Bolling Air Force Base

Infobox Airport
name = Bolling Air Force Base
nativename = Part of Air Force District of Washington (AFDW)

Bolling Air Force Base airport codes|BOF|KBOF|BOF is a United States Air Force base in Southwest Washington, D.C., between the Potomac River and Interstate 295 and is conjoined with Naval Support Facility Anacostia.

The host wing is the 11th Wing, which includes an operations group, a maintenance directorate, a mission support group, and a medical group.

Bolling's current mission is to provide worldwide flagship ceremonial and musical ambassadorship, as well as comprehensive wartime base operating support to all assigned Air Force organizations and their personnel.

History

Bolling Field was officially opened 1 July 1918 and was named in honor of the first high-ranking air service officer killed in World War I, Colonel Raynal C. Bolling. The tract of land selected for the base was scouted by William C. Ocker at the direction of General Billy Mitchell. The base began near Anacostia in 1918, as the only military airfield near the U.S. Capitol. Bolling Field served as a research and testing ground for new aviation equipment and its first mission provided aerial defense of the capital. It moved to its present location, along the Potomac in the city's southwest quadrant, in the 1930s. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson sent Bolling pilots on the first permanent airmail route from Washington, D.C. to New York, New York.

Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" returned to Bolling field in 1927 after its historic transatlantic flight. It was reassembled at Bolling for Lindbergh's goodwill flight to Mexico and South America.

In 1934, then-Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Hap" Arnold led a bomber flight from Bolling Field on a 4,000-mile aerial journey to Alaska to demonstrate the capabilities of strategic long-range bombing missions. Carl Spaatz and Wiley Post also began or ended historic flights there.

The core units at Bolling Field at the beginning of 1939 were one housekeeping squadron, the base headquarters, the 14th Air Base Squadron and two air base maintenance squadrons -- the first and second staff squadrons.

For the duration of World War II, Bolling Field served as a training and organization base for personnel and units going overseas, and it became the aerial gateway to the nation's capital.

The Army Air Forces Headquarters and the Army's GHQ Air Force (later the Air Force Combat Command) moved to Bolling in March 1941. After creation of the United States Air Force, Bolling Field was re-designated as Bolling Field Command, and organized, on 15 December 1946. It was redesignated Headquarters Command, USAF, on 17 March 1958.

President Harry Truman's initial official aircraft and Franklin Roosevelt's only official aircraft, "The Sacred Cow", retired from service at Bolling Air Force Base in 1961.

Bolling Air Force Base was reassigned to the Military Airlift Command (MAC) in 1976 when Headquarters Command, USAF was inactivated. In 1985, Bolling Air Force Base was designated the headquarters for the Air Force District of Washington. The Air Force District of Washington was redesignated as the 11th Support Wing in 1994 and renamed the 11th Wing in 1995. The Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff jointly directed reactivation of the Air Force District of Washington, effective 1 January 2005 with the 11th Wing as its subordinate unit.

In 1962, due to airspace congestion around Reagan National Airport, fixed-wing flying activities departed Bolling for nearby Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Similar operations at adjacenet Naval Air Station Anacostia were also discontinued at the same time. Forty-four years after the dedication of Bolling Field, the last airplane departed July 1, 1962, carrying 33 passengers and six crew members bound for Andrews.

Current use

The Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) was created and activated at Bolling on 1 October, 1985 with the mission of providing administrative support to Air Force members. On 15 July, 1994, AFDW was deactivated, but was reactivated 5 January, 2005 to "provide a single voice for Air Force requirements in the National Capital Region" according to the base's website.

Bolling field units also provide ceremonial support to the White House, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff, mainly through 11th Wing, the United States Air Force Honor Guard and The United States Air Force Band.

The Defense Intelligence Agency built its Defense Intelligence Analysis Center at Bolling Air Force Base and moved many of its operations there in 1987.

The only aeronautical facility at the base is a 100 by 100-foot helipad (ICAO: KBOF).

As a result of the 2005 BRAC, the base will become Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling-Naval Research Laboratory, D.C, and lose 96 military and 242 civilian positions. [ [http://www.af.mil/brac/dc.asp Air Force Link.] Retrieved February 20, 2007.]

Bolling Air Force Base is the only entity besides Washington to use the District of Columbia as its address.

References

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/bolling.htm Bolling Air Force Base] at GlobalSecurity.org
* [http://www.dcmilitary.com/special_sections/sw/080806c.shtml DC Military guide to the base]
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