page_title: Kincheloe Air Force Base
section_title: Strategic Air Command
hierarchical_section_title: Kincheloe Air Force Base / History / Strategic Air Command
caption_attribution_description: English: Last existing KC-135E tail number 56-3630 decommissioned at Davis-Monthan AFB - AMARC
context_page_description: Kincheloe Air Force Base was a U.S. Air Force base during the Cold War. Built in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1943 during World War II, the base was in service until 1977.
  The base was known by various names, including Kinross Municipal Airport, Kinross Army Air Field, Kinross Air Field, Kinross Air Force Auxiliary Field, and Kinross Air Force Base. The present-day Chippewa County International Airport, Kinross Correctional Facility, and the community of Kincheloe are located on the site of the base. The base was named for Iven Kincheloe, a test pilot from Michigan.
context_section_description: In the 1950s, the Air Force adopted a policy of dispersing Strategic Air Command bombers and tankers. At Kincheloe the runway was extended to 12,000 feet in 1958 to accommodate 15 B-52H bombers and ten KC-135 tankers. In addition to the runway, overruns of 1,000 feet (305 m) were constructed on both ends of the runway, along with 75-foot (23 m) shoulders on each side of the runway, providing a paved width of 300 feet (91 m).  Along with the runway extension, a "Christmas Tree" alert pad area was constructed on the north side of the runway end to accommodate alert aircraft, as well as a "Mole Hole" crew living facility, where alert crews would live on shifts ready to man the alert aircraft and take off within a few minutes' notice.  The original cost of the undertaking was estimated at $30 million.
  On 2 February 1959, Strategic Air Command established the 4239th Strategic Wing at Kincheloe AFB, Michigan as part of SAC's plan to disperse its B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.
  In November, 1961, following two years of construction, the 4239th Strategic Wing of the Strategic Air Command arrived with B-52 bombers. On May 1, 1962, the SAC wing at Kincheloe was declared operationally ready.  The wing consisted of the 93d Bombardment Squadron, consisting of 15 B-52Hs. Half of the aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled, armed, and ready for combat. SAC Strategic Wings were considered a provisional unit by HQ, USAF and could not carry a permanent history or lineage.
  In 1962, in order to retain the lineage of its MAJCOM 4-digit combat units and to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its MAJCOM strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate AFCON units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history.
  The 4239th Strategic Wing was inactivated as the 449th Bombardment Wing (449 BW) was activated on 15 Nov 1962 and organized (i.e., the assignment of personnel & equipment) on 1 February 1963, assigned to SAC's Second Air Force, 40th Air Division. The 93 BS was also inactivated and replaced by the 716th Bombardment Squadron, one of the Air Force's historical World War II bomb squadrons, being activated on 15 Nov 1962 and organized on the same date as the 449th Bombardment Wing. The 908th Air Refueling Squadron (Heavy), was assigned and organized on 01 Jul 1963 and the 70th Munitions Maintenance Squadron designation was unchanged, and component support units (the 4239th / 449th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron; 4239th / 449th Armament & Electronics Maintenance Squadron; 4239th / 449th Field Maintenance Squadron; and the 4239th / 449th Organizational Maintenance Squadron) underwent the same actions as the newly established wing.
  On 1 Oct 1968, the 449th became the host unit assigned to Kincheloe AFB with the inactivations of the 507th Fighter Wing (Air Defense) and the activations & Organizations of the 449th Combat Support Group, the 449th Civil Engineering Squadron, 449th Security Police Squadron, 449th Services Squadron, 449th Supply Squadron, and the 449th Transportation Squadron. As under the Tri-Deputate organization, all flying components were directly assigned to the wing, no operational group element was activated. With the activation, the history, lineage and honors of the 449th Bombardment Group were bestowed upon the newly established wing upon activation.
  The 449th and its subordinate units' mission was to operate at full readiness, and support activities included aircraft and vehicle maintenance, bombing crew and unit training, and air refueling support. The wing did deploy individual B-52 crews, but not its B-52H aircraft, to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, as the Kincheloe B-52Hs was strictly dedicated to SAC's strategic deterrence mission. However, K
caption: KC-135 Stratotanker
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