Wurtsmith Air Force Base

44°27′09″N 083°22′49″W / 44.45250°N 83.38028°W / 44.45250; -83.38028TypeAir Force BaseSite informationControlled byUnited States Air ForceSite historyBuilt1923In use1923–1993Garrison informationGarrison379th Bombardment Wing

Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force base in Iosco County, Michigan. Near Lake Huron, it operated for seventy years, from 1923 until decommissioned in 1993. On January 18, 1994, Wurtsmith was listed as a Superfund site, due to extensive groundwater contamination with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, including trichloroethylene, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and vinyl chloride. In 2010, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances contamination was discovered, and as of 2022 remediation is still ongoing.

During the Cold War, Wurtsmith was one of three Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases in Michigan with the B-52 bomber, the others (Kincheloe AFB and Sawyer AFB) were in the Upper Peninsula. The base was named in honor of Major General Paul Wurtsmith, commander of SAC's Eighth Air Force, who was killed when his B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed on Cold Mountain near Asheville, North Carolina, on September 13, 1946.^[1][2]

In 2022, Granot Loma was being touted as a potential space port in the Upper Peninsula,^[3] in tandem with Wurtsmith.^[3]

Previous names

• Camp Skeel, November 1931
• Oscoda Army Air Field, August 1942
• Oscoda Air Force Base, 24 June 1948
• Wurtsmith Air Force Base, 15 February 1953 – 30 June 1993

Major commands to which assigned

• General Headquarters Air Force, 26 June 1936
• Third Air Force, 2 September 1942
• Air Service Command, 12 December 1942
• Third Air Force, 5 March 1943
• First Air Force, 14 August 1943
• Continental Air Forces, 16 April 1945

Re-designated Strategic Air Command, 21 March 1946

• Continental Air Command,1 January 1949
• Air Defense Command, 1 January 1951
• Strategic Air Command, 1 April 1960
• Air Combat Command, 1 June 1992 – 30 June 1993

Major units assigned

• First Pursuit Group, 15 October 1927
• 100th Base HQ and Air Base Squadron, 31 October 1942
• 524th Base HQ and Air Base Squadron, 21 June 1943
• 134th AAF Base Unit, 14 April 1944 – 12 April 1945
• 4301st Base Services Squadron, 1 August 1948

Re-designated 2476th Base Service Squadron, 1 January 1949

Re-designated 4655th Base Service Squadron, 1 December 1950

• 332d Fighter Group, 2 April 1943 – 9 July 1943
• 100th Fighter Squadron, 29 October 1943 – 8 November 1943
• 301st Fighter Squadron, 21 May 1943 – 10 July 1943
• 302d Fighter Squadron, 19 November 1943 – December 1943
• 403d Fighter Squadron, May 1943 – 15 December 1943
• 754th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 27 November 1950 – 20 July 1951
• 63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 5 January 1951 – 17 August 1955
• 527th Air Service Group

Re-designated 527th Air Defense Group, 16 February 1953 – 15 October 1955

• 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 October 1968 - 30 November 1969
• 445th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 15 August 1955 – 30 September 1968
• 31st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 8 June 1956 – 20 August 1957
• 18th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 20 August 1957 – 27 April 1960
• 4026th Strategic Wing, 1 August 1958 – 9 January 1961
• 40th Air Division, 1 July 1959 – 8 June 1988
• 920th Air Refueling Squadron, 15 July 1960 – 15 June 1993
• 379th Bombardment Wing, 9 January 1961 – 30 June 1993
• 94th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 December 1969 - 30 June 1971

Environmental contamination

On January 18, 1994 Wurtsmith was listed as a Superfund due to extensive groundwater contamination with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, including trichloroethylene, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and vinyl chloride.

In March 2010 the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) became aware of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances concentrations in groundwater, when EGLE staff sampled at a former fire training area on the base. Air Force completed the PFAS Preliminary Assessment, Site Inspection, and planned the Remedial Investigation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Air Force performed three removal actions and planned two interim remedial actions.^[4] On November 1, 2017, more than twenty-two years after being listed as a superfundsite Wurtsmith held its first Restoration Advisory Board meeting.^[5]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wurtsmith Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meetings became virtual events, yet in August 2021 RAB members said that progress was made on the WAFB cleanup, and that the relationship between the Air Force and the community has improved.^[6]

See also

• Michigan World War II Army Airfields
• Central Air Defense Force (Air Defense Command)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Further reading

• Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office 1961 (republished 1983, Office of Air Force History, ISBN 0-912799-02-1).
• Ravenstein, Charles A. Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History 1984. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. ISBN 0-912799-53-6, ISBN 0-16-002261-4
• USAF Aerospace Defense Command publication, The Interceptor, January 1979 (Volume 21, Number 1).

