McClellan Air Force Base

For the civil use of this facility after 2001, see McClellan Airfield.
McClellan Air Force Base
Part of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC)
Sacramento County, California

McClellan AFB, 9 May 2002
McClellan AFB
Coordinates 38°40′04″N 121°24′02″W / 38.66778°N 121.40056°W / 38.66778; -121.40056
Type Air Force Base
Site information
Controlled by United States Air Force
Site history
Built 1935-1938
In use Open 1938 - IN USE
1948-IN USE (as McClellan AFB)
Garrison information
Garrison Air Force Materiel Command

McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former United States Air Force base located in the North Highlands area of Sacramento County, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Sacramento, California. For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClellan was a logistics and maintenance facility for a wide variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies, primarily under the cognizance of the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and later the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC).

In 1986, the U.S. Air Force established the McClellan Aviation Museum on what was then McClellan Air Force Base. The museum was later chartered by the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

The United States Coast Guard previously operated Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento at McClellan AFB as a tenant activity, operating and maintaining several HC-130 Hercules aircraft. CGAS Sacramento continues to operate at McClellan following its closure as an Air Force Base and is the only remaining military aviation unit and installation on the airfield.

In 2005 the McClellan Aviation Museum changed its name to the California Aerospace Museum. Various military aircraft sit on display inside one of the hangars, and many more are outside on the flightline. The museum has displays which highlight the mission of the base when it was active, as well as neighboring bases such as Beale AFB, Travis AFB and the since closed Mather AFB. The museum hosts educational programs to schools in the local area.[1]

In 2015 the Sacramento Bee reported that McClellan Airfield had been designated as a Superfund site, because the Environmental Protection Agency has identified 326 waste areas on the base. Water wells closest to the base in the Rio Linda-Elverta district, have had the highest levels of hexavalent chromium, which is a known carcinogen. Water from six of 11 wells tested above the state’s maximum contaminant levels for chromium-6, which is 10 parts per billion. [2]

Bell P-39 Repair Line.
To step up its delivery of Speedy Bell P-39 "Airacobra" fighter airplanes to American pilots in the South Pacific, the Army Air Forces Air Service Command put American production line methods to work in its repair docks at McClellan Field, California. Two and one-half million dollars worth of airplanes were overhauled by civilian Air Service Command workers at Sacramento, California preparatory to being sent against the enemy.
Memorial Plaque of McClellan AFB

Names

Major command assignments

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About the Aerospace Museum of California". Aerospace Museum of California. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20.
  2. ↑ EDWARD ORTIZ (June 21, 2015). "Groundwater search turns up high carcinogen readings near McClellan". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.