Sawyer Air Force Base

Sawyer Air Force Base


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Five tunnels from the facility lead to the alert apron. The majority of this facility is located underground.


: The north tunnel in the alert facility leading to the alert apron.

: A view of one of the other tunnels in the alert facility leading to the alert apron.

: The Command Center of the SAGE facility, building number 708, located on the northeast section of K. I. Sawyer on Avenue D.




EXCERPT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.I._Sawyer_AFB

K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base is a decommissioned U.S. Air Force base in
Marquette County, Michigan, south of the city of Marquette. The base, near the
center of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, closed in 1995. The county airport,
Sawyer International, now occupies a portion of the base and has scheduled
airline flights and some general aviation activity.

Closure

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the Air Force reorganized in 1992, Strategic Air Command was inactivated and K.I. Sawyer came under the direction of the new Air Combat Command (ACC). The following year, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission of the federal government (BRAC 1993)[1] selected the base for deactivation. The KC-135 tankers left in 1993, and the B-52Hs were split between ACC's two remaining B-52 bases, Minot AFB in northern North Dakota, and Barksdale AFB near Shreveport, Louisiana. The last B-52 departed to Minot in November 1994, and K.I. Sawyer AFB was officially closed at the end of September 1995. [1]

K.I. Sawyer AFB was a favorite base among the SAC community. Although isolated and definitely northern, it was an attractive base for its pleasing North Woods location and its proximity to outdoor activities off the base, including hunting, fishing, boating, and winter sports (including Marquette Mountain), as well as the venues on site (base lake, ski hill, and others). There was an abundance of lake effect snow but not the bitter sub-zero temperatures and wind chills and hot summers of the tree-sparse North Dakota bases, or the confinement of the bases in the more established communities of the northeastern states. Locals maintained that the K.I. Sawyer runway was built over some of the best blueberry fields in the state. Berry patches remained on other parts of the base, and families of aircrew members often picked them near the alert barracks and the family center.

A portion of the working section of K.I. Sawyer AFB has been converted into Sawyer International Airport, which replaced the smaller Marquette County Airport, just southwest of Marquette, as the region's primary civilian airport. Sawyer International opened its passenger terminal for service in September 1999.

In recent years, a group of local citizens interested in preserving the historical significance of the base have collected six aircraft of the types used actively at various times through the base's history to be displayed near the airport. The program is known as the "Sawyer 6" project.



EXCERPT

http://members.fortunecity.com/kisawyer/

K. I. Sawyer Facts and Figures
Latitude: 46 degrees 21 minutes North
Longitude: 87 degrees 23 minutes West
Location: Central Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
seven miles NNE of Gwinn and twenty one miles SE of Marquette.
Date of Establishment: April 8, 1956.
Previous Names: K. I. Sawyer Airport, April 8, 1956 after conversion to military use.
Name changed to K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base on May 8, 1959.
Base Size: 5,278 acres (8.25 square miles)
Altitude: 1,220 feet
Military Personnel: 3,300
Civilian Personnel: 1,000
Main Runway: 12,300 feet long, 300 feet wide,
with 1,000 foot overruns at each end.
Runway oriented 10 degrees east of north.
Runway has a parallel 100 foot wide taxiway
with four turn-offs.
Runway consists of 24 inch thick concrete.
Base is named for Kenneth Ingalls Sawyer, a
former Marquette County road commisioner
who proposed an airport for the area. Built in
the 1940's, the airport was leased to the U. S.
Air Force in 1955.
The first KC-135A Stratotanker arrived at Sawyer on August 4, 1960.
The first B-52H Stratofortress arrived at Sawyer in August of 1961.







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Bombs in the Backyard

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excerpt:
http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/basesize.aspx

The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project was completed in August 1998 and resulted in the book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 edited by Stephen I. Schwartz. These project pages should be considered historical.

Bases and Facilities with Significant Current or Historical U.S. Nuclear Weapons or Naval Nuclear Propulsion Missions


Compiled by Stephen I. Schwartz
Director, U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project

- As of August 2002 -

(Bases and facilities with active nuclear weapons, weapons-related and/or naval nuclear propulsion missions are listed in italics)

* denotes presence of currently deployed or stored nuclear weapons
+ denotes presence of currently stored plutonium-239 and/or uranium-235 Base/Facility

(by State/Country) Location Size(in acres)


MICHIGAN
Kincheloe AFB ?
K.I. Sawyer AFB Gwinn 5,202
(ELF transmitter) Republic ?
Wurtsmith AFB Oscoda 5,221