destroyed Building 

262A, the AFLC Annex, and took the lives of two base 

firefighters
24

Substantial facility changes occurred 

during the Vietnam era. World War II era 

structures fell in rapid succession to make 

way for new facilities and open space. A 

1961 fire destroyed the AFLC headquarters

annex. Building 266 was constructed on the 

site to resume the role of supporting the major 

command’s headquarters. AFIT dedicated the 

School of Engineering (Building 640) in 

1964, the institute’s first step in its transition 

to a modern campus. Wright-Patterson 

fostered another academic institution in 1963 

when it transferred 190 acres in Area D to the 

State of Ohio and contributed technical 

support to establish and construct Wright 

State University. On September 3, 1973,

President Richard M. Nixon opened the new 

Air Force Museum facility in Area B.

Rapid developments in aerospace 

technology necessitated new research and 

testing equipment and facilities. A 1960 

addition to the structural test facility 

supported the X-20 Dyna-Soar and B-70 

programs. Wright-Patterson became home to 

the world’s largest optical collimator and the 

free world’s largest aerospace and missile 

sonic test chamber. The Foreign Technology 

Division gained a new laboratory (Building 

829) in 1965. Two years later, the Electronic

Nuclear Engineering Test Facility (Building 470) was the 

nation’s seventh largest nuclear reactor

Warfare Research Center (Building 620) 

opened with its distinctive twin towers. The 

Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory 

doubled its capacity to conduct toxicology 

research. Wright-Patterson welcomed the Air 

Force’s only nuclear research reactor, the 

Nuclear Research Engineering Facility

(Building 470) in 1960. It was constructed to 

help develop nuclear powered aircraft 

engines. When the program was canceled, the 

facility was turned over to AFIT’s nuclear 

engineering program. The 10-megawatt 

reactor went on line in 1965 and operated for 

five years. It was deactivated in 1970 due to 

high operational costs and entombed in 

concrete.

Quality of life improvements started 

with completion of the Twin Base Golf Club 

in 1963 and the reopening of golf club 

membership to base civilians for the first time 

since World War II. The Grand Ballroom 

was added to the Officers’ Club while the 

NCO Club received major renovation and a 

new Airmen Service Club replaced a World 

War II structure destroyed by fire. Wood 

City’s conversion from a World War II 

compound into a modern living and recreation 

area was marked by its being renaming as 

Kittyhawk Center in 1972. The Woodland 

Hills, Pine Estates, and Green Acres family

Airmen place a new headstone at the on-base gravesite 

of Pvt Hiram Honaker, March 1971
25

New Fuels and Lubrication Laboratory (Building 490)

housing complexes added 800 family housing 

units. An aggressive campaign with the State 

of Ohio in the 1960s planted over 60,000 trees 

to beautify the base and a cooperative timber 

management program reforested 420 acres on 

base.

Wright-Patterson honored its heritage 

in 1971 when it placed a new tombstone at the 

grave of Private Hiram Honaker, a black Civil 

War veteran of the 5th Regiment, U.S. 

Colored Cavalry. Private Honaker was buried 

in the Cox family cemetery which had 

become part of Wright-Patterson AFB in 

1950. That same year, a pylon site on the 

Huffman Prairie Flying Field was listed on 

the National Register of Historic Places.

END OF THE COLD WAR

A period of rapid transition, declining 

funding, and uncertainty within the defense 

establishment followed the Vietnam War. 

Postwar austerity gave way in the early 1980s 

to increased defense spending. WrightPatterson Air Force Base operations 

paralleled these trends. Manpower 

drawdowns and the conversion of government 

work to contract operations dropped the base 

population to around 23,000 before it rose to 

about 30,000 in 1989. Organizational 

changes occurred as the Air Force moved 

away from its Vietnam-era structure toward

Woodland Hills housing complex under construction

one better suited to the Cold War and the 

dynamic progress of technology. Another 

period of cutbacks near the end of the 1980s 

heralded the climatic collapse of communism 

and the end of the Cold War.

The Wright-Patterson laboratories 

continued their work on cutting-edge 

technologies. Research covered a variety of 

projects such as “all glass” cockpits, very 

high speed integrated circuits, variable 

camber wings, short takeoff and landing 

technology, advanced structural alloys and 

composite materials, artificial intelligence, 

and improved gas turbine engines. This rapid 

pace of technological development also 

contributed to organizational instability for 

the laboratories. The Aerospace Research 

Laboratories inactivated in 1975 and its 

resources were assigned to the newly 

activated Air Force Wright Aeronautical 

Laboratories (AFWAL) which was assigned 

to AFSC. AFWAL included the materials, 

avionics, aero propulsion, and flight dynamics 

laboratories. AFSC reorganized the

laboratories in 1982 to improve the transition 

of newly discovered technologies into 

operational systems. AFWAL was assigned 

to the Aeronautical Systems Division. In 

1988 it became the Wright Research and 

Development Center and added an electronic
26

Wright-Patterson work crews helped Xenia recover from 

the 1974 tornado

technology laboratory and directorates for 

manufacturing technology, cockpit 

integration, and signature technology. Two 

years later it acquired the armament 

laboratory at Eglin AFB. The organization 

was redesignated as the Wright Laboratory in 

December 1990.

The Aeronautical Systems Division 

continued to modernize the tactical and 

strategic forces. It upgraded the F-15 and 

F-16, improved avionics, fielded the F-117, 

and B-1B and began work on the F-22, C-17, 

T-1A, and new Presidential aircraft. It also 

returned to hypersonic research with the 

X-30A National Aero-Space Plane.

Air Force Logistics Command 

continued to support and equip the force 

despite inflation and stiff competition for 

government dollars. The command turned to 

computer technology and better management 

techniques to control costs. It remodeled the

archaic World War II depot system and 

physical plants and initiated support for the 

Rapid Deployment Force. In 1976 AFLC 

established the Air Force Acquisition 

Logistics Directorate to plan the integration of 

operational support in the acquisition process. 

The command began emphasizing reliability 

and maintainability in 1987 as solutions 

to increasingly complex weapons systems. It

The Brick Quarters streets in Area A were memorialized 

in July1976

also worked on promoting artificial 

intelligence, bolstering the U.S. industrial 

base for mobilization, and quality 

management techniques.

At the base level, Wright-Patterson 

faced several emergencies in the mid-1970s. 

The 1973 Arab-Israeli war produced an Arab 

boycott of oil sales to the United States. 

Wright-Patterson was forced to develop and 

institute an energy savings program that 

substantially reduced consumption across the 

installation. A devastating tornado on April 

3, 1974 hit Xenia, Ohio, leaving 34 people 

dead, 500 injured, and damaged or destroyed

1,500 homes. Wright-Patterson responded 

immediately with medical aid, search and 

rescue teams, aerial photography, supplies, 

and cleanup crews.

In 1975, the 2750th Air Base Wing 

divested its aircraft, ending the active flying 

mission the wing had performed since 1948. 

It continued to operate the airfield and support 

tenant flying organizations while the 4950th 

Test Wing assumed its aircraft maintenance 

and support functions. The scope of these 

operations shrank significantly on June 1, 

1976 when the Area B (Wright Field) 

aerodrome closed after fifty years of flight 

operations.
27

Arnold House Heritage Center, the base’s oldest 

building, was dedicated in 1986 as the base heritage and 

VIP reception center

The nation’s 1976 bicentennial 

celebration awakened interest in WrightPatterson’s history and heritage. Over the 

next 15 years a wave of memorial dedications 

swept the base, beginning with the dedication 

of AFLC headquarters (Building 262) in 

honor of Brigadier General William E. 

Gillmore. In 1977 the Brick Quarters streets 

were renamed and the Major General Frank 

G. Barnes Memorial Park was dedicated. 

Eventually the Kittyhawk dorms and dining 

hall, Building 10 (Morris Hall), Building 640 

(Bane Hall), Buildings 248 and 641 (Fitts and 

Twining Halls), Building 88 (Foulois House), 

and Quarters 1 (Robins House) among other 

facilities would be named to honor

individuals. For the 75th Anniversary of 

Powered Flight in 1978, the Miami 

Conservancy District transferred a 

commemorative plot on the Huffman Prairie 

Flying Field, the 27-acre park on Wright 

Brothers Hill, and the Wright Memorial to 

Wright-Patterson AFB. Building 8, the oldest 

on the base, was saved from the wrecking 

ball, restored, and converted into the base 

heritage center. A May 16, 1986 ceremony 

dedicated the facility as the Arnold House 

Heritage Center in honor of General Henry 

“Hap” Arnold, its most distinguished 

former resident. In September, the Miami 

Valley Military Affairs Association dedicated

The Arnold House Heritage Center hosted the First Lady, 

Cabinet Secretaries, Secretary of the Air Force, Senators, 

and Congressmen from 1986 to its closure in 2014

a memorial next to the heritage center that 

honored prisoners of war and those missing in 

action.

Wright-Patterson AFB’s World War II 

footprint continued to fade. In 1979, Wright 

Field’s original hangars 2, 3, and 10 were 

razed to make way for a new Fuels and 

Lubricants Laboratory. The Civilian Club 

closed and the building was remodeled for 

other uses. Modernization of Kittyhawk 

complex moved into high gear with a new 

child care center, sports fields, recreational 

areas, a gym, swimming pool, base exchange,

and commissary. Many organizations 

benefitted from new facilities. The Foreign 

Technology Division moved into Building 

856 and AFIT opened its new School of 

Systems Logistics in Building 641. An 

Aircraft Survivability Research Facility was 

opened in 1982 and the next year the Aero 

Medical Research Laboratory biotechnology 

facility, Building 248, was ready. Other new 

research facilities included the High Power 

Research Laboratory and Building 655, a 

metals and ceramics center for the Materials 

Laboratory. The Air Force Museum added 

the Gallery of Flight and the Medical Center 

doubled its capacity. To celebrate its

45th anniversary in 1989, AFLC erected a 

flag pole complex and an aircraft display 

in front of its headquarters. Finally, the entire
28

Prisoner of War and Missing in Action memorial 

adjacent to the Arnold House Heritage Center

community was looking forward to 

completion of Interstate 675 and the 

interchanges that would connect it to the base.

Tenant units continued to arrive and 

depart the installation. The 17th 

Bombardment Wing’s departure in 1975 

ended SAC’s strategic nuclear alert mission at 

Wright-Patterson. Two years later, the 

Defense Institute of Security Assistance 

Management and the 3552d USAF Recruiting 

Service Squadron became base tenants. The 

Air Force Orientation Group moved from 

Area B to Dayton’s Gentile AFS in 1981. 

The 1982 activation of the 906th Tactical 

Fighter Wing (AFRES) boosted activity on 

the base flightline.

TRANSITION TO CONTINGENCY 

OPERATIONS

The Cold War’s end brought WrightPatterson and the nation its first traditional 

peacetime status since World War II. The 

transition produced dynamic restructuring, 

personnel reductions, budget pressures, and 

new business modes. Amid these changes, 

Wright-Patterson supported contingency

operations and hosted peace talks.

Defense restructuring significantly 

affected Wright-Patterson’s operations. On 

July 1, 1992, the Air Force inactivated Air 

Force Systems Command and Air Force 

Logistics Command. In their place it 

activated the Air Force Material Command 

(AFMC) headquartered in Building 262 at 

Wright-Patterson AFB. AFMC once again 

unified the research, acquisition, and logistics 

missions within a single major command. 

The Aeronautical Systems Division was 

assigned to the new major command. A 

second restructuring focused on establishing 

standard organizations and structures across 

Air Force bases. Therefore, on July 1, 1992, 

the Aeronautical Systems Division was 

redesignated the Aeronautical Systems Center 

and replaced the 2750th Air Base Wing as the 

host organization for Wright-Patterson AFB. 

