| Buckley Air Force Base Part of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)  |
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| Buckley AFB, facing west into the Rocky Mountains. | |||
| IATA: none – ICAO: KBKF – FAA: BKF | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military: Air Force Base | ||
| Operator | United States Air Force | ||
| Location | Aurora, Colorado | ||
| Built | 1942 | ||
| In use | July 1, 1942 - present | ||
| Commander | Colonel Clinton Crosier | ||
| Occupants | 460th Space Wing 140th Wing |
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| Elevation AMSL | 5,662 ft / 1,726 m | ||
| Coordinates | 39°42′06″N 104°45′06″W / 39.70167°N 104.75167°W | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 14/32 | 11,000 | 3,353 | PEM |
| Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] |
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Buckley Air Force Base (ICAO: KBKF, FAA LID: BKF) is a United States Air Force base in Aurora, Colorado, that was established by the U.S. Army in 1943. The base was named in honor of the World War I Army pilot 1LT John Harold Buckley.
The host wing of Buckley Air Force Base is the 460th Space Wing, a unit of the U.S. Air Force Space Command.
Contents |
History
- Source: USAF History[2]
World War II
During the early years of World War II the city of Denver purchased a 5,740-acre (23 km2) parcel of land several miles east of the city and donated it to the Department of the Army. The site was named Buckley Field after 1st Lt. John Harold Buckley, a Longmont, Colorado, native, who was killed while on a combat strafing mission behind enemy lines in France on September 17, 1918.
Under the command of the 336th AAF Base Unit (Army Air Forces Technical Training Command), construction on this air base began in early 1942, and that resulted in the construction of over 700 buildings. On 1 July 1942, the U.S. Army Air Corps Technical Training School there opened. It consisted of bombardier and armorer training for aircrewmen on the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers. During WW II, Buckley Field also trained over 50,000 airmen in initial basic training.
The Cold War years
With WW II over, Buckley Field's military role quickly diminished, and in 1946 it became an auxiliary field of the nearby Lowry Air Force Base. Lowry in turn transferred control of the base to the Colorado Air National Guard that same year. Air National Guard ownership lasted less than one year, and then in 1947 the Department of the Navy took charge of the base and renamed it the Denver Naval Air Station. The renamed base was the location of Naval Air Reserve aviation squadrons, as well as for veterans and their families waiting to return to civilian life. Thousands of veterans returned to civilian life here over the next four years. The Navy remained here for 12 years before decommissioning its base on June 30, 1959, and transferring it to the U.S. Air Force (which had not existed before 1947).
Buckley Field once again became the Buckley Air National Guard Base on April 18, 1960. At the same time, it became the first stand-alone Air National Guard base in the country. The Colorado Air National Guard remained in control of Buckley Field for the next 40 years, operating it as a fighter base.
During the Cold War era, the Colorado Air National Guard mobilized the Buckley-based 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron for such historical events as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the USS Pueblo crisis, and the Vietnam War.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the growth of Aurora, Denver's eastern neighbor, edged toward Buckley Field, and the land of the air base was eventually annexed by that city.
Other tenant units at Buckley Field during the Cold War era included the:
- 154th Tactical Air Support Group, an Air National Guard (ANG) unit trained to provide close air support for United States Army ground operations. The 154th Group had its own truck-mounted tactical radar units and radar-control vans, but no aircraft were assigned to the Group. (circa 1970 through 1989)
Recent and current activities
Although the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, the 120th Tactical Fighter Wing did not see any decrease in its responsibilities. This Fighter Wing deployed from Buckley Field numerous times during the decade of the 1990s to take part in various military operations such as Operation Desert Storm, Operation Northern Watch, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In October 2000, the Buckley Air National Guard base was transferred to U.S. Air Force control, and it was renamed the Buckley Air Force Base.
Since the return of Buckley Field to the Air Force in 2000, the air base has seen an unprecedented amount of new construction and modernization. New enlisted airmen's dormitories, the commissary, the base exchange, and the fitness center have all been completed, augmented by the completion of family housing units - the first ones ever constructed at Buckley Field.
