Our History

Over it’s 50 years of operation, Wurtsmith Air Force Base had many different missions.
The gunnery range was tasked with training pilots from Selfridge air base in the challenging maneuvers required to land a DeHavilland biplane on the frozen lake Van Etten for the young Army Air Corps.
In the later years of World War II, Wurtsmith Air Force Base was used as a fighter-interceptor training base and housed the 332d fighter group, which was part of the famous Tuskegee Airmen.
In 1955, Wurtsmith Air Force Base became an official permanent post in the United States Air Force. On August 1st 1958 the 4026th Strategic Wing was formed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base. Its mission was to maintain half of the fleet on a 15 minute alert, meaning the plane could be in the air in 15 minutes, to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet preemptive missile strike. On May 9th 1961 the first B-52 landed in Wurtsmith Air Force Base signifying the re-designation to a Strategic Air Command Base. While the 379th Bomb Wing was stationed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, they were part of the Ready Alert Nuclear Strike Force. This meant there was always at least three B-52s armed with nuclear weapons, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. These planes would regularly fly missions from Wurtsmith Air Force Base during the cold war years.