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Whiteman Air Force Base


Near Knob Noster, Missouri in the United States of America
A B-2A Spirit from the 509th Bomb Wing flying over Whiteman AFB.
A B-2A Spirit from the 509th Bomb Wing flying over Whiteman AFB.
Air Force Global Strike Command.svg
Whiteman is located in MissouriWhitemanWhiteman
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Coordinates 38°43′49″N 093°32′55″WCoordinates: 38°43′49″N 093°32′55″W
Type US Air Force Base
Site information
Owner Department of Defense
Operator US Air Force
Controlled by Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC)
Condition Operational
Website www.whiteman.af.mil
Site history
Built 1942 (as Sedalia Glider Base)
In use 1942 – present
Garrison information
Current
commander Colonel Jeffrey T. Schreiner
Garrison 509th Bomb Wing (Host)
Airfield information
Identifiers IATA: SZL, ICAO: KSZL, FAA LID: SZL, WMO: 724467
Elevation 265.4 metres (871 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
01/19 3,779.5 metres (12,400 ft) Concrete
Source: Federal Aviation Administration
Whiteman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located just south of Knob Noster, Missouri, United States. The base is the current home of the B-2 Spirit bomber. It is named for 2nd Lt George Whiteman, who was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

ICBM era
In 1963, Whiteman AFB transitioned from being a bomber base to a missile base. SAC activated the 351st Strategic Missile Wing at Whiteman on 1 February. On 1 September, having retired its B-47 and KC-97 aircraft, the remnants of the 340th Bombardment Wing were transferred to Bergstrom AFB, Texas where it assumed control of the B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker assets of the inactivating 4130th Strategic Wing.

The transition of Whiteman AFB from a bomber base to missile base required massive military construction (MILCON) projects. 867,000 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated to make room for underground launch facilities and 15 launch control centers. 168,000 yards of concrete, 25,355 tons of reinforcing steel, and 15,120 tons of structural steel were used in the effort, and a vast underground intersite cable network was installed.

The 351st employed the LGM-30 Minuteman weapons system, an ICBM capable of hitting targets up to 4300 miles away. In the mid-1960s, the Minuteman I missiles were swapped out in favor of the Minuteman II, an ICBM with increased range and an improved guidance system.

In the 1980s, Whiteman AFB became the first missile base to field an all-female Minuteman missile crew, as well as the first male and female Minuteman crew.

B-2 era
At the 1986 Reykjavik Summit between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the new Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to a drawdown of nuclear arms via two treaties: the INF Treaty and START I. This would lead to the eventual phase-out of the Minuteman II systems at Whiteman, and put the future of the base in question. On 5 January 1987, Ike Skelton, a U.S. Congressman representing Missouri’s 4th district, announced that Whiteman AFB would be the home of the USAF’s new Advanced Technology Bomber, which would eventually be called the B-2 Spirit.

On 30 November 1988, SAC announced that the 509th Bomb Wing would divest its FB-111 and KC-135 aircraft, relocate from its then-home station of Pease AFB, New Hampshire which was being realigned as an Air National Guard base pursuant to BRAC, and become the nation’s first operational B-2 bomber unit. On 17 December 1993, Whiteman AFB’s first B-2 touched down on the installation’s runway.[6] 21 B-2s would eventually be produced, 20 of which are still operational. All 20 are based at Whiteman AFB.

On 1 Apr 1994, the 442nd Fighter Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command relocated to Whiteman AFB with their A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft to become a tenant command at Whiteman AFB following the BRAC-directed closure of their former home station, Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri.