McConnell Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located four miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States., effective 2007-12-20 The airbase was named in honor of the brothers Fred and Thomas McConnell of Wichita, who had both been Air Force pilots and veterans of World War II. It is the home of Air Mobility Command's 22nd Air Refueling Wing (22 ARW), Air Force Reserve Command's 931st Air Refueling Wing (931 ARW), and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Wing (184 W).
McConnell's primary mission is to provide global reach by conducting air refueling and airlift where and when needed.
History McConnell Air Force Base was known during the first part of its existence as the Wichita Municipal Airport. Although the field was designed originally to serve only municipal civil airport needs, it had an Air Force connection almost from the beginning.
Origins
McConnell's history began in October 1924, when the city of Wichita hosted more than 100,000 people for the National Air Congress. The event was used by city planners to raise funds for a proposed Wichita Municipal Airport. The event was a success and ground-breaking ceremonies for the airport were held on 28 June 1929.
In August 1941, the Kansas National Guard 127th Observation Squadron was activated as the first military unit assigned to the Wichita airport. The unit's limited equipment included one BC-1A, one C-47, and four L-1 aircraft. This was the start of a cooperative relationship between the people of Wichita and military aviation.
B-29 Superfortress production
On 6 October 1941, the unit was ordered to extended active duty and remained an integral part of the United States Army Air Corps until 6 October 1945, with duty assignments in Tennessee and Okinawa. The airport, at that time, was located several miles southeast of downtown Wichita and comprised some 1,337 acres. The runways were adequate; five runways were each wide; two were , one , one , and one in length. All had a wheel load capacity of . A parking apron with dimensions of , and seven taxi strips were provided.
Other facilities at the airport, however, were meager. The field could boast of only one hangar and three small warehouses. No facilities were available either for troop housing or troop messing. No fuel storage facilities existed, and all such supplies were handled by commercial contract.
A lease between the federal government and the city was concluded and on 1 March 1942, the AAF Materiel Center, Midwestern Procurement District (Air Materiel Command) was established at Wichita Army Airfield. As soon as construction permitted, the headquarters of the district was established in the administration building of the municipal airport. By the end of 1942, due to the growth and expansion of the organization it occupied practically the entire building save for a few offices occupied by the CAA and airline companies, while some activities of the district were housed at the Boeing Airplane Company Plant No. 1, in Wichita.Air Materiel Command's mission at the airport was to accept, service and coordinate the transfer of newly produced Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers to other installations. In addition, Ferrying Division, Air Transport Command's 4156th AAF Base Unit (Air Base) was organized. The new base unit had the mission of servicing, dispatching, and maintaining transient and locally based aircraft. The working personnel were entirely civilian, with a few officers in supervisory capacities.
On 11 October 1946, the 4156th AAF Base Unit was ordered to cease operations by the 30th of the month. Consequently, the remainder of October was spent in closing down operations and transferring property to Tinker Army Airfield, Oklahoma.
On 15 November the field was officially transferred to the District Engineer, Seventh Service Command at Omaha, Nebraska who assumed jurisdiction over the field, pending disposition, while the 4156th AAF Base Unit was discontinued on the same day. All military personnel were absorbed by Headquarters, Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area (the successor of the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command).
Wichita Airport was returned to civilian jurisdiction, and it remained so until 1951.
Cold War The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was the first swept-winged jet bomber built in quantity for any air force, and was the mainstay of the medium-bombing strength of the Strategic Air Command all throughout the 1950s. The Boeing plant at Wichita was shut down after World War II. However, on 3 September 1948, the first production order was placed for the B-47. Since Boeing's Seattle facility was already heavily committed to the KC-97 Stratofreighter tanker and the B-50 Superfortress bomber, as well as to the conversion of obsolescent B-29 bombers to aerial tankers, it was decided that the production Stratojets were to be built at Boeing's factory in Wichita.
B-47 Stratojet training
By the summer of 1950, Boeing was ready to turn out the first production models of the B-47, and the United States Air Force sought to make Wichita Airport a permanent military installation. Public hearings began to consider locating an Air Force base near the Wichita Boeing facilities, and the city of Wichita was awarded $9.4 million to build a new airfield for its own use, later to become known as Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. In addition, the production of the B-47 Stratojet bomber at Boeing made the airport a desirable location for the Air Force to conduct B-47 combat crew training.
On 31 May 1951, the USAF took title to Wichita Municipal Airport, and on 4 June the Air Training Command 3520th Combat Crew Training Wing was activated at the facility. To perform the training, the 3520th Combat Crew Training Wing was activated, and an ambitious building program totaling some $22,000,000 was begun.
In spite of the difficulty of building an installation and initiating an entirely new program simultaneously, the base developed into a highly specialized training center. There were two principal parts to the mission of the training center: aircrew training in B-47's and transition training in the same aircraft. A subsequent fluctuation of emphasis from one of those functions to the other reflected the varying demands of the Strategic Air Command. A more inclusive functional title was given the wing in June 1952 when it was redesignated the 3520th Flying Training Wing (M Bomb).
