Andersen Air Force Base
Andersen Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located primarily within the village of Yigo in the United States territory of Guam. The host unit at Andersen AFB is the 36th Wing, assigned to the Pacific Air Forces Eleventh Air Force. As a non-flying wing, the 36 WG's mission is to provide support to deployed air and space forces of USAF, foreign air forces to Andersen, and tenant units assigned to the base.
Andersen AFB was placed under the installation management authority of Joint Region Marianas in October 2009, along with Naval Base Guam. The two bases are about apart at opposite ends of the island. Established in 1944 after the Liberation of Guam as North Field, it is named for Brigadier General James Roy Andersen.
The most important U.S. air base west of Hawaii, Andersen is one of the four Air Force Bomber Forward Operating Locations and the only base in the Western Pacific that can permanently service U.S. heavy strategic bombers, including B-1B, B-2, and B-52 bombers. Andersen is one of two critical bases in the Asia-Pacific region, the other being Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Due to Guam's almost unrestricted airspace and the close proximity of the Farallon de Medinilla Island, a naval bombing range north, the base is in an ideal training location.
History
Andersen Air Force Base was established on 3 December 1944, and is named for Brigadier General James Roy Andersen. Andersen graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1926, served at various army installations, and obtained his wings at Kelly Field, Texas, in 1936. During 1943–1944 he served on the War Department General Staff. In January 1945, Andersen was assigned to HQ AAF, Pacific Ocean Area. He died on 26 February 1945 in the crash of a B-24 Liberator aircraft between Kwajalein and Johnston Island while en route to Hawaii.World War II
Andersen Air Force Base's origin begins on 7 December 1941 when Guam was attacked by the armed forces of Imperial Japan in the Battle of Guam three hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States Navy surrendered Guam to the Japanese on 10 December. At the height of the war, approximately 19,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors were deployed to the island. Guam was liberated by the United States Marine Corps' 3rd Amphibious Corps on 21 July 1944, in the Battle of Guam, after a 13-day pre-invasion bombardment.The Japanese managed to contain the Marines on two beachheads, but their counter-attack failed. The Marines renewed their assault, and reached the northern tip of the island on 10 August 1944. Japanese guerrilla activities continued until the end of the war. Some were holdouts for many years afterwards.
Guam was considered ideal to establish air bases to launch B-29 Superfortress operations against the Japanese Home Islands. The Marianas Islands are about from Tokyo, a range which the B-29s could just about manage. Most important of all, it could be put on a direct supply line from the United States by ship. "North Field," as Andersen AFB was first named, was the first air base built in Guam after its liberation. Its construction began in November 1944 and was supported by the United States Navy Seabees. North Field and its co-located Northwest Field was a massive installation, with four main runways, taxiways, revetments for over 200 B-29s, and a large containment area for base operations and personnel.
The first host unit at North Field was the 314th Bombardment Wing, XXI Bomber Command, Twentieth Air Force. The 314th arrived in Guam on 16 January 1945 from Peterson Field, Colorado. The 314th controlled four operational B-29 bomb groups, the 19th, 29th, 39th, and 330th.
B-29 Superfortress missions from North Field were attacks against strategic targets in Japan, operating in daylight and at a high altitude to bomb factories, refineries, and other objectives. In March 1945, the XXI Bomber Command changed tactics and started carrying out low-level night incendiary raids on area targets. During the Allied assault on Okinawa, groups of the 314th Bomb Wing attacked airfields from which the Japanese were sending out suicide planes against the invasion force.
Flying out of Guam aboard a B-29, S/Sgt Henry E Erwin of the 29th Bombardment Group was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during a mission over Koriyama, Japan, on 12 April 1945. When a phosphorus smoke bomb exploded in the launching chute and shot back into the plane, Sgt Erwin picked up the burning bomb, carried it to a window, and threw it out, saving the plane and all aboard her.
After the war, B-29s from North Field dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners and participated in several show-of-force missions over Japan. The 29th, 39th and 330th Bombardment Groups returned to the United States and inactivated in December 1945. The 19th remained in Guam to become the station's host unit after the 314th Bombardment Wing moved to Johnson Air Base, Japan for occupation duty.
Postwar years
After the end of World War II, Guam served as a collection point for surplus war goods that had accumulated in the Pacific Theater.The 19th Bombardment Wing was formed at North AFB in 1948 from the resources of the former North Guam Air Force Base Command. The 19th BW operated Andersen AFB and continued utilizing B-29s. In May 1949, the headquarters of the Twentieth Air Force moved from Guam to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Its former staff was assigned to the 19th BW.
At Andersen, the wing assumed responsibility for supervising two active bases and one semi-active base, an assortment of communication, weather, radar, rescue and other facilities and units, including the Marianas Air Material Area, a wing size unit. Many of the units and facilities were closed or inactivated within a few months.