The air base wing and 74th Medical Group

were reassigned to the Aeronautical Systems 

Center. In October 1993 the 2750th Air Base 

Wing was redesignated the 645th Air Base 

Wing and in 1994 it became the 88th Air Base 

Wing. The next major restructuring came in 

1997 when Headquarters Air Force Research 

Laboratory (AFRL) was activated at WrightPatterson and assigned to AFMC. AFRL

consolidated the Air Force laboratories and 

absorbed the Wright Laboratory from the 

Aeronautical Systems Center.

Research, development, acquisition, 

logistics, and training, the work traditionally 

performed at Wright-Patterson remained 

unchanged. Test flying formally ended when

Wright-Patterson began hosting the largest of four DoD 

supercomputers in 1996
29

Wright-Patterson’s aerial port of embarkation deployed 

multi-service troops to the Desert Storm combat zone

the 4950th Test Wing moved to Edwards 

AFB, California, in 1994. New aircraft 

fielded in the 1990s were the B-2 bomber, the 

C-17, and the T-1A. Several C-135 airframes 

were modified to support Open Skies Treaty 

missions and the F-22 Raptor progressed from 

the drawing board to test flight. In 1996, the 

Aeronautical Systems Center also began 

hosting a Department of Defense 

supercomputer.

Two unexpected events—a war and 

peace talks—briefly disrupted WrightPatterson’s normal routine. Iraq invaded 

Kuwait in August 1990 and the ensuing 

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm 

protected neighboring Arab nations and 

liberated Kuwait. The 2750th Air Base Wing

Wright-Patterson’s Honor Guard awaits an arriving 

Balkans Peace Talks delegation

deployed base personnel and performed its 

wartime Aerial Port of Embarkation mission 

by processing and deploying 2,309 Army 

Soldiers and 2,267 short tons of cargo. The 

wing redeployed 331 Air Force and 1,916 

Army personnel, and handled 54 short tons of 

cargo after the operations ended. The 4950th 

Test Wing flew 181 sorties and transported 

1,400 tons of cargo. The Aeronautical 

Systems Division supported and expanded the 

capabilities of the aeronautical systems used in 

the conflict and gave the Air Force a stunning 

technological superiority.

Four years after Desert Storm, WrightPatterson took center stage as a forum for

The Presidents sign the Dayton Peace Agreements

world peace. Secretary of State Warren 

Christopher announced on October 18, 1995 

that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base would 

host peace talks between the combatants in 

the Balkans conflict. The base was selected 

for its excellent airfield, convenient air 

connections, privacy, security, and logistical 

support. Its decisive advantage, however, was 

its lodging facilities. The proximity of the 

Area A Hope Hotel, conference facilities 

(Building 824,), and the Visiting Officers 

Quarters (Buildings 832-836) formed an 

excellent diplomatic compound with separate 

but identical facilities for each delegation. 

The Balkan Peace Talks Support Team led by 

the AFMC Vice Commander was manned 
30

primarily by the 88th Air Base Wing with 

volunteers from most other base units. The 

local community also contributed 

significantly to the event. The wing erected a

“base within the base” to house the diplomatic 

compound, ensure security, and minimize 

disruptions to normal base operations. The 

Balkan Proximity Peace Talks began 

November 1st and successfully concluded on 

the 21st with the signing of the Dayton Peace 

Agreement, officially designated as the 

General Framework Agreement for Peace in 

Bosnia and Herzegovina. The talks were a 

milestone in Wright-Patterson’s history with 

over 2,000 people receiving formal 

recognition for their contributions. The 

highest honor, however, came from Secretary 

of State Warren Christopher who wrote the 

88th Air Base Wing commander:

The hard work, superior performance 

and cheerful enthusiasm which you 

and your colleagues brought to this 

effort were key elements in the 

successful conclusion of the Talks.

Defense reductions and consolidations 

influenced base-level operations throughout 

the decade. The 88th Air Base Wing lost 

some business, but gained customers and 

expanded the geographic area it served as 

installations and defense organizations closed. 

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service 

absorbed the base’s payroll and other 

financial work while the Air Force Personnel 

Center in Texas took over personnel 

management. LOGAIR ceased operations in 

1992. The base railroad system shut down the 

next year. In 1996, the air base wing closed 

its Aircraft Tire Storage and Distribution 

Point. At the same time the wing began a 

new round of contracting studies that reduced 

some activities and converted others, such as 

base supply, transportation, and flightline 

operations, to contract operations.

Among the air base wing’s major new 

responsibilities was the brief return of an 

active flying mission. The 47th Airlift Flight

was assigned to the wing in May 1993. It 

performed administrative flight support duties 

with a fleet of C-12 and C-21 aircraft until the 

unit was reassigned to Air Mobility 

Command in 1997. Wright-Patterson was 

designated a forward operating location for 

the E-4 National Airborne Operations Center

aircraft in 1994. The year before, the On Site 

Inspection Agency made the base a staging 

area for mock certification and trial flights 

under terms of the Open Skies Treaty. 

Wright-Patterson was formally designated an 

Open Skies Treaty Airfield in 1995. The 

wing also processed base personnel for 

deployment to numerous worldwide 

contingency operations.

Wright-Patterson’s cultural property

and historic structures received significant 

attention. In October 1990, the Wright 

Brothers’ original 84.42-acre flying field was 

designated the Huffman Prairie Flying Field 

and listed as a National Historic Landmark. 

The adjacent 109 acres, which formed the 

largest natural tall grass prairie remnant in 

Ohio, was named the Huffman Prairie. 

A replica of the Wright Brothers’ 1905 hangar

was constructed and the two sites opened to

Fisher House (Building 831) opened in 1994
31

General James H. Doolittle Acquisition Management 

Complex dedicated in 1994

the general public for the first time since 

1917. On October 16, 1992, the Huffman 

Prairie Flying Field became part of the newly 

created Dayton Aviation Heritage National 

Historical Park.

Warrior Hall (Building 271), opened 

in 1990 as AFLC’s logistical system 

operations center, headed a list of new 

facilities. Two years later, AFLC opened a 

modernized command post. The Hope Hotel 

and Conference Center began business as the 

first private commercial hotel in the Air 

Force. It was built as a private sector 

investment and operated exclusively for the 

Air Force under a multi-year lease. Adjacent 

to the hotel was a newly redesigned Gate 12A 

and visitor center. Other construction on old 

Patterson Field included the Foreign Materiel 

Exploitation Facility (Building 4023), the 

Fisher House (Building 831), and the addition 

of cargo pads to the airfield’s taxiway. In 

Area B, the Air Force Institute of Technology 

opened General George C. Kenney Hall

(Building 642) and the School for Civil 

Engineering and Services (Building 643). 

Wright Laboratory’s Optical System 

Laboratory and Materials Processing 

Laboratories were ready in 1992. The 

General James H. Doolittle Acquisition 

Management Complex, a multi-phased 

initiative to consolidate the acquisition 

community in a single, secure, state-of-the-art 

work center, opened in 1994 and soon 

included buildings dedicated to Lieutenant 

General James T. Stewart, Lieutenant General 

Kenneth B. Wolfe, Major General William 

Mitchell, and Mr. Frederick T. Rall, Jr.

Defense restructuring affected many 

tenant organizations. The 4950th Test Wing 

moved to Edwards AFB, California, and the 

906th Fighter Group inactivated. In their 

place the base welcomed the 445th Airlift 

Wing, the National Airborne Operations 

Center, the 47th Airlift Flight, the Joint Depot 

Maintenance Supply Group, and the Defense 

Contract Management Command Dayton. A 

laboratory restructuring inactivated the 

Wright Laboratory and activated 

Headquarters Air Force Research Laboratory 

on April 1, 1997. The National Aviation Hall 

of Fame also collocated with the U.S. Air 

Force Museum.

A GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM

On September 11, 2001, terrorists 

hijacked and crashed several airliners into the 

World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base immediately 

transitioned to wartime operations. Operation 

Enduring Freedom (OEF) and the 

commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom 

(OIF) in 2003 required the base to support 

the combat commands with manpower, 

weapon systems, technology, innovation, and

Andrew Herr wins the first Air Force Marathon in 1997
32

Base security increased substantially after the September 

2001 attacks.

ingenuity. Following the 9/11 tragedy, the 

Air Force shifted from planning and 

developing weapons systems that focused on 

specific adversaries and geographic locations 

toward emphasizing systems that could be 

employed effectively against a variety of 

enemies, battlefields, and with weapon 

capabilities that could be transferred from one 

system to another.

Within hours of the attack, WrightPatterson’s physical and operational security 

underwent dramatic and permanent change. 

Access to the installation became more 

restrictive. Base civil engineers and security 

personnel implemented anti-terrorism and 

operational security measures. Fencing and 

security barriers were added, moved, and 

reconfigured to reduce vulnerabilities and 

increase force protection. Base gate entrances

Deploying base personnel to worldwide locations 

became a major 88th Air Base Wing activity

were altered and reinforced. Some gates were 

closed and several new ones opened. A new 

delivery vehicle entry point was created at 

Gate 16A. The most significant change, 

however, was not completed until 2013, when 

Gate 1A replaced the former Gate 1C in 

Fairborn. The new entrance closed and 

incorporated the segment of Ohio State Route 

444 that separated Kittyhawk Center from 

Areas A and C. The result was a unified, 

easier to manage, and more secure 

installation.

Throughout the war, the 88th Air Base 

Wing performed its Aerial Port of 

Embarkation mission by shipping supplies 

and equipment around the world. It also 

deployed Wright-Patterson personnel around 

the globe. The largest contingents of 

deploying base personnel came from the 

88th Security Forces Squadron, 88th Medical 

Group, and 445th Airlift Wing. To maintain 

on-base operations during the deployments, 

base units turned to reservists and crosstrained augmentees for support. From 

February 2003 until November 2004, the 

Ohio Army National Guard’s Alpha 

Company, 112th Engineer Battalion, from 

Wooster, Ohio, mobilized to assist the 

88th Security Forces Squadron with securing 

the base. When the Army Guardsmen 

departed, contracted civilian guards were 

hired to augment security at Wright 

Patterson’s gates. The 88th Air Base Wing 

also introduced a warfighter skills training 

program for Airmen deploying to the combat 

zones. The Wing’s Family Support Center 

oversaw an aggressive program that supported 

deployed airmen and their families. One of 

Wright-Patterson Medical Center’s major 

activities was collecting blood for wounded 

combatants. Its Blood Donor Center was one 

of three in the Air Force and the only one 

supporting the Department of Defense’s

Frozen Blood Program. The hospital’s 

nursing staff also entered into a joint training 
33

program with Miami Valley Hospital to gain 

exposure and training with patients suffering 

multiple traumas, injuries, and burns. It

prepared military nurses for treating the 

combat casualties they would encounter when 

deployed to combat zones.

Wright-Patterson’s tenant units

actively supported the war effort. Air Force 

Materiel Command’s work force oversaw the 

development and transition of technology, 

acquisition management, test and evaluation, 

and sustainment of the Air Force weapon 

systems and materiel required to support 

warfighters. AFMC accelerated the fielding

of systems under development and provided 

logistical support to the combat forces. The 

Air Force Research Laboratory explored ideas 

and made new technologies available to 

combatants. Laboratory scientists and 

engineers accelerated the development and 

fielding of improvements that made aircraft 

and equipment more lethal, survivable, and 

sustainable. They also devised technologies 

that improved the safety and effectiveness of 

the warfighters. The National Air and Space 

Intelligence Center performed its mission by 

contributing technical intelligence to planners 

and combatants.

The 445th Airlift Wing transported 

troops and supplies to the combat theaters and 

evacuated wounded personnel back to the 

United States on its return flights. The wing’s 

356th and 89th Airlift Squadrons were 

activated along with a partial activation of its

maintenance squadrons to support Operation 

Iraqi Freedom. In 2003, Wright-Patterson Air 

Force Base became the continental U.S. 

staging facility for all Air Force Reserve 

C-141 operations supporting Operation 

Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 

and the War on Terrorism. The airlift wing 

also operated the on base Air Force 

Consolidated Mobility Bag Control Center

SrA Michael Crane kisses his son prior to deployment

established in 2002 to provide chemical gear 

to deployed forces around the world.

