McClellan Air Force Base

For the civil use of this facility after 2001, see McClellan Airfield.
McClellan Air Force Base
Part of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC)
Sacramento County, California

McClellan AFB, 9 May 2002
McClellan AFB
Coordinates 38°40′04″N 121°24′02″W / 38.66778°N 121.40056°W / 38.66778; -121.40056
Type Air Force Base
Site information
Controlled by United States Air Force
Site history
Built 1935-1938
In use Open 1938 - IN USE
1948-IN USE (as McClellan AFB)
Garrison information
Garrison Air Force Materiel Command
Bell P-39 Repair Line.
To step up its delivery of Speedy Bell P-39 "Airacobra" fighter airplanes to American pilots in the South Pacific, the Army Air Forces Air Service Command put American production line methods to work in its repair docks at McClellan Field, California. Two and one-half million dollars worth of airplanes were overhauled by civilian Air Service Command workers at Sacramento, California preparatory to being sent against the enemy.
Memorial Plaque of McClellan AFB

McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former United States Air Force base located in the North Highlands area of Sacramento County, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Sacramento, California. For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClellan was a logistics and maintenance facility for a wide variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies, primarily under the cognizance of the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and later the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). The United States Coast Guard previously operated Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento at McClellan AFB as a tenant activity, operating and maintaining several HC-130 Hercules aircraft. CGAS Sacramento continues to operate at McClellan following its closure as an Air Force Base and is the only remaining military aviation unit and installation on the airfield.

Environmental contamination

McClellan has been designated as a Superfund site, because the Environmental Protection Agency has identified 326 waste areas on the base. Water wells closest to the base in the Rio Linda-Elverta district, have had the highest levels of hexavalent chromium, which is a known carcinogen. Water from six of 11 wells tested above the state’s maximum contaminant levels for chromium-6, which is 10 parts per billion. [1]

Names

Major command assignments

Aerospace Museum of California

McClellan Airfield is also the home of the Aerospace Museum of California. The museum itself was originally set up as the McClellan Aviation Museum in 1986 (before the McClellan AFB closed). It was chartered by the National Museum of the United States Air Force and in 2005 it changed its name to the California Aerospace Museum. Various military aircraft sit on display inside one of the hangars, and many more are outside on the tarmac. The museum has displays which highlight the mission of the base when it was active, as well as neighboring bases such as Beale AFB, Travis AFB and the since closed Mather AFB. The museum hosts educational programs to schools in the local area.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ EDWARD ORTIZ (June 21, 2015). "Groundwater search turns up high carcinogen readings near McClellan". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "About the AMC". Aerospace Museum of California. Archived from the original on 2007-10-29.

External links

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

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