The 4128th Strategic
Wing was one of SAC disbursed wings (See
B-52 Strategic
Wings). It was activated at
Amarillo AFB in 1958, but did not become operational until until
Feb. 20, 1960. On February 1, 1963, it was replaced by 461st
Bombardment Wing.
It was inactivated in 1968. Both wings flew B-52s.
Amarillo was primarily a training command base. Originally Amarillo Army
Air Field, it was activated in April 1942 and formally named an army air field
in May. It was eleven miles east of Amarillo on a 1,523-acre tract of land
adjacent to English Field, a commercial airfield serving the Panhandle.
Col. Edward C. Black, the first commanding officer,
arrived in April 1942 with the first cadre of troops. Construction was only half
completed when the first classes were begun in September 1942. The field, one of
the largest installations in the Western Technical Training Command, was
established for training of air crew and ground mechanics to service B-17
aircraft. From 1943 to 1945 basic training and special courses of instruction
were conducted, and the school was later designated to train technicians for
B-29 aircraft in addition to the B-17 technical training. Flying operations were
also inaugurated. The field was closed on September 15, 1946, and its buildings
were converted to peacetime uses or destroyed.
The base was reactivated as Amarillo Air Force Base in March 1951 and became the
first air force all-jet mechanic-training base. In December 1951 the first
trainees from foreign countries arrived. By 1952 the program reached a planned
maximum of 3,500 students. Mechanic training continued throughout 1953 and 1954
and included a course on the B-47 jet bomber. The base was declared a permanent
installation in 1954. Four new courses were added a year later, and the number
of students climbed to about 5,000. When the two-phase system of basic training
began in 1956, Amarillo Air Force Base was selected as one of the bases to
administer the technical second phase. The base continued to grow in the late
1950s. In 1957 a missile-training department was established, and facilities
were expanded to accommodate an air wing of the Strategic Air Command. In July
1958 a supply and administration school previously stationed in Wyoming was
moved to the Amarillo base. The base was redesignated Amarillo Technical
Training Center in 1959, when the 4128th Strategic Air Wing concluded a
joint-tenancy agreement with Air Training Command.
By May 1960 the jet-mechanic school had graduated
100,000 students. At that time Amarillo was the site of all Air Training Command
resident training in administrative, procurement, and supply fields; it
continued to train thousands of jet aircraft mechanics, jet engine mechanics,
and air-frame repairmen. The center changed in February 1966 with the formation
of the 3330th Basic Military School. A personnel-processing squadron was added
the same month to support the school. In 1967 the center's facilities covered
5,273 acres and had about 16,300 assigned personnel.
By
1964 the United States Department of Defense had decided to close the base. The
last class was graduated on December 11, 1968, and the base was deactivated on
December 31, 1968. The closing damaged the economy of Amarillo. On September 2,
1970, the Amarillo branch of Texas State Technical Institute
was opened on the former base grounds. Another part
of the base was used for the Amarillo Air Terminal, which opened on May 17,
1971. |