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A historical cornucopia ranging from native tribal lands and ranch living to infantry training grounds and missile launch site, the location currently known as Vandenberg Air Force Base has held an amazing legacy that continues today. Stretching over 45 miles of pristine California coastline and covering over 99,000 acres, the base has been the vanguard for the United States' space and missile program. Showcasing over 1,900 launches since 1957, Vandenberg...
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The year is 1888, and Pres. Grover Cleveland has just signed into law a bill that will lead to the establishment of Fort Crook. In 1948, that Army post gained a new name: Offutt Air Force Base. The history of Offutt Air Force Base is truly unlike that of any other military installation. In the face of adversity, it has overcome challenges during the United States' rise to global prominence, was active during the golden age of flight, and served as...
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KLAXON! The alarm immediately sent the aircrews at Beale Air Force Base, California, scrambling to their alert aircraft in a race to get airborne first. The KC-135 tankers were usually the quickest to taxi out, with the B-52 bombers following closely behind. Soon, the air filled with the rumble of engines as aircraft roared down the runway trailing great clouds of exhaust and disappeared into the skies of Northern California. It was a dramatic scenario...
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Once touted as the "West Point of the air" in the pre–Air Force Academy years, Randolph Field/Air Force Base is famous for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, its iconic Administration Building (nicknamed the "Taj Mahal"), and its rectangular layout. Allowed by the Army hierarchy to design its own installation from the ground up, the Army Air Corps hit a home run in design uniqueness and functionality. When the Corps of Engineers built the...
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Lake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers is the story of the USS Wolverine and the USS Sable, two Great Lakes excursion ships converted for use as aircraft carrier training during World War II. Through the duration of the war, the United States Navy qualified 17,800 pilots for aircraft carrier operation. Training the pilots on either the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean would have exposed the training ships to the danger of submarine attack, while requiring...
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Luke Air Force Base, created in less than a year from desert scrub and farmland, stands some 20 miles west of Phoenix. On March 31, 1941, months before the United States entered World War II, construction began. That summer, the Army Air Corps named Luke Field after World War I hero and triple ace Frank Luke Jr. Some pilots from Luke Field's first class flew from airfields in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. From the beginning, Luke...
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Naval Air Station Jacksonville was commissioned on October 15, 1940, and has trained tens of thousands of naval aviators throughout its long history. Located along the banks of the St. Johns River, the site and the weather conditions make the base a premier aviation facility. Initially conducting primary and sea-plane training, it expanded to training pilots in almost every type of aircraft the Navy has flown. The Navy's elite precision aviators,...
8) USS Alabama
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Powerful: this single word aptly describes a naval vessel known as a battleship. The USS Alabama (BB 60) was the last of four South Dakota–class battleships built for World War II. She is well armored and designed to survive an attack while continuing to fight. Her main battery, known as "Big Guns," consisted of nine 16-inch guns; each could launch a projectile weighing as much as a small car that could hit a target 21 miles away. Her crew numbered...
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Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest naval station, supporting the Navy ships, submarines, and aircraft of the US Fleet Forces Command with a multitude of facilities and services. This shore establishment, located on the historic harbor of Hampton Roads, has remained vital to the Navy since its foundation in 1917. Once established, the naval station focused on serving the fleet in four areas: aviation, recruit training, a submarine base, and...
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Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world's first successful controlled, heavier-than-air powered flight on December 17, 1903, after four years of glider experiments and scientific study. At what is now the Wright Brothers National Memorial, the brothers discovered and developed the fundamental principles of mechanical flight, setting in motion a series of events that allowed the first generation of flight to travel from Kitty Hawk to the moon in the...
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The waters of Manhasset Bay have long been an incubator for innovation and prosperity. While early baymen sought their livelihood through clam digging and fishing, a new industry by way of sand mining forever changed the bucolic hilltops that overlooked the bay. While the sand mining industry brought prosperity and notoriety, the industry's use of heavy machinery and hydraulic pumps leveled the peninsula, once known for its lush grazing pastures....
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For nearly five decades, some of the United States military's most secretive operations were conducted out of a collection of nondescript buildings at the intersection of State Route 237 and Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale, California. The installation was known by a variety of names in its early years: Satellite Test Center, Air Force Satellite Control Facility, the "Blue Cube," and Sunnyvale Air Force Station. In July 1986, the facility was renamed...
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In 1944, A.L. Simon, a sailor at the Norman Naval Air Station, illustrated a booklet, "On the Beach," about Navy life in Norman, Oklahoma. The title he chose reflected the irony of the US Navy establishing two bases in a landlocked prairie town in 1942. The initial activation of the Navy bases (from 1942 to 1945) and their reactivation (from 1952 to 1959) greatly increased the employment rate and economy in Norman, offering locals a much-needed boost...
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In the Southwestern United States, the skies above New Mexico have provided an amazing stargazing experience for two millennia. Images of America: New Mexico Space Trail catalogs sites within the state that have inspired humankind to reach for the stars. The Space Trail includes various archaeoastronomy locations, such as Chaco Canyon, which Native Americans used to predict agricultural schedules according to the sun's position during the solstice....
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Westchester County Airport is referred to by the International Air Transport Association as HPN or, more endearingly by its patrons, White Plains Airport. The airport is unique in that it has the feel of a rural or regional airport but is within the New York metro area. Today, the airport bustles with traffic, accommodating commercial airlines, business, and private aviation. The golden age of aviation gave way to a major industry with the employment...
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Although New York City was slowly recognizing the need for a municipal airport in the late 1920s, it sought to regain prominence by constructing the most advanced airport of its day. Construction in the far reaches of Brooklyn was started on October 29, 1929, the day of the stock market crash that heralded the Great Depression. The airport was named posthumously for Floyd Bennett, a Brooklyn native, Navy pilot, and Medal of Honor winner. Unfortunately,...
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An industrial miracle took place at the Fairfax Airport, on the shores of the Missouri River, between 1941 and 1945. A massive factory was quickly built and a large modification center was soon added. At its peak, over 24,000 greater Kansas City–area residents were employed by North American Aviation, Inc. Their goal was to build as many twin-engine B-25 Mitchell medium bombers for wartime service as possible. Their success was the construction...
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During the 1960s and early 1970s, northern Arizona played a critical role in fulfilling President Kennedy's bold challenge of sending humans to the moon. From the rocky depths of the Grand Canyon to lofty cosmic views from Flagstaff's dark skies, northern Arizona was ideal for activities ranging from moon buggy testing and geology training to lunar mapping and mission simulation. Every astronaut who walked on the moon, from Neil Armstrong to Gene...
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