page_title: Bangor Air National Guard Base
section_title: Maine Air National Guard
hierarchical_section_title: Bangor Air National Guard Base / History / Maine Air National Guard
caption_attribution_description: English: USGS digital orthophoto of Dow Air Force Base in Maine
context_page_description: Bangor Air National Guard Base is a United States Air National Guard base. Created in 1927 as the commercial Godfrey Field, the airfield was taken over by the U.S. Army just before World War II and renamed Godfrey Army Airfield and later Dow Army Airfield. It became Dow Air Force Base in 1947, when the newly formed U.S. Air Force took over many Army air assets. In 1968, the base was sold to the city of Bangor, Maine, to become Bangor International Airport but has since continued to host Maine Air National Guard units under a lease agreement with the city.
context_section_description: With the inactivation of Dow AFB in 1968, most of the base was purchased by the city of Bangor and reopened the following year as Bangor International Airport.  That portion of Dow AFB not turned over to the city became the basis for the current Air National Guard Base and the Maine Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility.
  Under Maine ANG jurisdiction, the airfield was initially the home to the 101st Air Defense Wing of the Maine Air National Guard, an ANG associate of Aerospace Defense Command's (ADC) 36th Air Division at what was then Topsham AFS, Maine.  It operated F-106 Delta Darts until 1969, then changed to F-101 Voodoo interceptors until 1976.  In 1976, the 101st was reassigned to be an associate unit of SAC and was renamed the 101st Air Refueling Wing (101 ARW), operating the KC-135 Stratotanker.
  The 101 ARW was later re-equipped with the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker, which it continues to operate today. and shares the runway with the civilian airport facilities.  With the disestablishment of SAC in 1992, the 101 ARW is now operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command (AMC).
caption: 2006 USGS Aerial Photo
exif: {}