The Aeronautical Systems Center’s 

program managers supported the combat 

commands with battlefield equipment, 

systems upgrades, and problem resolutions. 

They responded to numerous urgent 

operational need and acquisition surge 

requests affecting both old and new weapon

Warfighter training intensified after 9/11
34

The 1963 West Ramp air traffic control tower was 

demolished in 2004

systems. The B-1 program office transformed 

the Lancer from a Cold War nuclear weapon 

into a conventional strike platform. Quickly 

applied AC-130Us modifications reduced the 

aircraft’s interior light emissions to increase 

its survivability. Improved C-130 and C-17 

capabilities and delivery systems supported 

combat operations and humanitarian relief 

efforts. The C-27J Spartan program delivered 

reliable, affordable medium-sized cargo 

aircraft for forward deployed Army forces 

and Air Force intra-theater missions. ASC

successfully initiated the MC-12W Liberty 

program to acquire and modify Hawker 

Beechcraft turboprop aircraft for intelligence 

operations. The Global War on Terrorism 

was also a catalyst for operational deployment 

of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that were 

still being developed. Global Hawks 

deployed to the combat theater in 2001, four 

years before their projected operational date. 

MQ-1 Predators armed with Hellfire 

missiles were also hastened into battle the 

same year. UAV program managers 

accelerated manufacturing and infrastructure 

improvements to increase aircraft production. 

The larger and more powerful MQ-9 Reaper 

achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in 

2007. ASC and the Air Force Security 

Assistance Center aided the Afghanistan Air

Force with the acquisition of aircraft for 

undergraduate pilot training and the Iraqi Air 

Force with T-6A trainers.

While sustaining the Air Force’s aging 

fleet of aircraft, ASC was also acquiring the 

next generation of air power systems. The 

first operational CV-22 Osprey was delivered 

to Air Force Special Operations Command in 

2007 and IOC was achieved two years later. 

Boeing delivered the last of 223 C-17 aircraft 

to the Air Force in 2013. The F-22 Raptor 

reached IOC in 2005 and the Air Force 

accepted the last production fighter in 2012. 

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) fifth

generation fighter to replace the Air Force’s 
35

aging fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 

Thunderbolt II’s was in the System 

Development and Demonstration acquisition 

phase. The Air Force accepted its first 

production-model F-35A from prime 

contractor Lockheed Martin in 2011 and 

established an IOC date of December 2016. 

A contract for a fleet of 179 KC-46A aerial 

tankers was awarded to the Boeing Company 

in February 2011.

REVAMPING THE ACQUISITION 

ENTERPRISE

The acquisition enterprise underwent a 

comprehensive transformation and process 

overhaul in the new millennium. In May 

2003, the Department of Defense issued new 

acquisition process guidance. It emphasized a 

capabilities-base versus requirements-based 

acquisition philosophy and offered more 

latitude for innovation and discretionary 

action at every level of the acquisition 

process, particularly for program managers. 

For the Air Force, the directive meant 

delivering capabilities to the warfighter 

quickly while increasing the credibility of 

promises made on cost, schedule, and 

performance. Rapidly providing capabilities to 

the warfighters superseded acquisition programs 

focused on eliminating the risks of possible 

failure.

The Air Force Chief of Staff initiated 

a review of the Air Force’s product, logistics, 

and test centers in 2003 to explore more 

efficient means of managing and streamlining 

acquisition processes and responsibilities and 

to make the centers more recognizable and 

understandable to their counterparts across the 

Air Force. The first major change for the 

Aeronautical Systems Center came in 

February 2004. To improve program 

accountability, the ASC commander was 

designated the Air Force Program Executive 

Officer for Aircraft (AFPEO/AC) and put in 

charge of program execution. Aircraft PEO

Wright-Pattersons’s new control tower, 2003

portfolios were consolidated into larger 

mission groups, moved from Washington 

D.C. to Wright-Patterson AFB and assigned 

to ASC. Later in the year, ASC transferred its 

installation commander responsibilities and 

the 74th Medical Group to the 88th Air Base 

Wing so the center could focus on its core 

systems acquisition mission. A third change 

in January 2005 abolished the System 

Program Offices and replaced them with 

standard Air Force wings, groups, and 

squadrons. These units were assigned their

Wright-Patterson Medical Center complex 
36

Movers relocate the 1931 Wright Field guard house to 

the new Gate 1B location

own organic functional resources and 

manpower. Matrix management, the practice 

of detailing functional support as needed to 

the program offices, was eliminated. The 

conversion to standard Air Force units was 

intended to make acquisition and product 

centers more transparent to the operational 

side of the service and reduce confusion when 

programs moved from the acquisition to the 

sustainment phase. Units with their own 

organic resources were to increase capabilities 

development and establish better program 

execution accountability.

Building on the success of the 2003 

reorganization, the Air Force decided in 2010 

to refine its PEO structure to establish better 

communication, clearer lines of authority, and

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force with its Cold War 

gallery addition 

improved accountability within the 

acquisition community. The ASC 

commander ceased being the AFPEO for 

Aircraft and five new subordinate Program 

Executive Officer positions were established 

in ASC. The PEOs were named directors of 

the new product directorate and were given 

responsibility for the execution of their 

acquisition programs. They continued to 

report on their programs to the Service 

Acquisition Executive at the Pentagon. As 

part of the PEO restructure, the Air Force 

chose to abandon the unit structure and 

replace it with named directorates, divisions, 

and branches. Commanders of the military

Gate 1B with its new canopy

units had found themselves distracted and 

burdened by administrative tasks and 

hindered by hierarchical military structures 

that impeded the timely information flow and 

decision making. Moving and detailing 

functional support personnel between units 

had also become a slow and cumbersome 

process because senior functional directors no 

longer owned cadres of specialists whom they

could detail to program offices as needed. 

Command, supervisory, and support 

responsibilities reverted to the ASC staff as 

did the flexibility to allocate personnel to 

individual programs as needed.

By 2009, the Air Force was 

contending with multiple acquisition 

initiatives, force reductions, an unquenchable 
37

desire for technological capabilities, industry 

consolidation, and budget constraints. In 

addition, highly publicized problems with the 

KC-X Tanker source selection and 

cancellation of the Combat Search and 

Rescue Aircraft program finally led Congress 

and the Department of Defense to implement 

rules and procedural changes for major 

weapon system procurement. Following the 

end of the Cold War, the Air Force had been 

directed to substantially reduce its 

procurement specialist workforce and replace 

it with private industry contractors to save 

money through competition. However, the 

Air Force’s contractual actions continued to

Air Force senior leaders at the 2009 Corona Top 

conference

increase and its dollar execution tripled with 

the War on Terrorism. Outsourcing and 

downsizing produced a poorly trained, 

unprepared, and overwhelmed workforce. 

This situation was corrected in 2009 when 

Congress approved reversing outsourcing and 

converting 10,000 contracted defense jobs to 

federal civilian employees by 2015 to both 

strengthen government oversight of essential 

government work and to save money.

On June 4, 2010, the Secretary of 

Defense challenged the military services to 

eliminate redundant functions and increase

A wintry day at Headquarters 88th Air Base Wing, 

(Building 10)

mission funding through efficiency savings in 

overhead, support, and non-core mission 

areas. A subsequent Air Force strategic 

review revealed imbalances between high 

priority areas requiring more manpower and 

management overhead functions that needed 

streamlining. A DoD Resource Management 

Decision freezing civilian manpower at 

FY 2010 budget levels forced the Air Force 

to initiate a variety of measures to correct 

manpower imbalances and realign scarce 

resources to its most critical missions. 

AFMC’s leaders decided in 2011 to reduce 

the command’s twelve location-specific 

centers with their full support staffs to five 

mission-based, integrated life cycle centers. 

The five-center construct eliminated

redundant staff layers, cut over 1,000 civilian 

positions, and decreased overhead costs.

Wright-Patterson’s new consolidated fire and crash 

rescue station
38

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center heraldic device

The five AFMC centers were the Air 

Force Life Cycle Management Center 

(AFLCMC) at Wright-Patterson AFB; the Air 

Force Sustainment Center (AFSC) at Tinker 

Air Force Base, Oklahoma; the Air Force Test 

Center (AFTC) at Edwards AFB, California; 

the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at 

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; and the Air 

Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) 

at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. They brought

Building 14 was headquarters for Materiel Command

(1943-1944), WADC (1951-59), WADD (1959-61), ASC

(1961-2012), and AFLCMC (2012-Pres)

AFMC into a one mission-one commander 

alignment through standardized business 

practices coupled with streamlined processes 

and decision making authority. Together they 

were to foster a life cycle management focus 

and integrate maintenance and supply chain 

functions. The five consolidated centers 

replaced the traditional management-staff 

model by establishing lead centers to oversee 

multiple locations for each core mission. Each 

system had one unified program execution

Lt Gen Clyde D. Moore II accepts the flag from Gen 

Wolfenbarger activating AFLCMC

chain of command for oversight from 

conception to disposal, thereby unleashing the 

full power of the system program manager 

and program executive officer.

Headquarters Air Force Life Cycle 

Management Center activated July 9, 2012 at 

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The 

Aeronautical Systems Center and Air Force 

Security Assistance Center at WrightPatterson as well as the Air Armament Center

and Electronic Systems Center were 
39

inactivated and their assets assigned to 

AFLCMC. Their subordinate units including 

the 66th Air Base Group, 88th Air Base 

Wing, and 645th Aeronautical Systems Group 

were also assigned to the Air Force Life 

Cycle Management Center. The new center 

was tasked with bringing integrated life cycle 

management to the acquisition of Air Force 

weapon systems. It consolidated design, 

production, and product support decisions 

under a single manager with clear lines of 

authority, responsibility, and accountability 

for all Air Force weapon systems. AFLCMC 

also presented a single weapon system face to

Plaque noting the Area A Brick Quarters historic district

the Air Force, the other services, and the 

Allied and Combatant Commands to facilitate 

faster responses to warfighter requirements. 

It accomplished its mission through ten 

Program Executive Officers and three 

program directorates at nine major geographic 

locations. AFLCMC was also responsible for 

installation support at Hanscom AFB, 

Massachusetts (66th Air Base Group) and 

Wright-Patterson AFB (88th Air Base Wing). 

AFLCMC became the sole center for total 

life cycle management of all aircraft, engines,

Base retreat ceremony held by the Building 14 flagpole

munitions, electronics, and cyber systems. It 

handled the acquisition and initial fielding of 

new systems and upgrades, developed new 

material solutions, and transitioned interesting 

technologies into militarily useful capabilities. 

It was responsible for ensuring the systems 

were sustainable, while extending and 

improving the capabilities of systems that 

were already fielded. AFLCMC also 

executed foreign military sales of aircraft and 

other defense-related equipment, while 

building security assistance relationships with 

foreign partner nation air forces.

A CHANGING INSTALLATION 

LANDSCAPE

Wright-Patterson’s base support 

operations continued, but with financial 

constraints that forced service reductions.

Wright Field Fitness Center
40

Construction on the Area B hilltop to house incoming 

BRAC units

Several base swimming pools were closed 

along with the enlisted, riding, and aero clubs. 

The Arnold House Heritage Center closed in 

2014. The 88th Air Base Wing continued 

hosting the USAF Marathon and supporting 

the Dayton Vectren Air Show and Freedom’s

Call Tattoo. In 1999 it hosted the Air Force 

senior leader’s Corona Top conference, which 

became an annual base event in 2003. 

Wright-Patterson‘s airfield remained active 

and served as a refuge for military aircraft 

seeking shelter from tropical storms and 

hurricanes as well as a temporary home for 

aircraft from bases undergoing runway 

repairs. The 445th Airlift Wing upgraded 

from C-141s to C-5As between 2005 and 

2007, before transitioning to C-17s in 2012. 

The Centennial of Flight was a major base 

event that included First Flight ceremonies at 

the Wright Memorial, dedication of the 

Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive 

Center, and landscape restoration and

rededication of the Huffman Prairie Flying 

Field. Wright-Patterson also hosted Air Power 

2003, its first base open house in decades.

