Justman Ben - Offutt Air Force Base

IMAGES
of America

OFFUTT
AIR FORCE BASE

ON THE COVER: Gen. Bruce K. Holloway, the sixth commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), leans over the shoulder of a colonel in the SAC underground. Constructed between 1955 and 1957, approximately 1,000 people worked in the SAC underground during its peak. In the event of an emergency, the underground had the ability to sustain up to 800 people for a two-week period.

IMAGES
of America

OFFUTT
AIR FORCE BASE

Ben Justman of the Sarpy County Museum
Foreword by CMSAF (Ret.) James M. McCoy

Copyright 2014 by Ben Justman
ISBN 978-1-4671-1271-0
Ebook ISBN 9781439648070

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014936383

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This book is dedicated to the past, present, and future servicemen and women of this nation.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

In 1961, I was a young technical sergeant assigned to Air Force ROTC duty at the University of Notre Dame. During my first year at the detachment, I learned that my position had been eliminated due to a manpower study and that I was being reassigned to the 305th Bomber Wing (SAC) at Bunker Hill Air Force Base (now Grissom AFB), Indiana. Obviously, I was a very unhappy camper, since I did not want to leave Notre Dame and, further, did not want to be assigned to a SAC base. For a long time, I am sure there were heel marks along Highway 31 from South Bend to Bunker Hill. Little did I know at that time that, after 10 years, I would eventually be assigned to Offutt AFB after my tours at Bunker Hill and Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, as Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force.

After a successful tour at Hickam AFB, I was selected by Gen. Russell E. Dougherty, commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command, to become the first SAC senior enlisted advisor here at Offutt AFB once again. During my four years in this position, I went on to become the sixth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, and then departed Offutt once again for the Pentagon in 1979. When I retired in 1981, we decided upon the Offutt area, returning to Bellevue, where we owned a home and became involved with the Bellevue/Omaha community.

During my military assignments at Offutt, I learned of the great significance and importance that the local communities around this base play in having this installation nearby. In 1995, I served on a committee to ensure that Offutt was not placed on the BRAC list of bases to be closed. At the same time, I learned of the historical importance Fort Crook has to Offutt AFB.

We are fortunate to have Ben Justman in our community, where he serves as the executive director of the Sarpy County Museum. This pictorial history book of Fort Crook/Offutt is well worth reading, offering a glimpse into the past; it will prove to be a useful resource in the future.

James M. McCoy
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (Ret)

James M. McCoy enlisted in the Air Force in January 1951. He became Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, the highest noncommissioned officer position, and served in that role from August 1979 to July 1981. McCoy retired on July 1, 1981, yet he has continued to remain very active in the Air Force community. Today, the James M. McCoy Airman Leadership School at Offutt is named in his honor.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Support for this book has been graciously provided by the 55th Wing, Michael Bellis, Connie Crow, John and Donna Daly, Bill Doyle, Mary Langhorst, James McCoy, Donita Mitchell, Jim and Pat Peaker, Dorene Sherman, Donald Shook, Sissy Silber, Michael Wagner, and the board of directors of the Sarpy County Museum. Unless otherwise noted, all images appear courtesy of the Sarpy County Museum.

Ben Justman
Executive Director, Sarpy County Museum

INTRODUCTION

The legacy of Offutt Air Force Base begins long before there was an Air Force, before the first motorized heavier-than-air flight, before modern rocketry, and, certainly, before the first programmable electric computer. It was, in a way, a simpler time, and yet the world of 1888 was a complex and fragile one. That year, plans were laid for the future military post in Sarpy County, Nebraska, not far from the Missouri River. It gained a name, Fort Crook, in 1891, following the death of Maj. Gen. George Crook, who had been a West Point graduate and 38-year veteran of the Army. Construction and planning took several years, and it was not until 1896 that the fort transformed from the Nebraska plain to a state-of-the-art late-19th-century US military installation. The Omaha Daily Bee went as far as calling it the finest and most conveniently arranged post in the United States Army.

The fort received its first tests when its men went off to Cuba during the Spanish-American War and, later, to the Philippines. Many men returned. Some did not. It again encountered the winds of war during World War I, where the most famous casualty associated with the fort actually had no firsthand physical connection at all. American pilot Jarvis Offutt lost his life during World War I. In 1924, a small flying field was erected at Fort Crook and named in his honor.

By December 7, 1941, a date that lives in infamy, Fort Crook had become a well-oiled machine, ready to help bring the war to an end just as America had entered it. The Glenn L. Martin Company had utilized the base to construct an aircraft production facility. The Martin bomber plant at Fort Crook is one of the quintessential home front narratives of World War II. Workers there built more than 2,000 bombers. Their efforts aided in bringing about an end to the war quite literally: the pair of modified B-29 bombers that dropped the atomic bombs over Japan were both constructed and customized at Fort Crook.

The year 1948 brought about the biggest historical change to the post. The Army flag was lowered, and, on January 13, 1948, the newly sewn US Air Force flag was raised. Fort Crook was no more. Offutt Air Force Base was now on the map. While the change was smooth and seamless, it presumably took more than a change-of-address form to complete the process. The transformation could be argued as inevitable, with Offutts deep history of aviation, but this was in the years immediately following World War II. The US military had reached an apex in May 1945 with eight million personnel. By 1948, that number had dwindled to less than 550,000. At wars end, most men went home, married their sweetheart, had children, forgot about the war, and worked hard to enter the serene fairy-tale life of the 1950s. Offutt, like so many other American military installations that did their duty during those tumultuous years, could have simply shuttered up overnight.

However, Offutt did not melt away into civilian life. The Soviet Union ensured that. Rather, it faced a new challenge to peace and stability in this country and abroad. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent of Europe, Winston Churchill stated in his now-famous speech.

The same year the Air Force assumed command, Offutt became home to Strategic Air Command. SAC became a fixture not just within the military community but also within American culture during the Cold War years. The role of Offutt grew in size and scope during this time. The Air Force Weather Agency, Looking Glass Operations, National Emergency Airborne Command, 3902d Air Base, 55th Wing and other units have all had a role in that. To accommodate the influx, entire new housing developments dedicated to airmen and their families were constructed. Yet it could all have disappeared in the blink of an eye had nuclear deterrence failed. By 1992, with Americas adversary in checkmate, SAC stood down. The United States Strategic Command, a new command with a new role and mission, stepped up.