Current host units
- Source: USAF Today[3]
- 460th Space Wing
- 460th Operations Group
- 2d Space Warning Squadron
- 460th Space Communications Squadron
- 460th Operations Support Squadron
- 460th Medical Group
- 460th Medical Operations Division
- 460th Aerospace Medicine Division
- 460th Mission Support Group
- 460th Civil Engineer Squadron
- 460th Contracting Squadron
- 460th Logistics Readiness Squadron
- 460th Mission Support Squadron
- 460th Security Forces Squadron
- 460th Services Division
- 460th Comptroller Squadron
- 460th Operations Group
Current tenant units
- Source: USAF Today[4]
The largest tenant unit at Buckley AFB is the 140th Wing (140 WG) of the Colorado Air National Guard (CoANG), which formerly functioned as host unit when Buckley was under Air National Guard (ANG) control as Buckley ANGB.
Primarily focused around the Air Combat Command's 120th Fighter Squadron and its F-16C fighters, the 140th Wing also includes the Air Mobility Command's 200th Airlift Squadron, operating the C-21 Learjet; the Air Force Space Command's 137th Space Warning Squadron; and the Pacific Air Forces's 240th Civil Engineering Flight. Air National Guardsmen of the Colorado Air National Guard provide services during national emergencies or wartime and natural disasters]. The Colorado Air National Guard is an integral part of the Operation Noble Eagle mission responsible for the 24-hour-a-day defense of the land, sea, and air of the United States.[5]
The Colorado Army National Guard operates the Army Aviation Support Facility at Buckley AFB and is responsible for supplying personnel and equipment for CH-47 Chinook, UH-1 Huey, and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
Buckley AFB also supports the Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC), which is physically located off Buckley at the former Lowry AFB in Denver. ARPC manages personnel records for the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command and maintains the virtual Personnel Center - Guard and Reserve, a Web-based portal for Air Guardsmen and Air Force Reservists. With over 490 military and civilian personnel, ARPC also performs other personnel services and transactions in support Air Reserve Component forces in the continental United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Buckley has 77 other tenants located on and off base, some of which are:
- 140th Wing (140 WG), and its 120th Fighter Squadron (F-16)
- 566th Intelligence Squadron
- 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion
- Air Force Audit Agency
- Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 801
- Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), Detachment 45
- Air Reserve Personnel Center
- Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES)
- Army Aviation Support Facility
- Buckley Support Team
- Colorado Air National Guard Headquarters
- Colorado Army National Guard Headquarters
- Headquarters, Colorado Wing, Civil Air Patrol
- Combined Task Force
- Continental US NORAD Region
- Denver Security Operations Center (Formerly the Denver Regional SIGINT Operations Center)
- Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA)
- Ground Based Midcourse Defense
- Headquarters, Joint Force Colorado (HQJF-CO)
- Company A, Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion
- Marine Air Control Squadron 23 (MACS-23)
- Navy Operational Support Center Denver
- Marine Corps Reserve Center Denver
- Bravo Company, Intelligence Support Battalion
- Navy Information Operations Center
- US Army Corps of Engineers
- Financial Management Center of Expertise (Based at the former Lowry AFB)
See also
References
- ^ FAA Airport Master Record for BKF (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
- ^ Buckley AFB History Factsheet Official site
- ^ Buckley AFB Units Official site
- ^ Buckley AFB Tenant Units Official site
- ^ Colorado Air National Guard Buckley - official site
- "Buckley Air Force Base 2006 Guide". AQP Publishing Inc.
- Footnote
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Buckley Air Force Base".
External links
- Buckley Air Force Base - official site
- Buckley AFB Installation Overview
- Buckley Air Force Base at GlobalSecurity.org
- Buckley AFB Installation Overview from AirForceUSA.org.
- Aerospace Data Facility / Denver Security Operations Center, Buckley AFB, Colorado
- FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 19 Nov 2009
- Resources for this U.S. military airport:
- AirNav airport information for KBKF
- ASN accident history for BKF
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KBKF
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