The 88th Air Base Wing inactivated 

its logistics group in 2002, weather squadron 

in 2005, and contracting squadron in 2010. 

The wing gained the United States Air Force 

Band of Flight and a logistics readiness group 

in 2013. The 88th Civil Engineer Group and 

its 88th and 788th Civil Engineer Squadrons, 

which inactivated in 2000, were reactivated in 

2014. New on-base tenant units included the 

Defense Acquisition University, Air Force 

Fleet Viability Board, units of the Air Force 

Global Logistics Support Center, the 

Enterprise Sourcing Group, several 

intelligence units supporting NASIC, the Air 

Force Life Cycle Management Center, and 

Military Police Company C, Headquarters 

Service Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics 

Group, Marine Forces Reserve. Air Mobility 

Command’s 54th Airlift Squadron briefly 

operated from Wright-Patterson from 2004 to 

2007. The 2005 Base Realignment and 

Closure Commission’s (BRAC) decisions 

brought a number of new units to WrightPatterson. BRAC units assigned to AFRL 

were the 711th Human Performance Wing, 

USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, 

Human Effectiveness and Research 

Laboratory Sensors Directorates, and the Air 

Force Institute of Operational Health. The 

Naval Aeromedical Research Laboratory was 

another BRAC addition. Units and 

organizations departing the base included the 

Command Publications Distribution Center, 

47th Airlift Flight, 554th Electronic Systems 

Group, the Army’s 731st Ordnance Company, 

the Aeronautical Systems Center, AFMC 

Defense Enterprise Computing Center–

Dayton, DoD Health Services, Region 5, 

Library of Congress Motion Picture 

Conservation Center, and the Miami Valley 

Urban Search and Rescue Task Force.

Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine students train in 

an altitude chamber
41

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base’s 

physical appearance changed to accommodate 

new tenants, missions, and workforce 

requirements. The 2005 BRAC was a major 

driver of the base demolition and military 

construction programs. To make room in 

Area B for the new organizations, base civil 

engineers demolished the World War II 

Wright Field Headquarters, Wright Field 

Occupational Health Clinic, Hilltop 

Gymnasium, and portions of the ramjet tunnel

complex, the aircraft dynamics laboratory,

and the Library of Congress motion picture 

restoration laboratory. The former Wright 

Field hilltop assumed a new appearance as an 

entire complex was erected to house the 

incoming BRAC units. Gate 19B on National 

Road was moved further south to the 

intersection of Reese Road. Other hilltop 

additions included the largest childcare center 

in the Department of Defense, an 

Occupational Health Clinic, Consolidated 

Avionics Laboratory, AFIT’s Center for 

Systems Engineering, a new AFEES service 

station, and an Information Technology 

Complex. Several historic Wright Field 

structures were thoroughly renovated to 

accommodate new tenants and missions, 

including Building 12 (the 1935 Art Deco 

masterpiece that once housed the Technical

Data Library), Building 17 (the original 1929 

Aircraft Radio Laboratory), and Building 23 

(a 1934 structural and mechanical testing 

facility). Among the changes in downtown

New Airmen’s dormitory

Charles E. Taylor Distinguished Visitor Quarters

Area B were the relocation of Gate 1B and its 

historic guard houses, additions to the 

Doolittle Acquisition Management Complex, 

and the opening of the Wright Field Fitness 

Center in Hangar 22.

In Area A the World War II Civilian 

Personnel Club building was demolished as 

was the 1943 Building 89 engine overhaul 

and repair facility that housed the Air Force 

Museum from 1959 to 1971. The 1970s Pine 

Estates and Green Acres family housing 

complexes were also torn down. The original 

1918 base depot facility, Building 1, 

underwent a major interior renovation along 

with having its surrounding sunken driveway 

filled in. New facilities in Area A included 

an air traffic control tower constructed atop 

base operations, a consolidated fire and crash 

rescue station, additions to the NASIC 

complex, a substantial renovation of the 

Medical Center, and a Marine Corps Reserve 

Center. Gate 16A off Route 444 was opened 

to accommodate delivery vehicles. In 2012 a 

segment of Route 444 adjacent to Kittyhawk 

Center was closed and incorporated into the 

base. A new Gate 1A replaced the former 

Fairborn Gate 1C entrance to the base.

West Ramp demolitions and pavement 

reconstruction made way for new hangars and 

facilities to support the 445th Airlift Wing 

through its conversions from C-141 to C-5
42

and then C-17 aircraft. Within Kittyhawk

Center, the Sergeant James D. Locker Hall 

dormitory and temporary lodging facilities

were removed and two new dormitories 

opened. Other Kittyhawk improvements 

included a new automotive service station and 

consolidated arts and craft center. WrightPatterson Air Force Base privatized 1,536 

Page Manor and Woodland Hills housing 

units in 2002. The largest housing

privatization project in the Air Force

demolished 986 housing units, renovated 397 

units, and constructed 789 new homes. The 

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force 

opened a Cold War hangar and broke ground 

for a fourth building. Finally, in 2013, the 

U.S. Air Force turned over the last remaining 

remnant of the former Gentile Air Force 

Station (Building 45) to the City of Kettering, 

Ohio.

Budget sequestration and continued 

funding reductions in the mid-2010s left the 

installation commander with insufficient 

funds to sustain, upgrade, and modernize 

Wright-Patterson’s sprawling physical plant. 

In response, the base explored privatizing its 

energy and utility operations and developing 

public-private partnerships and joint ventures 

to fund future operations. It also began 

collaborating with local communities and 

businesses to share base facilities and lease 

installation property for commercial 

development.

A FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

On a September afternoon in 1997, 

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officials 

unveiled a commemorative marker at the 

original site of McCook Field. The ceremony 

commemorated the 80th anniversary of 

military aeronautical research and engineering

in the Miami Valley. The following year, the 

base formally rededicated the Wright 

Memorial following a major refurbishment

Another day begins at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field 

and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

of the monument and park. The Huffman 

Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center, a 

collaborative effort between the Air Force, 

National Park Service, State of Ohio, and the 

local community opened in December 2002 

on Wright Brothers Hill. The event initiated 

the nation’s commemoration of the 

Centennial of Flight. These actions

symbolized the historic bond that WrightPatterson Air Force Base and the Miami 

Valley community shared with the evolution 

of flight. Each year on December 17, the 

regional partners gather at the Wright 

Memorial to celebrate the courage, 

perseverance, and achievements that led 

Orville and Wilbur Wright to conquer the 

skies. Their celebration also honors the work 

of the Miami Valley community and WrightPatterson in building upon the Wright 

Brothers’ legacy. As the partners prepare to 

commemorate Wright-Patterson Air Force 

Base’s 100th anniversary and a century of 

service, they can look back with pride at the 

roles they played in the growth of aviation

while standing ready to continue their 

commitment to master the skies.
43

APPENDIX A

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

AND ITS ANTECEDENTS

Installation Date Established

(Huffman Prairie Flying Field) (1904-1916)

Wilbur Wright Field June 6, 1917

Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot October 13, 1917

Wilbur Wright Air Service Depot January 4, 1918

Aviation General Supply Depot, Fairfield, Ohio January 10, 1919

Air Service Supply and Repair Depot September 20, 1920

Fairfield Air Intermediate Depot January 14, 1921

Fairfield Air Depot Reservation June 22, 1927

Wright Field October 12, 1927

Patterson Field July 1, 1931

Army Air Forces Technical Base December 15, 1945

Air Force Technical Base December 9, 1947

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base January 13, 1948
44

APPENDIX B

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

INSTALLATION COMMANDERS

Unknown April 1944

Brigadier General Joseph T. Morris July 1945

Brigadier General C. Pratt Brown March 1952

Brigadier General Paul L. Barton October 1953

Brigadier General Donald L. Hardy August 1957

Brigadier General John D. Howe July 1958

Colonel James C. Cochran May 1960

Colonel Elbert Helton August 1960

Colonel Glen McClernon August 1962

Colonel Arthur E. Exon August 1964

Colonel Jowell C. Wise December 1965

Colonel Colman O. Williams July 1968

Colonel Edmund A. Rafalko September 1970

Colonel Irby B. Jarvis, Jr. June 1972

Colonel Robert W. Clement January 1975

Colonel Titus C. Hall January 1976

Colonel Rano E. Lueker January 1977

Colonel James H. Rigney, Jr. April 1979

Colonel Leonard R. Peterson June 1981

Colonel Charles E. Fox, Jr. June 1984

Colonel Stephen F. Kollar March 1987

Colonel Dennis P. Tewell July 1989

Colonel William B. Orellana July 1990

Lieutenant General Thomas R. Ferguson, Jr July 1992

Lieutenant General James A. Fain, Jr May 1993

Lieutenant General Richard M. Scofield October 1994

Lieutenant General Kenneth E. Eickmann May 1996

Lieutenant General Robert F. Raggio May 1998

Colonel Michael W. Hazen March 2001

Colonel Michael J. Belzil July 2002

Colonel Andrew K. Weaver May 2004

Colonel Colleen M. Ryan June 2006

Colonel Bradley D. Spacy July 2008

Colonel Amanda W. Gladney June 2010

Colonel Cassie B. Barlow July 2012

Colonel John M. Devillier July 2014
45

APPENDIX C

THE STORY OF AREAS A, B, C, AND D

The story behind Wright-Patterson Air Force Base’s Areas A, B, C, and D begins with a

history of the organizational headquarters that were located on the base. During the 1920s and 

1930s, headquarters for the Materiel Division of the Army Air Corps was located at Wright Field, in 

what is now Building 11, Area B. This organization was divided into two separate major 

commands during World War II, Materiel Command and Air Service Command. Both 

headquarters were originally located in Washington, D.C., but were eventually moved back to 

Wright and Patterson Fields. Air Service Command set up operations in the newly opened Building 

262 at Patterson Field in December 1942. Materiel Command relocated to its newly completed 

headquarters complex, Buildings 14 and 15, at Wright Field in April 1943.

The separation of research, development, and procurement from logistics functions proved 

unsatisfactory and on August 31, 1944 the functions were consolidated once again with the 

establishment of the Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command (redesignated Air Materiel 

Command in 1946).

The process of merging these two major commands, one located at Wright Field and the 

other on Patterson Field, produced a psychologically divisive effect. To overcome the problem, 

Major General Clements McMullen, the acting commander of Air Service Command, decided to 

give the headquarters a common address. He accomplished this by incorporating the portion of 

Patterson Field occupied by the command headquarters (Building 262) and the Brick Quarters into 

Wright Field. In practice, it became necessary to differentiate this new portion of Wright Field as 

Area A and the original Wright Field as Area B.

When Patterson and Wright Fields merged in January 1948 to create Wright-Patterson AFB, 

the surviving Patterson Field area was designated Area C. The base also had an Area D, which was 

home to the Skyway Park World War II housing complex. Area D was located across Kauffman 

Avenue from Building 262. It was torn down in 1957 and the land donated to the State of Ohio for 

the construction of Wright State University.