External links

Bases

CONUS

Amarillo Beale Charleston Davis-Monthan Dobbins Dover Dow Duluth Eglin Edwards Ellington Ellsworth England Ent Ethan Allen Fairfax Fallon Fort Gregg-Adams Fort Heath Geiger George Glasgow Grand Forks Grenier Griffiss Gunter Hamilton Hancock Homestead Hurlburt Hunter Imeson Key West Kincheloe Kingsley Kirtland Lackland Laredo Larson Luke MacDill March Malmstrom McCoy McChord McClellan McGhee Tyson McGuire Minneapolis-St. Paul Minot Mitchel New Castle Niagara Falls Norton O'Hare Otis Oxnard Paine Perrin Peterson Pittsburgh Portland Presque Isle R.I. Bong Richards-Gebaur Robins K.I. Sawyer Selfridge Seymour Johnson Sioux City Stead Stewart Suffolk County Tinker Travis Truax Tyndall Vandenberg Vincent Walker Webb Westover Wright-Patterson Wurtsmith Youngstown

Overseas

Ernest Harmon Frobisher Bay Goose Keflavik McAndrew Pepperrell Thule

Stations

CONUS

Adair Aiken Almaden Alpena Antigo Arlington Heights Baker Bedford Bellefontaine Belleville Benton Blaine Brookfield Brunswick Bucks Harbor Burns Calumet Cambria Cape Charles Cape Cod Carmi Caswell Chandler Charleston Cheyenne Mountain Claysburg Clear Colville Condon Continental Divide Cottonwood Cross City Crystal Springs Curlew Custer Cut Bank Dallas Center Dauphin Island Dickinson Duncanville Eldorado Empire Finland Finley Flintstone Fordland Fort Fisher Fort Lee Fortuna Gettysburg Grand Marais Grand Rapids Guthrie Hanna City Havre Highlands Houma Hutchinson Joelton Keno Killeen Kingman Kirksville Klamath Lake Charles Lake City Las Cruces Las Vegas Lewistown Lockport Lufkin Lyndonville Madera Makah Mica Peak Miles City Mill Valley Minot Montauk Moriarty Mount Hebo Mount Laguna Mount Lemmon Naselle North Bend North Charleston North Truro Oklahoma City Olathe Omaha Opheim Osceola Othello Owingsville Ozona Palermo Point Arena Port Austin Port Isabel Pyote Red Bluff Rochester Rockport Rockville (Indiana) Roslyn Rye Saint Albans San Clemente Island Santa Rosa Island Saratoga Springs Sault Ste Marie Shemya Snelling Snow Mountain Sweetwater Texarkana Tierra Amarilla Thomasville Tonopah Topsham Two Creeks Wadena Walnut Ridge Watertown Waverly West Mesa Willow Run Winnemucca Winslow Winston-Salem Woomera Yaak Zapata

Overseas

Armstrong Baldy Hughes Beausejour Cape Makkovik Cartwright Cut Throat Island Elliston Ridge Fox Harbour Hofn Hopedale Kamloops La Scie Langanes Latrar Melville Puntzi Mountain Ramore Red Cliff Rockville Saglek St. Anthony Saskatoon Mountain Sioux Lookout Spotted Island Stephenville

Air
Defense
units

Forces	Central Air Defense Eastern Air Defense Iceland Western Air Defense First Fourth Tenth Fourteenth
Air Divisions	8th 9th 20th 21st 23d 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32d 33d 34th 35th 36th 37th 58th 64th 73d 85th
Sectors	Albuquerque Bangor Boston Chicago Detroit Duluth Goose Grand Forks Great Falls Kansas City Los Angeles Minot Montgomery New York Oklahoma City Phoenix Portland Reno Sault Sainte Marie San Francisco Seattle Sioux City Spokane Stewart Syracuse Washington
Wings	Fighter 1st 4th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 56th 78th 81st 325th 328th 507th Detection and Control 71st 73d 551st 552d Air Defense 46th 4620th 4621st 4622d 4624th 4625th 4627th 4628th 4683d 4700th 4702d 4703d 4704th 4705th 4706th 4707th 4708th 4709th 4710th 4711th 4750th 4751st 4752d 4756th 4780th
Groups	Fighter 1st 4th 14th 15th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 53d 54th 56th 57th 78th 79th 81st 82d 84th 325th 326th 327th 328th 329th 337th 343d 355th 408th 412th 414th 473d 475th 476th 478th 507th Air Defense 10th 500th 501st 502d 503d 514th 515th 516th 517th 518th 519th 520th 521st 525th 527th 528th 529th 530th 533d 534th 564th 566th 567th 568th 575th 637th 665th 678th 692d 701st 751st 762d 765th 778th 780th 827th 858th 4606th 4620th 4676th 4700th 4721st 4722d 4727th 4728th 4729th 4730th 4731st 4732d 4733d 4734th 4735th 4750th 4756th Aircraft Control & Warning 503d 505th 540th 541st 542d 543d 544th 545th 546th 563d 564th 565th 566th
Squadrons	Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons

Major
weapon
systems

Electronic	TB-29 EB-57 EC-121
Fighters	Propeller: F-47 F-51 P-61 F-82 Subsonic Jet: P-80 F-84 F-86 F-89 F-94 Supersonic Jet: F-101 F-102 F-104 F-106
Missiles	AIM-4 AIM-26 AIR-2 CIM-10
Ships	Guardian Interceptor Interdictor Interpreter Investigator Locator Lookout Outpost Pickett Protector Scanner Searcher Skywatcher Tracer Watchman Vigil
Texas Towers	Texas Tower 2 Texas Tower 3 Texas Tower 4

Miscellaneous