In October 1949, the 19th Wing was transferred to the 20th Air Force's command. The remaining units in the Marianas and Bonin Islands were shifted to other organizations. From 17 October 1949 until 28 June 1950, the wing continued B-29 training, operation of Andersen Air Force Base, and rescue and reconnaissance missions.
1950s
Three days after North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, the 19th Bomb Group deployed B-29s to Andersen to begin bombing targets throughout South Korea. A few days later, the group was detached from the 19th BW and deployed to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. The rest of the wing remained at Andersen, providing maintenance for transient aircraft and operating ammunition dumps until 1953.In 1951, the Strategic Air Command selected several overseas bases to support rotational unit deployments of its bombers from stateside bases, starting with B-29 units and later including B-36 Peacemaker, B-47 Stratojet, B-50 Superfortress bombers and KB-29 refueling tankers.
With decreased hostility in Korea, the 19th BW headquarters was relocated to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa in 1953 and was replaced by the 6319th Air Base Wing of the Far East Air Forces. FEAF Bomber Command's 19th Bomb Wing and SAC's 98th and 307th Bomb Wings were inactivated in 1954. Its three B-29 wings returned to the contiguous United States and were replaced with B-47s.
The 3rd Air Division was activated on 18 June in its place. Its objective was to control all SAC units in the Far East. The division operated as a tenant unit from June 1954 until April 1955 and received host-base support services from the 6319th until that unit was inactivated on 1 April 1955. The 6319th was replaced with the SAC-aligned 3960th Air Base Wing.
SAC continued its 90-day unit rotational training program and began to take control of the base from the FEAF. After the 1 April 1955 base transfer and activation of the 3960th Air Base Wing, B-47s replaced the B-36s in the rotations. The 43rd Bomb Wing from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, operated from July to October 1957, which eventually became Andersen's host unit. The 3960th Air Base Wing was redesignated on 1 July 1956 as the 3960th Air Base Group.
The 41st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the Pacific Air Forces, along with its F-86s, was stationed at Andersen from August 1956 until it was inactivated in March 1960. After that, the air defense mission was provided by deployments of Fifth and Thirteenth Air Force units flying the F-102 aircraft.
Vietnam
Andersen's rotational duties concluded when the B-47 was phased out and replaced by the B-52 Stratofortress. The first B-52, the "City of El Paso," arrived from the 95th Bomb Wing at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas in March 1964. It was followed by KC-135 Stratotankers.With the start of Operation Arc Light in June 1965, B-52Fs and KC-135As began regular bombing missions over Vietnam and continued until 1973, with a break between August 1970 and early 1972.
In support of Operation Arc Light, SAC activated the 4133rd Bombardment Wing on 1 February 1966. The 3960th Strategic Wing, which was originally activated in 1955 as the 3960th Air Base Wing, continued as the base's host wing until it was inactivated and replaced by the 43rd Strategic Wing on 1 April 1970. The 43rd assumed the mission of the 4133rd on 1 July 1970.
It continued in this capacity until the 57th Air Division and 72nd Strategic Wing were activated in June 1972 in support of Operation Bullet Shot. The 303rd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Wing was activated in July 1972. All of the provisional units remained at Andersen until bombing missions ceased on 15 November 1973.
Operation Linebacker II continued the mission of Operation Arc Light, and was most notable for its 11-day bombing campaign between 18 and 29 December 1972, in which more than 150 B-52s flew 729 sorties in 11 days. The B-52s at Andersen, combined with other bombers stationed at U-Tapao Field in Thailand, constituted about 50 percent of SAC's total bomber force and 75 percent of all combat crews. Two bases contained the equivalent of 13 stateside bomber wings.
A ceasefire came into effect in Vietnam on 27 January 1973. The B-52s continued to fly missions over Cambodia and Laos until those were halted on 15 August 1973. With the end of these runs, more than 100 B-52s, both D and G Models, were deployed elsewhere in the world by October 1973. The Eighth Air Force moved to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, and the 3rd Air Division was reactivated on 1 January 1975.
When the North Vietnamese forces overran South Vietnam later in 1975, the base provided emergency relief and shelter for thousands of Vietnamese evacuees as a part of Operation New Life. After the Fall of Saigon, Andersen received almost 40,000 refugees and processed another 109,000 for transportation to the United States.
The base returned to routine operations by the late 1970s, but continued to serve as one of SAC's strategic locations. Crews and aircraft were regularly sent to sites between Australia, Alaska and South Korea and supported sea surveillance operations support for the U.S. Navy.
Andersen was also home to the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron "Typhoon Chasers" during the 1960s through the 1980s. Air crews flying WC-130s tracked and penetrated typhoons, providing advanced warnings to military and civilian populations throughout the western Pacific. During the Vietnam War, the 54th also provided cloud seeding capability along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and synoptic reconnaissance, deploying from Udorn RTAFB when not in Guam. The 54th WRS was inactivated in September 1987.