Air Force celebrates 69 years

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman William Johnson
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  At the age of 69, one could hope to be enjoying his retirement, spending time with family and friends and taking part in old hobbies, but for the U.S. Air Force, 69 is just another year of air, space and cyberspace superiority in the books.

The National Security Act of 1947, under President Harry S. Truman, officially established the Air Force on Sept. 18, 1947, separating it from the Army, as its own military branch. The Air Force quickly began to reach new milestones as an independent branch, starting its own line of history and heritage.

Beginning with the flight of the ‘Lucky Lady II’ in 1949, the Air Force demonstrated its capability to fly non-stop around the world, proving its ability to strike any target in the world. From 1950-1953, the Air Force’s F-86 Saber jets bested its adversary MiG-15s in aerial combat during the Korean War.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Air Force continued to innovate. It saw the development and deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the development of laser-guided bombs and TV-guided air-to-ground missiles, global mobility advances with the introduction of the C-5 Galaxy, and the advancement of stealth technology in the F-117 Nighthawk and B-1 Lancer. Fast-forward to 2016, the Air Force continues to support world-wild operations such as humanitarian missions and deploying expeditionary forces around the world in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

With so much Air Force history being created in such a short amount of time, it can be hard to see exactly how Dover AFB fits into the timeline.

Dover AFB began with the construction of the Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome in March 1941 and opening on December 17, 1941. It was converted to an Army Air Corps airfield weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack. It then went through numerous name changes: Dover Army Air Base on April 8, 1943, Dover Subbase on June 6, 1943, and Dover Army Airfield on February 2, 1944. With the establishment of the Air Force, the installation finally received the Dover AFB title on Jan. 13, 1948.

On April 1, 1952, Dover was transferred to the Military Air Transport Service and became home to the 1607th Air Transport Wing. The mission of the 1607th largely resembles the mission today, rapid global mobility. On Jan. 1, 1966, MATS was re-designated as the Military Airlift Command and the 1607 ATW was discontinued and the 436th Military Airlift Wing was activated. Then, with the disestablishment of MAC, Dover AFB was transferred to the newly established Air Mobility Command and was designated as the 436th Airlift Wing.

Retired Lt. Col. Harry Heist, AMC Museum archivist, arrived to Dover AFB in June 1955 for his first assignment in the Air Force. Heist said the mission of his time largely resembles that of today’s.

“Basically the mission was similar, we hauled cargo,” said Heist. “So the mission really isn’t that different today. However, the mission is so much faster today.”

While the mission has gotten ‘faster’ than that of Heist’s flying days, no one could have predicted just how much faster it would have gotten. In the past two years alone, Team Dover flew more than 2,400 flight hours per month, airlifted 234 million pounds of cargo and processed 125,000 passengers. They also processed 146 million pounds of cargo, 8,000 aircraft and 27,000 passengers through the ‘Super-Port’.

However, not all of Team Dover has remained on a straight line through history. Mike Leister, AMC Museum director, arrived at Dover in 1973 and said one thing has changed over the years, Airmen.

“Our Airmen are more educated now than they were then,” said Leister. “Good people then, good people now, but the people today have more skills to bring to the Air Force now. Everyone is fluent in electronic technology now and that makes some jobs a lot easier.”

As the Air Force continues to make history from one birthday to the next, Leister said he believes Dover’s mission will stay the same for some time but he is sure of one thing, no one can predict where the Air Force as a whole will be in another 69 years.

“I see Dover’s mission continuing for a long time,” Leister said. “We are a good hub for distributing whatever America wants to send around the world. However, I think it is very difficult for people to accurately assess what it’s going to be like in 10 years or 60 years from now because technology moves at an ever faster rate.”