Техас штатындағы Карсуэлл әуе базасының тарихы

United States Air Force base in Texas

Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings. Carswell was a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) base during the Cold War. It was the headquarters of several SAC intercontinental bombardment wings, equipped with the latest heavy bombers from B 29 Superfortresses; B 36 Peacemakers and B 52 Stratofortresses. The west side of the airfield was home to United States Air Force Plant 4, a industrial complex occupied over the decades by Convair, General Dynamics, and now by Lockheed Martin. The bulk of the Air Force Convair B 36, B 58 Hustler, F 111 Aardvark, EF 111 Raven and F 16 Fighting Falcon fleets were built there. With the end of the Cold War and the subsequent downsizing of the American military, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission of 1991 recommended that Carswell AFB be closed by 1994. Today, the facility is known as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. It retains an Air Force Reserve presence as well hosting Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve Army Aviation Reserve and Air National Guard flying units which were formerly located at Naval Air Station Dallas.

Carswell Air Force Base was named after Medal of Honor recipient Major Horace S. Carswell, Jr. (1916–1944). Major Carswell was returning from an attack on Japanese shipping in the South China Sea on 26 October 1944. He attempted to save a crewmember whose parachute had been destroyed by flak. He remained at the controls of his crippled bomber and died while crash landing the B 24 Liberator near Tungchen, China. The base was renamed in his honor on 29 January 1948.

Carswell's origins date back to the early years of aviation. After the United States' entry into World War I in April 1917, General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing invited the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to establish training fields in the southern United States where the warmer weather would be more conducive for flying year round. In June, the War Department inspected 6 sites around Fort Worth, Texas which had been offered by the Chamber of Commerce. In August the War Department signed leases with the RFC on 3 sites around Fort Worth. Known as the Flying Triangle, these sites were Hicks Field (#1), Barron Field (#2), and Benbrook (later Carruthers) Field (#3) based on their locations. In April 1918 these airfields were turned over to the Air Service, United States Army as training fields for American pilots. Hundreds of pilots learned their basic and primary flying skills at these airfields in the Fort Worth area during the war. They were closed in 1919 when the war ended. In 1940 the City of Fort Worth had filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), asking for a primary pilot training airfield for the Army Air Corps. In May, General Jacob E. Fickel visited Fort Worth on an inspection visit. Fickel had learned to fly at Carruthers Field in 1918. At the same time, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce was trying to convince aircraft manufacturers to build an aircraft assembly plant in the area. Consolidated Aircraft, wanting to build in the area, suggested to the Air Corps that they jointly build an airfield adjacent to the heavy bomber plant they wanted to build in Fort Worth. On 16 June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved $1.75 million to construct an airfield next to the Consolidated manufacturing plant. The Army wanted to have the airfield ready quickly before the plant was put into production and construction of the "Lake Worth Bomber Plant Airport" began almost immediately. The school was initially equipped with B 24Ds that were assembled across the runway at Consolidated, later it was upgraded to B 24Es that were manufactured at Consolidated's Willow Run Plant in Michigan, then flown to the Fort Worth plant for final modifications. During training, nine member crews were assigned to each plane, and the crews ate, slept, and trained together 24 hours a day. This allowed the crew to learn both the technical skills needed for aircraft operation as well as the other crew members' minds and reactions. Each day they trained five hours in the air and five hours on the ground. Each class lasted four and a half weeks. With its activation, the 7th became part of the Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF), headquartered at Colorado Springs, Colorado. On 12 September, the group deployed 30 B 29s to Giebelstadt Army Airfield, near Würzburg, West Germany. This flight was the largest bomber formation flown from Fort Worth AAF overseas to date, landing in Germany on 13 September. During their ten day stay, the group bombers participated in training operations over Europe, as well as a show of force display by the United States in the early part of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The flight redeployed from Germany on 23 September. Since 1942, the XB 36 Peacemaker had been under development by Consolidated, and work on it was shifted from its San Diego, California plant to its government leased plant in Fort Worth. By 1947 the initial production version B 36A was ready and in June 1948 the first Convair B 36A Peacekeeper was delivered. The first B 36A was designated the "City of Fort Worth" (AF Serial No. 44 92015), and was assigned to the 492d Bomb Squadron. B 36s continued to roll out from the production plant throughout 1948 and being assigned to the 7th. The group's last B 29 being transferred on 6 December to the 97th Bomb Group at Biggs AFB. For 10 years, the "Peacemaker" cast a large shadow on the Iron Curtain and served as the nation's major deterrent weapons system.

In 1947, shortly after the United States Air Force was established as a separate branch of the United States military, the Hobson Wing Base Organization Plan was implemented. The 7th was selected as one of the "Test Wings" to evaluate the new organization T/O and on 17 November 1947 the 7th Bombardment Wing was established. The test was successful and the wing was made permanent on 1 August 1948. As part of the new organization both the 7th and 11th Bombardment Groups became its operational component. On 16 February 1951 the 11th Bombardment Wing was activated and the group was assigned to it. The 19th Air Division was organized the same day at Carswell. With this move the division assumed responsibility for the 7th and 11th Bomb Wings at Carswell. B 52 crews were sent through an intensive two week course on the B 52D, making them eligible for duty in Southeast Asia. B 52s assigned to combat duty in Vietnam were painted in a modified camouflage scheme with the undersides, lower fuselage, and both sides of the vertical fin being painted in a glossy black. The USAF serial number was painted in black on the fin over a horizontal red stripe across the length of the fin. Beginning in 1972, the 301st Fighter Wing (under various designations) has trained at Carswell as an Air Force Reserve Command unit, training for tactical air missions, including counter air, interdiction, and close air support. Originally gained by the former Tactical Air Command (TAC), the unit is now operationally gained by Air Combat Command (ACC). The 301st replaced the Air Force Reserve's 916th Military Airlift Group (916 MAG), which was inactivated.

Carswell AFB was selected for closure under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 during Round II Base Closure Commission deliberations (BRAC 91). As part of BRAC 91, the decision was made to relocate the 7th Bomb Wing from Carswell AFB to Dyess AFB. During the 1992 Air Force wide reorganization, SAC was disestablished on 1 June. Carswell and the 7th Bomb Wing were assigned to the newly created Air Combat Command (ACC), and the B 52Hs assigned to the wing were given the ACC tail code "CW".