McChord Field - WikiHQ

thumb|Main hangar and control tower in July 2005

McChord Field (formerly and still commonly known as McChord Air Force Base) is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord AFB is the home of the 62nd Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the airbase's primary mission being worldwide strategic airlift.

The McChord AFB facility was consolidated with the U.S. Army's Fort Lewis on 1 February 2010 to become part of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord complex. This initiative was driven by the Base Realignment and Closure Round in 2005 and is designed to combine current infrastructure into one maximizing war fighting capability and efficiency, while saving taxpayer dollars.

62nd Airlift Wing

The 62nd Airlift Wing (62 AW) is the host unit at McChord AFB. It is assigned to the Eighteenth Air Force and is composed of more than 7,200 active duty military and civilian personnel. It is tasked with supporting worldwide combat and humanitarian airlift contingencies. Aircraft of the 62nd fly around the globe, conducting airdrop training; it also carries out the Antarctic resupply missions.

Components

The 62nd Operations Group flies the C-17 Globemaster III transport from McChord Field. It consists of three airlift squadrons and an Operations Support Squadron.

4th Airlift Squadron
7th Airlift Squadron
8th Airlift Squadron

Other wing components are the 62nd Maintenance Group, 62nd Operations Group, 62nd Comptroller Squadron, and 62nd Medical Squadron.

Tenant units

Other major units stationed at McChord Field are:

446th Airlift Wing (Air Force Reserve Command)
Western Air Defense Sector
22nd Special Tactics Squadron
262nd Cyberspace Operations Squadron
361st Recruiting Squadron
373d Training Squadron

McChord Air Museum

The McChord Air Museum, operated by the McChord Air Museum Foundation, exhibits 17 aircraft as well as artifacts related to the history of the airbase.

History

Origins

thumb|right|Program for the opening of McChord Field, 3 July 1940

In 1917, the citizens of Pierce County, Washington approved a bond measure for to buy of land to be donated to the Federal Government for use as a military reservation. This land became Camp Lewis (and later Fort Lewis). Ten years later, in 1927, another bond measure was passed to establish an airfield just north of the military reservation. The airfield, named Tacoma Field, officially opened 14 March 1930.

On 28 February 1938 the airfield was officially transferred to the federal government. Three years after the transfer, on 3 July 1940, the airfield was renamed McChord Field, in honor of Colonel William Caldwell McChord, who had been killed in an accident near Richmond, Virginia on 18 August 1937. Col. McChord, (1881–1937), rated as a junior military aviator in 1918, died while trying to force-land his Northrop A-17 near Maidens, Virginia. At the time of his death, he was Chief of the Training and Operations Division in HQ Army Air Corps. Tacoma Field was renamed McChord Field, 17 December 1937. Over the subsequent two decades McChord Field grew to roughly , encompassing the northern tip of the Ft. Lewis. It became independent of Ft. Lewis in 1947 following the creation of the Air Force under provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 and was subsequently named McChord AFB. The 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, the first postwar general surveillance radar organization was activated at McChord on 21 May 1947. Defensive warning radars became operational at McChord on 1 June 1950 with World War II-era AN/CPS-4 and AN/CPS-5 radars being operated by the 635th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. ADC completed installation of two AN/CPS-6B medium-range search and height-finder radars in February 1951. Performance of these new radars was deemed inferior to the World War II vintage models and the calibration process delayed operational readiness at this and other sites. An AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was installed in the mid-1950s.

In 1975, TAC divested itself of its Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical airlift fleet, transferring all tactical airlift wings, groups and squadrons to MAC. For the 62 AW, this resulted in a significant increase in the wing's total mission capabilities beyond strictly strategic airlift with the arrival of the 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron (36 TAS) and their C-130E aircraft and personnel from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.

Like most US military installations, McChord is closed to the general public, other than during their annual Open House.

The McChord Field Historic District was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 12 December 2008. of 2000, there were 4,096 people, 1,004 households, and 978 families residing on the base. The population density was . There were 1,010 housing units, with an average density of . The racial makeup was 76.5% White, 8.5% African American, 0.7% Native American, 4.2% Asian, 0.7% Pacific Islander, 3.2% from other races, and 6.3% from two or more races. 8.1% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,004 households, out of which 77.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 89.9% were married couples living together, 4.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 2.5% were non-families. 2.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 3.46 and the average family size was 3.49.

On the base the population was spread out, with 36.3% under the age of 18, 22.2% from 18 to 24, 39.5% from 25 to 44, 1.8% from 45 to 64, and 0.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females, there were 127.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 137.1 males.

The median income for a household was $35,319, and the median income for a family was $35,205. Males had a median income of $23,004 versus $22,216 for females. The per capita income for the base was $12,454. About 5.5% of families and 7.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.5% of those under the age of 18 and none of those 65 and older.

References

External links

McChord Air Museum