OKC leaders’ vision of airfield thrives

  • Published
  • By April McDonald
  • 72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Tinker Air Force Base has played a huge role in the defense of the nation since the 1940s.

It all started in October 1940 with 960 acres of land and a group of Oklahoma City visionaries who wanted to move their city out of the Dust Bowl days and give people a hope for the future.

Nine months after the War Department awarded Oklahoma City with a maintenance depot, Lt. Col. William R. Turnbull issued General Order No. 1 on Jan. 15, 1942, marking the establishment of the Midwest Air Depot, was soon changed to the Oklahoma City Air Depot. The airfield was officially activated March 1, 1942. Hiring new workers accelerated as the depot competed with the Douglas Aircraft Plant going up east of the runway.

During the war years, thousands of Oklahomans and military personnel from across the U.S. laid the foundation of Tinker’s reputation for excellence in depot repair and maintenance. Douglas employees built more than 5,000 C-47s for World War II. Meanwhile, Tinker Toilers repaired, modified and maintained B-17, B-24 and B-29 bombers. When the Douglas Plant ceased operations after the war, everyone wondered what would become of the installation. Tinker Field not only survived, but expanded and took over the three-quarter-mile-long facility now known as Bldg. 3001. In recognition of its permanent status, 150,000 people attended the formal dedication of Tinker Field on Nov. 18, 1945.

Subsequent to creation of the Department of the Air Force in 1947, the airfield received its modern name, Tinker Air Force Base, effective Jan. 13, 1948.

The 1950s pulled the U.S. and Tinker into the Korean Conflict. B-29s, B-50s and B-36s came to the base for modifications. Soon, new aircraft such as the B-47, B-52 and KC-135 were seen in Tinker hangars as Cold War deterrence ushered in another generation of weapon systems.

On April 1, 1974, the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area became the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. Three years later, the first E-3 Sentry aircraft arrived at Tinker as the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing recognized the merits of co-locating its main operating base with its maintenance and repair center.

In 1988 the first B-1B bomber arrived for programmed maintenance and overhaul. That same year the center assumed management responsibility for the B-2 stealth bomber.

The Navy’s Strategic Communications Wing One relocated to Tinker in May 1992, allowing the unit’s E-6 Mercury aircraft to be maintained while providing communications to its worldwide fleet. Having the first naval operational unit assigned to an Air Force base, Tinker became a model for defense inter-service cooperation.

Following a restructure to Air Force Materiel Command, Tinker AFB became the host site for the Air Force Sustainment Center on July 10, 2012. On the same day the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center was re-designated as the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex.

With the acquisition of the former General Motors plant in 2008 and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail yard in 2015 and with the KC-46A and B-21 workloads coming in the future, it’s obvious that the original investment made by the Oklahoma City leaders of the past has certainly paid off.