On December 1, 2010, the 88th Air Base Wing commander directed that Area C be 

incorporated and re-designated as part of Area A. This action was taken to reduce the confusion 

over building and site locations experienced by visitors and base employees. Kittyhawk Center was 

also re-designated as part of Area A. Area B was not affected.
46

APPENDIX D

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

PERSONNEL STRENGTH

Year Military Civilian Contractors Total

1918 4,683 1,985 6,668

1920 452 1,565 2,017

1938 212 2,222 2,434

1939 652 3,059 3,711

1940 708 7,455 8,163

1941 2,125 15,398 17,523

1942 9,592 36,908 46,500

1943 14,821 30,926 45,747

1944 16,119 29,356 45,475

1945 11,100 20,180 31,280

1946 8,261 19,358 27,619

1947 3,192 17,588 20,780

1948 5,082 20,108 25,190

1949 4,434 20,443 24,877

1950 4,745 23,781 28,526

1951 8,946 25,738 34,684

1952 8,284 22,144 30,428

1953 6,805 20,478 27,283

1954 7,098 20,264 27,362

1955 7,248 20,627 27,875

1956 6,762 21,701 28,463

1957 6,313 19,557 25,870

1958 6,284 18,893 25,177

1959 6,471 18,331 24,802

1960 6,948 20,966 27,914

1961 7,364 20,714 28,078

1962 7,301 20,301 27,602

1963 12,185 19,273 31,458

1964 11,431 19,112 30,543

1965 7,082 19,170 26,252

1966 7,531 19,234 26,765

1967 7,290 19,299 26,589

1968 7,207 19,163 26,370
47

Year Military Civilian Contractors Total

1969 7,557 18,568 26,125

1970 7,596 17,761 25,357

1971 7,875 17,744 25,619

1972 8,167 17,520 25,687

1973 8,323 16,920 25,243

1974 8,694 17,037 25,731

1975 7,548 15,975 23,523

1976 7,182 15,812 22,994

1977 7,607 15,523 23,130

1978 7,686 15,879 23,565

1979 7,636 15,832 23,468

1980 7,992 17,031 25,023

1981 7,608 15,662 23,270

1982 8,919 17,549 26,468

1983 9,374 16,754 26,128

1984 9,347 17,973 27,320

1985 9,336 18,766 28,102

1986 9,169 18,561 27,730

1987 10,692 18,493 29,185

1988 10,206 19,144 29,350

1989 10,190 20,353 30,543

1990 10,143 18,994 29,137

1991 10,222 18,264 28,486

1992 9,578 17,316 26,894

1993 9,159 15,782 24,941

1994 7,479 14,023 21,502

1995 9,185 13,929 23,114

1996 8,980 13,757 22,737

1997 10,386 12,654 23,040

1998 8,337 13,121 21,458

1999 7,817 11,194 19,011

2000 6,600 10,353 16,953

2001 7,264 11,109 18,373

2002 7,506 10,358 17,864

2003 8,002 12,362 20,364

2004 7,916 12,288 20,204

2005 7,907 11,533 1,058* 20,498

2006 7,569 10,849 1,053* 19,471

2007 9,020 10,447 5,350** 24,817
48

Year Military Civilian Contractors Total

2008 8,700 11,212 5,801** 25,713

2009 8,567 13,711 5,128** 27,406

2010 9,493 12,634 5,251** 27,378

2011 9,386 17,591 2,760** 29,737

2012 7,909 16,229 3,447** 27,585

2013 7,637 12,481 6,152** 26,270

* Civilian Contractors Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) and Defense Automatic 

Addressing System Center (DAASC) per guidance from SAF/FMC

** Civilian Contractors A&AS and DAASC per guidance from SAF/FMC; plus Contract ManYear Equivalent (CME) contractor budget authorizations per direction of 88ABW Commander. 

CME authorizations could be filled or vacant, but the calculations assume they were filled.
49

APPENDIX E

AIR FORCE LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT CENTER

ASSIGNED PERSONNEL

Year Officer Enlisted Civilian Total CME

2012 2,412 2,618 14,743 19,773 5,960

2013 2,420 2,643 14,681 19,744 5,849

2014 2,267 2,570 14,734 19,571 6,194

Contract Man-Year Equivalent (CME) are contractor budget authorizations. CME authorizations 

could be filled or vacant, but the calculations assume they were filled.
50

APPENDIX F

88TH AIR BASE WING ASSIGNED PERSONNEL

Year Officer Enlisted Civilian Total

1948 228 1,505 4,945 6,678

1949

1950 156 687 4,390 5,233

1951 201 879 5,833 6,913

1952 226 1,070 6,228 7,524

1953 148 724 5,708 6,580

1954 104 560 5,262 5,926

1955 94 574 5,404 6,072

1956 102 474 5,516 6,092

1957 100 290 5,389 5,779

1958 108 332 5,213 5,653

1959 110 283 5,199 5,592

1960 100 344 5,553 5,997

1961 112 512 5,554 6,178

1962 115 724 5,170 6,009

1963 111 640 4,533 5,284

1964 119 657 4,363 5,139

1965 121 661 4,291 5,073

1966 112 648 4,362 5,122

1967 105 658 4,349 5,112

1968 93 709 4,086 4,888

1969 84 618 3,954 4,656

1970 83 701 4,579 5,363

1971 99 725 4,208 5,032

1972 111 829 3,996 4,936
51

1973 118 892 3,687 4,697

1974 104 789 3,453 4,346

1975 66 662 2,950 3,678

1976 60 616 2,992 3,668

1977 56 585 2,887 3,528

1978 62 610 2,929 3,601

1979 59 664 2,730 3,453

1980 71 689 2,679 3,439

1981 75 738 2,493 3,306

1982 69 725 2,492 3,286

1983 77 900 2,315 3,292

1984 74 901 3,388 4,363

1985 79 825 2,594 3,498

1986 91 857 2,479 3,427

1987 85 938 2,219 3,242

1988 84 909 2,046 3,039

1989 96 935 2,217 3,248

1990 72 851 2,118 3,041

1991 80 1,106 2,227 3,413

1992 78 809 2,279 3,166

1993 102 829 1,764 2,695

1994 136 1,211 2,055 3,402

1995 134 1,300 2,017 3,451

1996 153 1,184 2,093 3,430

1997 153 1,184 2,093 3,430

1998 92 843 1,981 2,916

1999 94 842 1,446 2,382

2000 65 929 1,478 2,472

2001 70 622 1,483 2,175

2002 80 581 1,462 2,123

2003 97 627 1,323 2,047
52

2004 154 632 1,562 2,348

2005 584 1,392 1,957 3,933

2006 607 1,324 1,951 3,882

2007 683 1,424 1,922 4,029

2008 597 1,519 1,916 4,032

2009 579 1,380 2,182 4,141

2010 450 1,408 2,111 3,969

2011 588 1,404 2,047 4,039

2012 589 1,378 1,857 3,824

2013 614 1,451 1,866 3,931

2014 615 1,385 1,861 3,861
53

APPENDIX G

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

DEPLOYED PERSONNEL

Year Personnel Deployed

2001 407

2002 565

2003 718

2004 701

2005 602

2006 695

2007 970

2008 839

2009 787

2010 809

2011 720

2012 722

2013 1,039

2014 341
54

APPENDIX H

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

MEMORIALIZED FACILITIES

Name Memorialized For Building Date

Estabrook Drive Brig Gen Merrick G. Estabrook, Jr. Street Unk

Pearson Road 1Lt Alexander Pearson, Jr. Street Unk

Skeel Avenue Capt Burt E. Skeel Street Unk

Wright Avenue Wilbur and Orville Wright Street Unk

Firehouse No. 3 Frank A. Smith 20076 1932

Patterson Swimming Pool Lt Frank Stuart Patterson Pool 1936

Wright Memorial Wilbur and Orville Wright Monument 1940

Thurlow Street Col Thomas L. Thurlow Street 1944

Dodge Gymnasium Delphine Dodge Godde 10849 1947

Aerial Photoreconnaissance 

Personnel

Capt Eugene Leger,

MSgt Paul L. Hayes,

PFC Dorothy E. Kimmel, and

Mr. Joseph H. Britain

20017 1952

Hadden Park (original) Mr. William Hadden Park 1953

Page Manor Brig Gen Edwin R. Page Housing 1953

Hadden Park (relocated) Mr. William Hadden Park 1960

Gillmore Hall Brig Gen William E. Gillmore 10262 1976

Barnes Park Maj Gen Frank G. Barnes Park 1977

Breene Drive Maj Gen Robert G. Breene Street 1977

Brett Drive Lt Gen George H. Brett Street 1977

Chandler Drive Col Charles deForest Chandler Street 1977

Chidlaw Road Gen Benjamin W. Chidlaw Street 1977

Johnson Drive Col Gerald R. Johnson Street 1977

Lahm Circle Brig Gen Frank P. Lahm Street 1977

Metzger Drive 2Lt William E. Metzger, Jr. Street 1977

Schlatter Drive Lt Gen David M. Schlatter Street 1977

Talbott Road Brig Gen Nelson S. Talbott Street 1977

Yount Drive Lt Gen Barton K. Yount Street 1977

Locker Hall Sgt James D. Locker 31217 1979

Lute Hall SSgt James R. Lute 31216 1979

Pitsenbarger Hall A1C William H. Pitsenbarger 31214 1979

Pleiman Hall A1C James E. Pleiman 31212 1979

Prater Hall TSgt Roy D. Prater 31213 1979

Wilhelm Hall SSgt Frederick Wilhelm 31215 1979

Bong Drive Maj Richard I. Bong Street 1981

Spaatz Circle Gen Carl A. Spaatz Street 1981

Ward Road 1Lt Edward Ward Street 1981

Morris Hall Brig Gen Joseph T. Morris 30010 1981
55

Name Memorialized For Building Date

Bane Hall Col Thurman H. Bane 20640 1982

Sarris Auditorium Mr. Aristides Sarris 10262 1984

Fitts Hall Paul M. Fitts 20248 1985

Twining Hall Gen Nathan F. Twining 20641 1985

Arnold House Gen Henry H. “Hap” Arnold 30008 1986

Jarvis Gymnasium Brig Gen Irby B. Jarvis 31245 1986

POW/MIA Memorial Prisoners of War and Missing in Action Memorial 1986

Hope Hotel Mr. Bob Hope 10824 1989

Robins House Brig Gen Augustine Warner Robins 10700 1989

Fire Station No. 1 Dale V. Kelchner and

William J. Collins

30163 1989

Foulois House Maj Gen Benjamin D. Foulois 30088 1989

Warrior Hall Civilian Work Force (Warriors) 10271 1990

Kenney Hall Gen George C. Kenney 20642 1990

Monahan Hall Lt Gen George L. Monahan 20012 1993

Monahan Way Lt Gen George L. Monahan Street 1993

Doolittle Acquisition 

Management Complex

Gen James H. Doolittle Complex 1994

Stewart Hall Lt Gen James T. Stewart 20557 1994

Watson Way Maj Gen Harold E. Watson Street 1995

Watson Hall Maj Gen Harold E. Watson 14023 1995

Patterson Parkway 1Lt Frank S. Patterson Street 1996

Wright Brothers Memorial 

Bench

Orville and Wilbur Wright Bench

30008

1997

Peace Walk Balkan Proximity Peace Talks Sidewalk 1997

Wolfe Hall Lt Gen Kenneth B. Wolfe 20558 1997

Mitchell Hall Maj Gen William Mitchell 20556 1997

Rall Hall Mr. Frederick T. Rall, Jr. 20560 1997

Cacioppo Annex Dr Anthony J. Cacioppo 10858 1997

Peace Walk Dayton Peace Accords Sidewalk 1997

Von Ohain Room Dr. Hans Joachim von Ohain Conf Room, 

20028

1998

Arnold Room Gen Henry “Hap” Arnold Conf Room, 

20015

1999

Von Karman Room Theodore von Karman Conf Room, 

20015

1999

Carroll Hall Maj Gen Franklin O. Carroll 20553 2001

Hobson Way Rep. David L. Hobson Street 2003

Kettering Hall Mr. Eugene W. Kettering 20494 2003

Field of Dreams Memorial Wright Brothers Memorial

Gate 1B

2003

Thompson Hall Gen Robert C. Thompson Hall 20643 2006

Field of Dreams Bench History of invention at WrightPatterson and the City of DaytonBench

Gate 1B

2006
56

Name Memorialized For Building Date

Homer Hall Major LeRoyWilton Homer, Jr. 34006 2008

D’Azzo Research Library Dr. John J. D’Azzo AFIT/AFRL 

Library, 

20642

2009

Kuglics Boulevard Special Agent (Sgt) Matthew J. 