The Air Force was not the sole occupant during this period. In 1952 Wing Headquarters shared the Wichita Municipal Airport Terminal Building with four commercial airlines, Braniff Airlines, Central Airlines, Trans World Airlines, and Continental Airlines, and also one private flying service: "Executive Airways". These air lines were located in the terminal building at the time of government occupation, and they were permitted to operate on a temporary basis pending completion of the new municipal airport for Wichita.
Up through 1 April 1952, the Wichita Municipal Airport was under the jurisdiction of the Flying Training Air Force. On that date it was transferred to the Crew Training Air Force, another division of the Air Training Command.
By 1952, the Air Force had decided to make a permanent airbase of the municipal airport. The Federal Government took over the property by federal court action during the first half of 1952, thus becoming the owner and no longer a lessee. Reflecting official government ownership, Wichita Municipal Airport was redesignated as the Wichita Air Force Base on 15 May 1953.
However, the name was changed to McConnell Air Force Base after less than a year in honor of Wichita brothers Fred and Thomas McConnell, both Air Force pilots and World War II veterans. Fred was killed in a private plane crash in 1945, while Thomas died in a bombing raid on Bougainville Island in the South Pacific.
Air Training Command was host at the base from 1951 through 1958, training B-47 aircrews. Strategic Air Command took control over the base on 1 July 1958 and the B-47 training mission. The 4347th Combat Crew Training Wing replaced the 3520th and the 42d Strategic Aerospace Division was activated on 15 July 1959. B-47 crew training continued at McConnell until 1 March 1963 when the 4347th CCTW was inactivated.
Titan II ballistic missiles On 1 March 1962, Strategic Air Command stood up the 381st Strategic Missile Wing (SMW). Using McConnell as their base, 18 Titan II ICBM missile silos formed a ring from the northeast around to the south and the west on an irregular radius of 20 to 50 miles from the base. This mission of deterrence dominated base activity for the next twenty-four years until 1986 when the 381st Strategic Missile Wing was inactivated. The removal of the missiles and of all Titan II ICBM systems began in July 1982 and was completed in June 1987. All of the missile silos in Kansas and Arkansas were demolished, and all but one of them in Arizona.
Tactical fighter aircraft In October 1962, the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing was reactivated at McConnell with four (560th, 561st, 562d, 563d) fighter squadrons. The wing initially flew the North American F-100C Super Sabre, but was replaced in 1963 by the Republic F-105D/F Thunderchief. On 4 July 1963, Tactical Air Command became responsible for the base with the 388 TFW as host unit.
On 21 July 1964, the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing was also reactivated at McConnell with four F-105 (354th, 357th, 421st, 469th) squadrons. Both wings would deploy to Thailand in support of the Vietnam War. On 8 November 1965, the 355th was ordered to Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base and on 8 April 1966 the 388th TFW was ordered to Korat RTAFB, where its F-105 squadrons had been on a rotational deployment for the past two years.
On 8 February 1964 the 23d Tactical Fighter Wing was reactivated at McConnell initially with three F-105 (561st, 562d, 563d) squadrons. The 4519th Combat Crew Training Squadron was activated on 1 August 1967 with F-105B/D/F/G aircraft, then was inactivated on 16 October 1969, being replaced by the 419th TFS.
Squadron markings on the natural metal / silver lacquered aircraft included the following: 561 TFS – black/yellow checkerboarding on rudder; 562 TFS – a red, white and black "sharkmouth" on the nose of the aircraft; 563 TFS red and white stripes on the rudder, wingtips and stabilizers with a white band on the top of the vertical fin. When the finish on tactical jets was replaced by Southeast Asian Camouflaged, the squadrons carried the following tail codes: 561 TFS "MD"; 562 TFS "ME"; 563 TFS "MF", and the 4519th, (later 419th TFS).TFTS "MG".
The mission of the 23 TFW at McConnell was to provide training for F-105 pilots prior to their deployment to Southeast Asia. The 560th acted as a combat training squadron, while the other three squadrons began rotational TDY deployments to Southeast Asia beginning in November 1964.
In February 1965, when the 23 TFW deployed three squadrons to Southeast Asia for combat, these units were initially under the control of the 2d Air Division. Later, the 6441 TFW (P) was activated at Takhli RTAFB in July 1965, taking control of the 23d's squadrons deployed there. In addition to the deployments to Thailand, detachments of the 561 TFS also deployed to Da Nang Air Base RVN for operations within the borders of the Republic of Vietnam.
On 1 August 1967, the 4519th Combat Crew Training squadron was added to the 23 TFW, and the 560 TFS was inactivated on 25 September 1968.