Bunker Hill Air Force Base (BHAFB)
22 June 1954 – 11 May 1968
With the outbreak of the Korean War, the Air Force needed a base where it could conduct nationwide and worldwide operations. Again, Bunker Hill become the logical choice. Negotiations were begun with the Navy (who still had the title to the site) to reopen the base as Bunker Hill Air Force Base. To simplify the legal aspects of construction, it was decided that the Navy would let all major contracts and supervise construction of the nearly $25 million in new facilities. In 1982, the Air Force gained the title to the base from the Navy.
The base was reopened as a Tactical Air Command Base. The formal opening was June 22, 1954. That year, the 4433rd Air Base Squadron and the 323rd Fighter-Bomber Wing called Bunker Hill Air Force Base home. In 1955, the Air Defense Command’s 319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron joined the forces at the base. The Strategic Air Command arrived on the scene in the mid-fifties and SAC’s 8th Air Force assumed jurisdiction of the base on September 1, 1957.
In May 1959, the 305th Bomb Group and its B-47s arrived. Later that same year, the first KC-135 Stratotankers were assigned to the unit. Two years later, B-58s began replacing the B-47s. On 11 May 1968, after 26 years of bearing the name, Bunker Hill, the base was renamed…