Kuglics

Street 2009

Charles E. Taylor House Charles E. Taylor 10706 2010

Armstrong Complex Major General Harry G. Armstrong 20840 2011

Franzello Aero-Medical Library Joseph Franzello Library 

20840

2011

Ascani Avenue Major General Alfredo “Fred” J. 

Ascani

Street 2012

Memorial Bench Mitchell Cary and Don Gum Bench

Gate 1B

2012

Muonio Gate Airman 1st Class Noah Muonio Gate 1A 2012
57

APPENDIX I

AIR FORCE UNITS ASSIGNED AT PATTERSON FIELD,

WRIGHT FIELD, AND WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

1917

12 Aero Sq Jul 17-Dec 17

13 Aero Sq Jul 17-Dec 17

19 Aero Sq 1 Aug 17-31 Oct 17

20 Aero Sq [I] Jul 17-Nov 17

42 Aero Sq (Sq I) 25 Aug 17-21 Feb 19

43 Aero Sq 25 Aug 17-18 Dec 17

44 Aero Sq (Sq K; Sq P) 25 Aug 17-30 Apr 19

47 Aero Sq Jul 17-Aug 17

149 Aero Sq Dec 17-Feb 18

151 Aero Sq Dec 17-Feb 18

162 Aero Sq Dec 17-Feb 18

163 Aero Sq Dec 17-Feb 18

166 Aero Sq 24 Dec 17-20 Feb 18

172 Aero Sq Dec 17-Feb 18

211 Aero Sq Dec 17-Feb 18

246 Aero Sq (807 Aero Sq; Sq A) Nov 17-Aug 18

AAF Engine Sch c. 10 Nov 17-Unknown

1918

231 Aero Sq (Sq A) Apr 18-Dec 18

246 [II] Aero Sq (Sq L) May 18-Apr 19

255 Aero Sq Mar 18-Mar 18

256 Aero Sq Mar 18-Mar 18

257 Aero Sq Mar 18-Mar 18

258 Aero Sq Mar 18-Mar 18

259 Aero Sq Mar 18-Jul 18

260 Aero Sq Mar 18-Jul 18

265 Aero Sq Feb 18-Mar 18

287 Aero Sq May 18-Jun 18

288 Aero Sq May 18-Jun 18

342 Aero Sq (Sq M; Sq Q) Aug 18-Nov 18

507 Aero Sq Jul 18-Apr 19

669 Aero Sq May 18-Apr 19

678 Aero Sq Feb 18-Apr 19

827 Aero Sq Feb 18-Mar 18

851 Aero Sq (Sq B) Mar 18-Dec 18

874 Aero Sq Apr 18-Dec 18

881 Aero Sq (Sq B) Jul 18-Aug 18
58

1922

88 Sq (88 Obs Sq) 11 Oct 22-4 May 27

1926

AC Mat Div (Mat Comd;

AF Mat Comd; AAF Mat Comd) 15 Oct 26-31 Aug 44

1927

Fairfield Intermediate Dep (Fairfield Air Dep) c. Jun 27-1 Jan 46

1935

1 Prov Trpt Sq (1 Trpt Sq) 15 Jul 35-20 May 42

Flt B, 1 Trpt Sq 25 Jun 35-19 May 42

1937

Aeromed Lab Jan 37-Unknown

1939

5 Trpt Sq 17 Oct 39-25 May 42

1940

9 Trpt Sq 1 Dec 40-17 Sep 41

11 Trpt Sq 1 Dec 40-3 Jul 41

13 Trpt Sq 1 Dec 40-9 Jul 41

19 Bomb Sq 1 Feb 40-15 Nov 40

33 Bomb Sq 1 Feb 40-14 Nov 40

60 Trpt Gp 1 Dec 40-15 Sep 41

1941

2 AC Wea Region (2 Wea Region) 4 Apr 41-20 Sep 44

4 Air Dep Gp 1 Apr 41-12 Jan 42

4 Rpr Sq 1 Apr 41-12 Jan 42

4 Sup Sq (4 Dep Sup Sq) 1 Jan 41-12 Jan 42

50 Trpt Wg 14 Jan 41-22 May 42

63 Trpt Gp 17 Feb 41-15 Sep 41

AC Maint Comd 25 Jun 41-9 Sep 42

Second Wea Sq (2 Wea Sq) 4 Apr 41-7 Sep 44

Tng Film Fld Unit (Tng Film Prod Lab) 19 Apr 41-7 Feb 44

1942

1 Rad Sq 17 Jan 42-1 Apr 44

3 Stn Compl, Air Dep 1 Jun 42-13 Jan 43

6 Air Dep Gp 5 Jan 42-6 Jun 42

6 Rpr Sq (6 Dep Rpr Sq) 5 Jan 42-6 Jun 42

6 Sup Sq (6 Dep Sup Sq) 5 Jan 42-6 Jun 42

IX AFSC 1 Sep 42-9 Oct 42
59

10 Air Dep Gp 5 Jan 42-20 Jul 42

10 Rpr Sq 5 Jan 42-20 Jul 42

10 Sup Sq 5 Jan 42-20 Jul 42

15 Stat Con Unit 31 Aug 42-11 Feb 43

18 Air Dep Gp 19 Jan 42-11 Aug 43

19 Air Dep Gp 19 Jan 42-10 May 43

19 Dep Rpr Sq 19 Jan 42-10 May 43

19 Dep Sup Sq 19 Jan 42-10 May 43

20 Air Dep Gp 19 Jan 42-2 May 42

20 Dep Rpr Sq 19 Jan 42-2 May 42

20 Dep Sup Sq 19 Jan 42-2 May 42

21 Air Dep Gp 19 Jan 42-16 Oct 42

21 Dep Rpr Sq 19 Jan 42-16 Oct 42

21 Dep Sup Sq 19 Jan 42-16 Oct 42

22 Air Dep Gp 19 Jan 42-6 Aug 42

22 Dep Rpr Sq 19 Jan 42-6 Aug 42

22 Dep Sup Sq 19 Jan 42-6 Aug 42

23 Air Dep Gp 19 Jan 42-9 Jun 42

23 Dep Rpr Sq 19 Jan 42-9 Jun 42

23 Dep Sup Sq 19 Jan 42-9 Jun 42

36 Trpt Sq 14 Feb 42-15 Jun 42

37 Trpt Sq 14 Feb 42-16 Jun 42

38 Trpt Sq 2 Feb 42-28 May 42

44 Trpt Sq 15 Jun 42-16 Jun 42

45 Trpt Sq 15 Jun 42-16 Jun 42

55 Air Dep Gp 16 Feb 42-14 Aug 43

55 Dep Rpr Sq 16 Feb 42-4 Jun 43

55 Dep Sup Sq 16 Feb 42-23 Apr 43

56 Air Dep Gp 16 Feb 42-5 Mar 43

56 Dep Rpr Sq 16 Feb 42-5 Mar 43

56 Dep Sup Sq 16 Feb 42-5 Mar 43

57 Air Dep Gp 16 Feb 42-20 Jul 43

57 Dep Rpr Sq 16 Feb 42-20 Jul 43

57 Dep Sup Sq 16 Feb 42-20 Jul 43

98 Avn Sq 8 Sep 42-1 Apr 44

316 Trpt Gp 14 Feb 42-17 Jun 42

361 AAF Band (661 AAF Band;

661 AF Band; AF Band of Flight;

USAF Band of Flight) Unknown 42-14 Jun 13

477 Base HQ & AB Sq 31 Dec 42-17 Feb 43

836 MP Co [Avn] (836 Guard Sq) 19 May 42-1 Apr 44

923 Guard Sq 5 Aug 42-1 Apr 44

1072 Guard Sq 15 Sep 42-1 Apr 44

Air Service Comd 10 Sep 42-1 Apr 44

Acft Rad Lab 15 Nov 42-16 Oct 44

HQ & HQ Sqt Tenth AF 12 Feb 42-10 Mar 42
60

Sig Corps Acft Sig Svc

(Sig Corps Acft Sig Agency) 12 Jun 42-16 Oct 44

1943

1 Plant Maint Sq 15 Apr 43-1 Apr 44

15 Stat Con Unit 12 Feb 43-1 Apr 44

18 Dep Sup Sq 19 Jan 43-11 Aug 43

85 Dep Rpr Sq 8 Mar 43-11 Aug 43

85 Dep Sup Sq 15 Mar 43-13 Aug 43

88 Dep Rpr Sq 15 Mar 43-6 Dec 43

97 Dep Sup Sq 15 Apr 43-20 Dec 43

98 Svc Gp 23 Apr 43-6 Aug 43

308 AB Gp 23 Apr 43-6 Aug 43

315 Dep Rpr Sq 22 Apr 43-28 Oct 43

345 Avn Sq 21 Apr 43-8 Feb 44

351 Avn Sq 29 Jan 43-1 Apr 44

371 Avn Sq 5 Mar 43-1 Apr 44

372 Avn Sq 5 Mar 43-1 Apr 44

407 Svc Sq 25 Aug 43-25 Mar 44

435 Avn Sq 10 May 43-25 Jan 44

436 Avn Sq 10 May 43-25 Jan 44

437 Avn Sq 10 May 43-25 Jan 44

478 Base HQ & AB Sq 2 Jan 43-1 Apr 44

Dayton Sig Corps Publications Agency 20 Nov 43-16 Oct 44

Fairfield Air Dep Con Area Comd

(Fairfield ASC; Fairfield ATSC) 1 Feb 43-1 Jan 46

Finance Ofc, USAF 19 Jul 43-29 Feb 48

HQ AAF Crystal Bank 15 Dec 43-1 Jul 45

1944

69 AAF BU 7 Sep 44-1 Oct 45

345 Avn Sq 8 Feb 44-6 Jun 44

435 Avn Sq 25 Jan 44-11 Feb 44

436 Avn Sq 25 Jan 44-11 Feb 44

437 Avn Sq 25 Jan 44-11 Feb 44

463 Avn Sq 21 Nov 44-25 May 45

4000 AAF BU (4000 AF BU) 1 Apr 44-27 Aug 48

4001 AAF BU 1 Apr 44-31 Aug 44

4020 AAF BU (4020 AF BU) 31 Aug 44-26 Aug 48

4100 AAF BU 1 Apr 44-20 Feb 46

4141 AAF BU 31 Aug 44-21 Feb 45

5900 AAF BU 1 Apr 44-15 Apr 45

5901 AAF BU 1 Apr 44-15 Apr 45

AAF Mat & Svcs (AAF Air Tech Svc Comd;

Air Tech Svc Comd; Air Mat Comd; AF Log Comd) 14 Jul 44-1 Jul 92

AAF Regiona1 Stn Hosp 7 Jun 44-23 Jan 46
61

Disposal Board 29 Jun 44-16 Oct 44

1945

86 Dep Rpr Sq 13 Sep 45-12 Nov 45

91 Air Dep Op 11 Sep 45-12 Nov 45

94 Dep Sup Sq 13 Sep 45-12 Nov 45

4021 AAF BU 8 Nov 45-31 Jan 46

4265 AAF BU 16 Sep 45-1 Jul 46

4517 AAFBU 15 Jul 45-1 Aug 45

Dayton AAF Prcmt Fld Ofc 29 Oct 45-Unknown

1946

72 AAF BU 1 Aug 46-21 Apr 47

733 AAF BU (733 AF BU) 21 Oct 46-3 Jun 48

AAF Regional Stn Hosp 23 Jan 46-26 Jun 46

Army Fld Printing Plant c. 1 May 46-Unknown

1947

6 Photo Tech Unit 22 Sep 47-15 Nov 48

7 Air VR Sq 25 Sep 47-15 Nov 47

17 Motor Trpt Sq, Air Dep 25 Sep 47-15 Nov 47

AFIT(USAF Institute of Technology;

Institute of Technology, USAF; AFIT;

