Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

base in

Iosco County, Michigan Iosco County ( , ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan; its eastern border is formed by Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,237. The county seat is Tawas City. Etymology of Iosco ''Iosco'' has traditionally been sai ...

. It operated from 1923 until decommissioned in 1993. On January 18, 1994 it was listed as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

due to extensive groundwater contamination with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,

volatile organic compounds Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a t ...

, including

trichloroethylene The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a halocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear, colourless non-flammable liquid with a chloroform-like sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, w ...

, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and

vinyl chloride Vinyl chloride is an organochloride with the formula H2C=CHCl. It is also called vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) or chloroethene. This colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC ...

. In 2010,

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. An early definition, from 2011, required that they contain at least one perfluoroalkyl ...

contamination was discovered, and as of 2022 remediation is still ongoing. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, it was one of three

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

(SAC) bases in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

with the

B-52 The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

, the others (

Kincheloe AFB Kincheloe Air Force Base was a United States Air Force (USAF) base during the Cold War. Built in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1943 during World War II, the base was in service The base was known by various names, including Kinross Muni ...

and Sawyer AFB) were in the

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...

. The base was named in honor of Major General

Paul Wurtsmith Paul Bernard Wurtsmith (9 August 1906 – 13 September 1946) was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. Enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps as a flying cadet in 1927, Wurtsmith was commissioned in 1928. Over the n ...

, commander of SAC's Eighth Air Force, who was killed when his

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

bomber crashed on Cold Mountain near Asheville, North Carolina, on September 13, 1946. In 2022, Granot Loma was being touted as a potential

space port A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

in the

. This would be in tandem with

Oscoda, Michigan Oscoda ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Iosco County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The CDP had a population of 916 at the 2020 census. The community is located within Au Sable Township and Oscoda Town ...

's Wurtsmith Air Force Base.

Previous names

* Camp Skeel, November 1931 * Oscoda Army Air Field, August 1942 * Oscoda Air Force Base, 24 June 1948 * Wurtsmith Air Force Base, 15 February 1953 – 30 June 1993

Major commands to which assigned

* General Headquarters Air Force, 26 June 1936 *

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in ...

, 2 September 1942 * Air Service Command, 12 December 1942 *

, 5 March 1943 *

First Air Force The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern; 1 AF-AFNORTH) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission is the air defense of the C ...

, 14 August 1943 *

Continental Air Forces Continental Air Forces (CAF) was a United States Army Air Forces major command, active 1944–1946. It was tasked with combat training of bomber and fighter personnel, and for Continental United States (CONUS) air defense after the Aircraft Wa ...

, 16 April 1945 : Re-designated

, 21 March 1946 *

Continental Air Command Continental Air Command (ConAC) (1948–1968) was a Major Command of the United States Air Force (USAF) responsible primarily for administering the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. During the Korean War, ConAC provided the necessary augm ...

,1 January 1949 *

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inac ...

, 1 January 1951 *

, 1 April 1960 *

Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...

, 1 June 1992 – 30 June 1993

Major units assigned

* First Pursuit Group, 15 October 1927 * 100th Base HQ and Air Base Squadron, 31 October 1942 * 524th Base HQ and Air Base Squadron, 21 June 1943 * 134th AAF Base Unit, 14 April 1944 – 12 April 1945 * 4301st Base Services Squadron, 1 August 1948 : Re-designated 2476th Base Service Squadron, 1 January 1949 : Re-designated 4655th Base Service Squadron, 1 December 1950 *

332d Fighter Group 33 may refer to: *33 (number) *33 BC *AD 33 *1933 *2033 Music * ''33'' (Luis Miguel album) (2003) * ''33'' (Southpacific album) (1998) * ''33'' (Wanessa album) (2016) *"33 'GOD'", a 2016 song by Bon Iver * "Thirty-Three" (song), a 1995 song by th ...

, 2 April 1943 – 9 July 1943 *

100th Fighter Squadron The 100th Fighter Squadron (100 FS) is a unit of the Alabama Air National Guard 187th Fighter Wing located at Dannelly Field, Alabama. The 100th is equipped with the General Dynamics F-16C+ Fighting Falcon. The 100th FS was one of the Tuskege ...

