page_title: R.I. Bong Air Force Base
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: R.I. Bong Air Force Base / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the R.I. Bong Air Force Base
context_page_description: Richard I. Bong Air Force Base is an unfinished Air Force base. It was named after World War II aviator Major Richard Ira Bong. The base was intended to be an air defense fighter base for the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. It was conceived in the early 1950s and construction began in the mid-1950s. Construction had barely begun when the base was transferred to the Strategic Air Command. Eventually, the base was considered obsolete as it had become apparent to Air Force officials that the base would be redundant with installations nearby that would soon have space for more units. The base was abandoned in 1959 and disposed of the following year.
  The base is not to be confused with the planned renaming of Spokane Air Force Base, Washington, as Bong Air Force Base, which was the planned name of that facility until General Muir Fairchild died on active duty in 1950, cementing "Fairchild" onto the name of the current Fairchild Air Force Base.
caption: Map of the Bong Air Force Base construction in progress when project was halted
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "6261", "Image ImageLength": "4476", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "4", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2017:10:24 07:20:03", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3639", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "6261", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4476"}