Institute of Technology; AFIT) 4 Dec 47-

1948

XVII ASC, Sp 21 Mar 48-24 Apr 5l

103 AACS Sq (1914 AACS Sq) 1 Jun 48-18 Jul 56

901 Air Trpt Sq (1726 Air Trpt Sq) 1 Jun 48-17 Jul 50

1702 Air Trpt Gp 1 Oct 48-17 Jul 50

2790 Stn Med Sq (2790 Base Med Compl;

2790 Med Gp; 2750 Med Gp; 2750 USAF Hosp;

2750 USAF Hosp, Wright-Patterson;

USAF Med Cen, Wright-Patterson;

Med Cen Wright-Patterson AFB;

645 Med Gp; 74 Med Gp; 84 Med Gp) 28 Aug 48-

2925 Base Sup (2925 Base Sup Gp;

2750 Base Sup Gp) 28 Aug 48-1 May 54

2926 Base Maint (2926 Base Maint Gp;

2750 Base Maint Gp) 28 Aug 48-1 May 54

3000 WAF Sq (2750 WAF Sq) 27 Aug 48-1 May 54

3051 AB Spt Sq 28 Aug 48-20 Jun 49

3060 AMC Spt Sq (3060 Spt Sq) 28 Aug 48-1 Jan 53

4000 AF BU (2750 AF BU; 2750 AB Wg;
62

645 AB Wg; 88 AB Wg) 13 Jan 48-

4140 AF BU (3100 USAF Exhibit Unit;

USAF Exhibit Gp; USAF Orientation Gp;

Orientation Gp, USAF) 13 Jan 48-1 Apr 92

HQ Civ Instls Gp 1 Nov 48-11 Jan 49

1949

1 Wea Sq 20 May 49-28 Apr 52

32 Wea Sq 3 Oct 49-23 Jun 51

342 AB Gp, Dep 27 Jul 49-24 Apr 51

342 Comms Sq, Dep 27 Jul 49-24 Apr 51

342 Finance Disbursing Unit 2 Dec 49-24 Apr 51

3019 Base Svcs Sq 5 Oct 49-20 May 50

3020 AP Sq 5 Oct 49-20 May 50

3086 AB Gp 5 Oct 49-20 May 50

3090 Instls Gp 5 Oct 49-5 Feb 51

8512 Air Trpt Gp 1 Sep 49-1 May 50

8525 Air Trpt Sq 1 Sep 49-1 May 50

8548 AACS Sq 1 Sep 49-3 Jul 51

1950

2 Cmbt Camera Unit (2 Photo Sq) 1 Sep 50-5 Sep 51

97 FI Sq 1 Dec 50-18 Aug 55

1062 USAF Comms Sq (2046 AACS Sq;

2046 Comms Sq; 2046 Comms Gp;

2046 Comms & Instls Gp; 2046 Comms Gp;

2046 Comms-Comp Sys Gp;

645 Comms-Comp Sys Gp; 88 Comms Gp) 18 Dec 50-

ARDC 16 Nov 50-24 Jun 51

HQ Air Engrg Dev Div 1 Jan 50-14 Nov 50

1951

1125 USAF Fld Activities Gp 1 Jun 51-1 Jul 61

1126 Air Intelligence Svc Sq 1 Jun 51-1 Jul 53

2750 AB Gp 5 Feb 51-10 May 55

2750 AP Sq 5 Feb 51-1 May 54

2750 Food Svc Sq 5 Feb 51-l May 54

2750 Pers Processing Sq 5 Feb 51-1 Jun 53

2956 Air Intelligence Sq 25 Apr 51-14 Jun 51

3061 Spt Sq (6500 Spt Sq) 5 Feb 51-20 Aug 53

3062 Spt Sq (6501 Spt Sq) 5 Feb 51-20 Aug 53

3063 Spt Sq 1 May 5l-14 Feb 52

7300 Mat Con Gp 17 Jan 51-6 Aug 51

Air Dev Cen, Prov 22 Mar 51-1 Apr 51

Air Dev Force (Wright Air Dev Cen) 1 Apr 51-15 Dec 59

Air Tech Intelligence Cen 21 May 51-1 Jul61
63

1952

1 Explosive Ord Displ Sq 16 Jun 52-7 May 54

6 Wea Gp 20 Apr 52-18 Jun 58

3190 Mat Con Gp 5 Jan 52-28 May 52

1953

1350 Photo Svc Sq (1350 Motion Picture Sq) 1 Aug 53-30 Jun 69

3090 Air Dep Wg 5 Dec 53-1 Jun 54

USAF Tech Intelligence Sch 1 May 53-1 Jul 61

1954

2700 Explosive Ord Dspl Sq 7 May 54-6 Jul 55

3500 USAF Recruiting Wg 20 May 54-8 Jul 59

1955

56 FI Sq 18 Aug 55-1 Mar 60

58 Air Div, Bomb (58 Air Div, Def) 8 Sep 55-1 Feb 59

1478 Flt Svc (1289 AACS Sq) 1 Jul 55-18 Apr 57

3079 Avn Dep Wg 6 Feb 55-1 Jul 62

4717 Gnd Observer Sq 8 Sep 55-1 Sep 58

1956

799 AC&W Sq 8 Feb 56-1 Oct 56

Sch of Business 23 Jul 56-27 Jun 66

Sch of Engrg 23 Jul 56-

1958

2702 Explosive Ord Displ Sq 1 Jul 58-1 Feb 62

AMC Aeronautical Sys Cen 15 Sep 58-1 Apr 61

1959

66 Avn Dep Sq (66 Mun Maint Sq) 15 Sep 59-30 Sep 72

922 Air Rflg Sq 1 Dec 59-30 Sep 75

4043 Armnt & Elect Maint Sq 1 Oct 59-1 Feb 63

4043 Fld Maint Sq 1 Oct 59-1 Feb 63

4043 Orgnzl Maint Sq 1 Oct 59-1 Feb 63

4043 Strat Wg 1 Apr 59-1 Feb 63

4043 Spt Sq (4043 Cmbt Def Sq) 1 Oct 59-1 Feb 63

USAF Recruiting Svc 8 Ju1 59-15 Jun 65

Wright Air Dev Div 7 Dec 59-1 Apr 61

1960

42 Bomb Sq 1 Jun 60-1 Feb 63

8401 AF Res Base Spt Gp

(8318 AF Res Base Spt Gp) 1 Sep 60-31 Dec 62
64

8401 AF Res Base Spt Sq 1 Sep 60-1 Jan 62

8401 Mat Sq 1 Sep 60-1 Jan 62

AF Museum (USAF Museum; NMUSAF) 1 Dec 60-

USAF Central Motion Picture Film Depository

(USAF Central Audio-Visual Depository) 1 Sep 60-15 Oct 60

USAF Radiological Health Lab 1 Apr 60-8 Feb 69

1961

2726 AF Cataloging Gp 6 Sep 61-1 Mar 64

6570 Aerosp Med Rsch Lab 1 Dec 61-8 Sep 79

Foreign Tech Div (AF Foreign Tech Cen;

Foreign Aerospace Science and Technology Center;

Natl Air Intel Cen; Natl Air & Space Intel Cen) 1 Jul 61-1 Oct 12

HQ Aeronautical Sys Div,

(HQ Aeronautical Systems Center) 20 Mar 61-1 Oct 12

1962

17 Armnt & Elect Maint Sq (17 Avncs Maint Sq) 15 Nov 62-30 Sep 75

17 Bomb Wg 15 Nov 62-30 Sep 75

17 Fld Maint Sq 15 Nov 62-30 Sep 75

17 Orgnzl Maint Sq 15 Nov 62-30 Sep 75

4043 Abn Msl Maint Sq 1 Nov 62-1 Feb 63

Dayton Contract Mgmt Dist 29 Mar 62-1 Oct 65

1963

17 Abn Msl Maint Sq 1 Feb 63-25 Mar 68

17 Armnt & Elect Maint Sq (17 Avncs Maint Sq) 1 Feb 63-30 Sep 75

17 Cmbt Def Sq (17 Scty Pol Sq) 1 Feb 63-30 Sep 75

17 Fld Maint Sq 1 Feb 63-30 Sep 75

17 Orgnzl Maint Sq 1 Feb 63-30 Sep 75

34 Bomb Sq 1 Feb 63-30 Sep 75

Aerosp Rsch Labs 13 Aug 63-1 Ju1 75

AF Aero Propeller Lab 5 Aug 63-15 Jan 80

AF Avncs Lab 5 Aug 63-15 Jan 80

AF Flight-Dynamics Lab 5 Aug 63-15 Jan 80

AF Mat Lab 5 Aug 63-15 Jan 80

Sys Engrg Gp 21 Aug 63-15 Nov 67

1964

23 Med Svc Sq 8 Mar 64-31 Jan 73

AF Contract Law Cen (AFMC Law Cen;

AFMC Law Ofc) 15 Oct 84-

AFLC ICBM Deactivation Task Force [Prov] 10 Dec 64-1 Aug 65

HQ AF Packaging & Eval Activity

(AF Packaging Eval Agency) 22 May 64-23 Sep 94
65

1966

4 Maint Sq [Mobile] 1 Ju1 66-1 Oct 78

4 Sup Sq, Mobile [Spt] 1 Ju1 66-1 Oct 78

2762 Maint Sq (2762 Log Sq; 645 Mat Sq) 1 Apr 66-14 Jul 06

1967

3030 Spt Sq 1 Oct 67-1 May 79

AFLC Advd Log Sys Cen 1 Oct 67-1 Feb 70

1968

17 Abn Msl Maint Sq 25 Jul 68-31 Dec 74

2863 GEEIA Sq (1828 Elect Instls Sq) 1 Oct 68-30 Jun 77

Nuclear Engrg Cen 8 Apr 68-30 Jun 71

1969

AF Contract Maint Cen 8 Apr 69-1 Oct 90

USAF Radiological Health Lab 8 Feb 69-29 Sep 76

1970

1 CE Gp 16 Mar 70-1 Nov 71

1971

4950 Test Wing (Tech) (4950 Test Wg) 1 Mar 71-30 Jun 94

1972

17 Mun Maint Sq 1 Oct 72-30 Sep 75

2763 Sup Sq 1 May 72-1 Jul 83

3070 Computer Svcs Sq 1 Jan 72-1 Jul 83

1973

2750 CE Sq (combined with 2750 Svs Sq

to form2750 Engrg & Svc Gp; 645 Civ Engrg Gp;

645 Civ Eng Gp; 88 CE Gp) 1 Jan 73-31 Dec 01

2750 Mat Sq (2750 Log Sq) 1 Jan 73-10 Sep 90

2750 Scty Pol Sq 1 Jan 73-1 Mar 75

3025 Mgmt Engrg Sq 1 Oct 73-30 Sep 93

1974

2732 Acquisition Logs Ops Sq 1 Ju1 74-1 Jul 76

2764 Trnsp Ops Sq 1 Feb 74-1 Jul 83

1975

4950 Armnt & Elect Maint Sq (Avionics Maint Sq) 1 Jul 75-30 Jun 94

4950 Fld Maint Sq 1 Jul 75-30 Jun 94

4950 Orgnzl Maint Sq 1 Jul 75-30 Jun 94

4951 Test Sq 1 Jul 75-25 Jul 83
66

4952 Test Sq 1 Jul 75-30 Jun 94

4953 Test Sq 1 Jul 75-30 Jun 94

6592 Mgmt Engrg Sq 1 Feb 75-1 Jan 78

AF Wright Aeronautical Lab

(Wright R&D Cen; Wright Lab) 1 Jul 75-31 Oct 97

1976

15 Wea Sq 1 Jan 76-1 Apr 80

35 Med Svc Sq 1 Jan 76-Unknown

87 Aerl Port Sq 1 Dec 76-

HQ AF Acquisition Logs Div

(HQ AF Acq Log Cen; HQ Acq Log Div;