, 29 October 1943 – 8 November 1943 *

301st Fighter Squadron The 301st Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve squadron, assigned to the 325th Operations Group, stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. It is an associate unit of the active duty 325th Fighter Wing. The squadron was ...

, 21 May 1943 – 10 July 1943 * 302d Fighter Squadron, 19 November 1943 – December 1943 * 403d Fighter Squadron, May 1943 – 15 December 1943 * 754th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 27 November 1950 – 20 July 1951 *

63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 63d Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 56th Operations Group, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates the F-35A aircraft, and conducts advanced fighter training since its reactivation in 2016. ...

, 5 January 1951 – 17 August 1955 * 527th Air Service Group : Re-designated

527th Air Defense Group The 527th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 4708th Air Defense Wing at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan. It was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The group was originally activ ...

, 16 February 1953 – 15 October 1955 *

75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 75th Fighter Squadron (75 FS) is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Fighter Group, Air Combat Command and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. The squadron is equipped with the Fairchild Republic A-10C Thund ...

, 1 October 1968 - 30 November 1969 * 445th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 15 August 1955 – 30 September 1968 *

31st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 31 (thirty-one) is the natural number following 30 and preceding 32. It is a prime number. In mathematics 31 is the 11th prime number. It is a superprime and a self prime (after 3, 5, and 7), as no integer added up to its base 10 digits ...

, 8 June 1956 – 20 August 1957 * 18th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 20 August 1957 – 27 April 1960 *

4026th Strategic Wing The 379th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time. The Wing is one of the largest, most diverse expeditionary win ...

, 1 August 1958 – 9 January 1961 *

40th Air Division The 40th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Fifteenth Air Force at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. It was inactivated on 14 June 1991. As the 40th Bombardment Wing, the unit was one of the ...

, 1 July 1959 – 8 June 1988 *

920th Air Refueling Squadron The 920th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 379th Bombardment Wing at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan where it was inactivated on 30 September 1992. The first predecessor of the s ...

, 15 July 1960 – 15 June 1993 *

379th Bombardment Wing 379th may refer to: * 379th Aero Squadron, training unit assigned to Benbrook Field, former World War I military airfield, 0.5 miles north of Benbrook, Texas *379th Air Expeditionary Wing The 379th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional Unite ...

, 9 January 1961 – 30 June 1993 *

94th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 94th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force 1st Operations Group located at Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia. The 94th is equipped with the F-22 Raptor. The 94 FS is one of the oldest units in the United States Air ...

, 1 December 1969 - 30 June 1971

Environmental contamination

On January 18, 1994 Wurtsmith was listed as a

due to extensive groundwater contamination with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,

, including

, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and

. In March 2010 the

Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), formerly Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (Michigan DEQ, MDEQ, or simply DEQ), is a principal department of the U.S. state of Michigan for environmental issues. T ...

(EGLE) became aware of

concentrations in groundwater, when EGLE staff sampled at a former fire training area on the base. Air Force completed the PFAS Preliminary Assessment, Site Inspection, and planned the Remedial Investigation under the

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

. Air Force performed three removal actions and planned two interim

remedial action A remedial action is a change made to a nonconforming product or service to address the deficiency. This also can refer to restoration of a landscape from industrial activity Rework and repair are generally the remedial actions taken on products, ...

s. On November 1, 2017, more than twenty-two years after being listed as a superfundsite Wurtsmith held its first Restoration Advisory Board meeting. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Wurtsmith

Restoration Advisory Board A Restoration Advisory Board or RAB is a group, which meets on a regular basis to discuss environmental restoration at a US military installation currently or formerly used and owned by the US Department of Defense (DoD). These developed in the 1 ...

(RAB) meetings became virtual events, yet in August 2021 RAB members said that progress was made on the WAFB cleanup, and that the relationship between the Air Force and the community has improved.

References

External links

Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Superfund Site
EPA.gov
Oscoda-Wurtsmith AirportRenaissance ZonesOscoda-Wurtsmith Airport airport informationWurtsmith Air Museum
{{coord, 44.4525, -83.380278, type:airport_region:US-MI, display=title Installations of the United States Air Force in Michigan 1923 establishments in Michigan Buildings and structures in Iosco County, Michigan Military installations closed in 1993 Installations of Strategic Air Command Military Superfund sites Superfund sites in Michigan 1993 disestablishments in Michigan