page_title: Carswell Air Force Base
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: Carswell Air Force Base / History / Strategic Air Command / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: English: Special photo of Air Force bombers from the 1930s through the late 1940s. A Douglas B-18 "Bolo"; a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress"; a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" and the B-36 "Peacemaker" dominating the group photo with a 230-foot wingspan. Taken at Carswell AFB (Ft. Worth) after the receipt of the first B-36 in 1948. Note the SAC 7th Bombardment Wing marking on the B-29.
context_page_description: See: Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base for the current use of the facility.
  see also: Air Force Plant 4 for the government-owned aircraft manufacturing plant adjacent to the facility.
  Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings.
  Carswell was a major Strategic Air Command base during the Cold War. It was the headquarters of several SAC intercontinental bombardment wings, equipped with the latest heavy bombers from B-29 Superfortresses; B-36 Peacemakers and B-52 Stratofortresses. The west side of the airfield was home to Air Force Plant 4, a 602-acre industrial complex occupied over the decades by Convair, General Dynamics, and now by Lockheed Martin. The bulk of the Air Force Convair B-36, B-58 Hustler, F-111 Aardvark, EF-111 Raven and F-16 Fighting Falcon fleets were built there.
  With the end of the Cold War, and the subsequent downsizing of the American military, the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended that Carswell AFB be closed by 1994.
context_section_description: In 1947, shortly after the United States Air Force was established as a separate branch of the United States military, the Hobson Wing-Base Organization Plan was implemented.  The 7th was selected as one of the "Test Wings" to evaluate the new organization T/O and on 17 November 1947 the 7th Bombardment Wing was established.  The test was successful and the wing was made permanent on 1 August 1948. As part of the new organization both the 7th and 11th Bombardment Groups became its operational component.
  On 16 February 1951 the 11th Bombardment Wing was activated and the group was assigned to it. The 19th Air Division was organized the same day at Carswell. With this move the division assumed responsibility over the 7th and 11th Bomb Wings at Carswell.
caption: Special photo of Air Force bombers from the 1930s through the late 1940s. A Douglas B-18 "Bolo"; a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress"; a Boeing "B-29 Superfortress" and the B-36 "Peacemaker" dominating the group photo with a 230 Ft Wingspan. Taken at Carswell AFB after receipt of the first B-36 in 1948. Note the SAC 7th Bombardment Wing marking on the B-29.
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