HQ Cen Supportability & Tech Ins) 7 May 76-1 Oct 93

1977

3552 USAF Recruiting Sq

(338 USAF Recruiting Sq) 16 Dec 77-

1978

56 Tac Tng Sq 1 Oct 79-Unknown

401 Cmbt Logs Spt Sq 1 Oct 78-

AF Aerosp Med Rsch Lab

(Armstrong Aerosp Med Rsch Lab) 8 Sep 79-13 Dec 90

AFLC Intl Logs Cen (AF Scty Asst Cen) 1 May 78-1 Oct 12

1980

2750 Scty Pol Sq (645 Scty Pol Sq;

88 Scty Pol Sq; 88 Scty For Sq) 16 Mar 80-

1981

1815 Test & Eval Sq (AF Comms Cnd OTEC) 1 Jun 81-29 Mar 91

Logs Audit Region 15 Sep 81-Unknown

Res Tac Ftr Gp Prov 9906 1 Oct 81-1 Jul 82

1982

89 Tac Ftr Sq (89 Ftr Sq) 1 Jul 82-1 Jul 94

906 Cmbt Spt Sq 1 Jul 82-1 Jul 94

906 Consold Acft Maint Sq 1 Jul 82-1 Jul 94

906 Tac Ftr Gp (906 Ftr Gp) 1 Jul 82-1 Jul 94

1983

906 CE Sq 31 Oct 83-1 Jul 94

Log Mgmt Sys Cen (Materiel Sys Cen; 

Materiel Sys Gp; Dev & Fldg Sys Gp; 

544 Elec Sys Gp) 1 Jul 83-30 Jun 10

Log Opns Cen 1 Jul 83-26 Oct 90
67

1984

Wright-Patterson Contracting Cen 15 Nov 84-26 Jun 92

1985

2750 Svs Sq (combined with 2750 CE Sq

to form 2750 Engrg & Svc Gp; 645 Civ Engrg Gp;

645 Civ Eng Gp; 88 CE Gp) 1 Jun 85-31 Dec 00

AFLC Inspec & Safety Cen 1 Jul 85-1 Jul 92

1986

HQ Log Info Sys Div (Log Comms Div) 1 Jan 86-1 Oct 90

1987

HQ AF Distribution Agency 16 Feb 87-26 Oct 90

1989

3100 Specialized Msn Sq (615 Specialized Msn Sq) 18 Dec 89-1 Oct 94

1990

2750 Comp Sq 10 Sep 90-1 Oct 92

2750 Log & Opns Gp (645 Log & Opns Gp;

88 Log Gp; 88 Log & Opns Gp) 10 Sep 90-1 Oct 02

2750 Msn Spt Sq (645 Msn Spt Sq; 88 Msn Spt Sq;

88 For Spt Sq) 10 Sep 90-

2750 Sup Sq (645 Sup Sq; 88 Sup Sq) 10 Sep 90-31 Aug 98

2750 Trans Sq (645 Trans Sq; 88 Trans Sq) 10 Sep 90-31 Aug 98

1991

AFROTC Fld Tng Unit 1 Apr 91-31 Jul 91

1992

645 Mor, Wel, Rec & Svs Sq 1 Oct 92-1 Oct 93

645 Wea Sq (645 Wea Flt; 88 Wea Flt; 88 Wea Sq) 1 Oct 92-30 Sep 05

AF Materiel Comd 1 Jul 92-

HQ Jnt Log Sys Cen 2 Mar 92-30 Apr 99

1993

47 Alft Flt 31 May 93-30 Sep 04

645 Civ Engrg Maint Sq (645 Civ Eng Maint Sq;

788 Civ Eng Sq) 1 Oct 93-31 Dec 00

645 Civ Engrg Opns Sq (645 Civ Eng Opns Sq;

88 CE Sq) 1 Oct 93-31 Dec 00

645 Opns Spt Sq (88 Opns Spt Sq) 1 Oct 93-

645 Spt Gp (88 Spt Gp; 88 Msn Spt Gp) 1 Oct 93-

907 Alft Gp 1 Apr 93-30 Sep 94
68

1994

74 Aero Med Sq (88 Aero Med Sq) 1 Oct 94-

74 Dental Sq (88 Dental Sq) 1 Oct 94-

74 Med Opns Sq (88 Med Opns Sq) 1 Oct 94-

74 Med Spt Sq (88 Med Spt Sq) 1 Oct 94-

88 Comms Sq 1 Oct 94-

88 Equip Maint Sq (88 Maint Sq) 1 Oct 94-31 Aug 98

89 Alft Sq 1 Oct 94-

356 Alft Sq 1 Oct 94-30 Jun 06

445 Acft Maint Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Acft Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Aeromed Evac Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Aeromed Staging Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Aerospace Med Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Alft Wg 1 Oct 94-

445 CE Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Cmbt Log Spt Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Log Readiness Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Maint Gp 1 Oct 94-

445 Maint Opns Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Maint Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Msn Spt Gp 1 Oct 94-

445 Opns Gp 1 Oct 94-

445 Ops Spt Sq 1 Oct 94-

445 Scty For Sq 1 Oct 94-

AFMC CE Sq (AFMC CE Ofc) 1 Oct 94-31 Jul 13

1997

HQ AF Research Lab 1 Apr 97-

2000

AF Institute Advcd Distrib Lrng 1 Oct 00-20 Mar 08

2002

413 Flt Test Sq (412 Test Wg: 412 Elec War Gp) 31 Oct 02-

2003

74 Surg Opns Sq (88 Surg Opns Sq) 10 Sep 03-

2004

54 Alft Sq 30 Sep 04-31 Dec 06

88 Cons Sq 1 Jul 04-30 Jun 10

88 Diag & Thera Sq 2 Aug 04-
69

2005

88 Comp Sq 1 Jul 05-

HQ 555 Intr Gp 8 Nov 05-30 Jun 10

555 Intr Mat Sq 8 Nov 05-30 Jun 10

755 Intr Mat Sq 8 Nov 05-30 Jun 10

555 Intr Spt Sq 8 Nov 05-30 Jun 10

555 Log Sq 8 Nov 05-30 Jun 10

Abn Elec Atk Sys Sq (651 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

AC-130 Sys Sq (667 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

Aging Acft Sys Sq (646 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-16 Mar 09

Cbt Electronic Sys Sq (647 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

Cbt Sys Sq (641 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

Com Deriv Sys Sq (655 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

F-117 Sys Sq (650 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Agile Cbt Spt Sys Wg (77 Aero Sys Wg) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ B-1 Sys Gp (326 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

HQ B-2 Sys Gp (726 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

HQ Big Safari Sys Gp (645 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-

HQ C-130 Sys Gp (866 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ C-17 Sys Gp (516 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ C-5 Sys Gp (716 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ F-15 Sys Gp (912 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ F-16 Sys Gp (312 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Ftr Atk Sys Wg (312 Aero Sys Wg) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Global Hawk Sys Gp (303 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Lg Rge Strike Sys Wg (326 Aero Sys Wg) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

HQ Mob Sys Wg (516 Aero Sys Wg) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Recon Sys Wg (303 Aero Sys Wg) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Simulator Sys Gp (677 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

HQ Spec Opns Fore Gp (356 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

HQ Tng Acft Sys Gp (337 Aero Sys Gp) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

Internatl Sys Flt 18 Jan 05-14 Jul 06

Jt Pri Acft Tng Sys Sq (664 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

Lg Acft Infra Counter Sys Sq (654 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

MC-130 Sys Sq (668 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

Propulsion Sys Sq 18 Jan 05-14 Jul 06

Sensors, Data Lks and Gp Sta Sys Sq 

(659 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

T-1 Sys Sq (662 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

T-38 Sys Sq (663 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 10

Tanker Sys Mod Sys Sq (653 Aero Sys Sq) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

U-2 Sys Flt (674 Aero Sys Flt) 18 Jan 05-30 Jun 08

Det 3, AFWA (Det 3, 16 Wea Sq) 1 Oct 05-

2006

640 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 0630 Jun 10
70

642 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

643 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

644 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

652 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 08

656 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

657 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

658 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 08

669 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

670 Aero Sys Sq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

HQ 577 Aero Sys Gq 14 Jul 06-30 Jun 10

2007

88 Inp Ops Sq 3 Jul 07-

478 Aero Sys Wg (478AESW) 2 Apr 07-12 Jun 09

AFMC Intel Sq (21 Intel Sq) 13 Sep 07-

HQ 478 Aero Sys Gp 2 Apr 07-30 Jun 10

HQ 778 Aero Sys Gp 2 Apr 07-12 Jun 09

HQ 878 Aero Sys Gp 2 Apr 07-12 Jun 09

HQ 777 Aero Sys Gp 10 Aug 07-30 Jun 10

HQ Global Log Spt Cen (Prov) 30 Apr 07-28 Mar 08

2008

HQ 711 Human Perf Wg 25 Mar 08-

HQ 591 Sply Chain Mgt Gp 31 Mar 08-1 Oct 12

401 Sply Chain Mgt Sq 1 Apr 08-1 Oct 12

402 Sply Chain Mgt Sq 1 Apr 08-1 Oct 12

403 Sply Chain Mgt Sq 1 Apr 08-1 Oct 12

HQ Air & Cyberspace Analysis Gp (HQ Air &

Cyberspace Intel Gp) 15 Apr 08-

Aircraft Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Comd Contr Comm & Cptr/Info Ops Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Cyber Analysis Sq (Operational Rqmts Sq) 15 Apr 08-

Electronic Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Engng Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Integrated Air Def Sys Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

HQ Data Analysis Gp (Geospatial & Signatr Intel Gp) 15 Apr 08-

Foreign Mat Exploit Sq 15 Apr 08-

Geospatial Intel/Msmt & Signtr Intel Analysis Sq

(Geospatial Intel Analysis Sq)

(Persistent Infrared Analysis Sq) 15 Apr 08-

Imag Analysis Sq (Geospatial Intel/ Mesurmnt

& Signatres Intel Innovation Sq; Persistent Infrared

Analysis Sq) 15 Apr 08-

Info Exploit Sq 15 Apr 08-

Sig Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

HQ Global Threat Analysis Gp (Global Exploit Intel Gp) 15 Apr 08-
71

HQ Global Threat Analysis Sq (GlobalActivities Sq) 15 Apr 08-

Future Threats Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Regional Threats Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

HQ Space & Msl Analysis Gp (HQ Space, Missiles

and Forces Intel Gp) 15 Apr 08-

Ballistic Msl Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Counterspace Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Space Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-

Special Analysis Sq 15 Apr 08-1 Oct 2012

HQ 702 Aero Sys Gp 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

HQ 703 Aero Sys Gp 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

HQ 812 Aero Sys Gp 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

HQ 823 Aero Sys Gp 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

HQ 836 Aero Sys Gp 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

HQ 877 Aero Sys Gp 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

637 Aero Sys Sq 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

638 Aero Sys Sq 30 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

10 Fld Invstg Sq 23 Jun 08-30 Jun 10

2009

671 Aero Sys Sq 12 Jun 09-30 Jun 10

672 Aero Sys Sq 12 Jun 09-30 Jun 10

673 Aero Sys Sq 12 Jun 09-30 Jun 10

Det 3, 16 Wea Sq 18 Nov 09-

2010

404 Sup Chain Mgmt Sq 30 Jun 10-

405 Sup Chain Mgmt Sq 30 Jun 10-1 Oct 12

Global Activities Sq 2 Aug 10-

Operational Rqmts Sq 2 Aug 10-

HQ Enterprise Sourcing Gp (HQ AF Inst Cntract Ag) 28 Oct 10-

770 Bus Spt Sq 28 Oct 10-1 Oct 13

771 Enterprise Sourcing Sq 28 Oct 10-

2011

USAFSAM 15 Sep 11-

2012

HQ AF Life Cyc Mgmt Cen (AFLCMC) 9 Jul 12-

Mesurmnt & Signatr Intel Analysis Sq 1 Oct 12-

Det 2, 10 AF 1 Oct 12-
72

2013

655 ISR Gp 28 Sep 13-

64 Intel Sq 15 Sep 13-

71 Intel Sq 15 Sep 13-

88 Log Readiness Sq 10 Oct 13-

2014

14 Intel Sq 17 Apr 14-

88 CE Gp 1 Oct 14-

88 CE Sq 1 Oct 14-

788 CE Sq 1 Oct 14-