Godfrey Field opened in 1927 as a commercial airport.
Northeast Airlines began commercial operations there in 1931.
World War II Just before
World War II, the
United States Army Air Corps took over the base, renamed it
Bangor Army Air Field, and placed it under the 8th Service Group, Air Service Command. Bangor AAF prepared and maintained the
Lend-Lease aircraft that would be flown by AAC Ferrying Command to
RCAF Stations in
Newfoundland for eventual transport to Britain. The Army expanded the civil airport, adding three hard-surfaced 7,000-foot runways, aligned 01/19 (N/S), 08/26 (NE/SW) and a main (NW/SE) runway aligned 14/32; along with many hardstands and taxiways to allow the temporary parking of large numbers of aircraft. In 1942, the station's name was changed to
Dow Field to honor James Frederick Dow, an Army Air Corps pilot whose bomber collided with another near
Mitchel Field on
Long Island, New York, on 17 June 1940. On 28 February 1942, Dow Field was transferred to
Air Service Command (ASC) because of its proximity to the
Air Transport Command (ATC)
North Atlantic air ferry route to the United Kingdom. Its mission became servicing long-range
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and, later,
Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers and other combat aircraft before they flew via the
Great Circle Route to
Prestwick Airport, Scotland; and airfields in
Northern Ireland. One of the B-17s that passed through Dow became the most famous B-17 of the war, the
Memphis Belle (aircraft). (Once in the British isles, the aircraft were modified for combat missions by
Eighth Air Force units for use over Nazi-occupied Europe.) On 5 March 1944, Dow was transferred to
Air Transport Command's North Atlantic Wing. In 1944, more than 8,400 aircraft passed through Dow, and about 2,150 in January through May 1945. After the end of the European war in May 1945, many aircraft returned to the United States via Dow. 4 February 1947: 101st Fighter Group allotted to the State of Maine and received Federal Recognition at Camp Keyes, Augusta, Maine, as the Maine Air National Guard (MeANG). 5 February 1947: 132nd Fighter Squadron allotted to the State of Maine and received Federal Recognition at Dow AFB, Bangor, Maine. (The Maine Air National Guard was physically established in the area in the Northwest corner of Dow AFB; the area which it continues to occupy to this day, and which later became Bangor Air National Guard Base.) In July 1947, the group deployed to
Muroc AFB, California, to perform acceptance tests on the new
F-84B Thunderjets. (The 14th Fighter Group became the 14th Fighter Wing in August 1947.) First operational production USAF F-84Bs arrived at Dow AFB on 7 November; the last P-84B was delivered in February 1948. Throughout the winter of 1947–48, the 14th Fighter Wing lost three F-84s at Dow. Investigators found that the aircraft performed better in the cold Maine climate than during testing in the California desert, yet accidents continued even as spring arrived in 1948. That year,
Deblois Bombing Range was opened nearby and the old
Milford Air Force Auxiliary Airfield became part of an Air Force survival school a few years later. On 9 September 1952,
Military Air Transport Service Atlantic Division at
Westover AFB activated 83d Air Transport Squadron (1600th Air Transport Wing) to Dow AFB as a tenant unit. This was done primarily to relieve overcrowding. The 83d ATS operated
C-54 Skymasters from Dow, and its primary mission was to support
Northeast Air Command bases and radar stations in
Newfoundland and Labrador,
Baffin Island, and
Greenland. It was reassigned to the 1610th Air Transport Group at
Grenier AFB, New Hampshire effective 1 July 1953, however, on 29 May 1953, the eight C-54s of the 83rd ATS departed in a permanent change of station.
Strategic Air Command The SAC
506th Strategic Fighter Wing was activated at Dow on 20 November 1952 and was assigned to SAC's
Eighth Air Force. The wing included the 457th, 458th and 462d Strategic Fighter Squadrons and was equipped with
F-84G Thunderjets. Although assigned to SAC, the group was associated with the ADC units at Dow. The wing was deployed to
Misawa Air Base, Japan in 1953 to support SAC's rotational deployment of fighter units to northern Japan to perform air defense duties, relieving the
12th Strategic Fighter Wing. Under the self-supporting concept, the 506th SFW gained the
KB-29P Superfortress 506th Air Refueling Squadron on 23 September 1953. The 506th ARS remained with the wing until 1 March 1955. Upon the wing's return to the United States, the 506th was re-equipped with new
F-84F Thunderstreaks, in January 1954 becoming the first SAC fighter wing to be equipped with the swept-wing Thunderjet model. The wing remained at Dow for just over a year until being reassigned to
Second Air Force and was transferred to
Tinker AFB,
Oklahoma on 20 March 1955. The escort fighters were replaced by the SAC
Eighth Air Force 4060th Air Refueling Wing, activated on 8 March 1955. The wing refuelled
B-47 Stratojet deployments to Europe and Morocco, with air refueling taking place over the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, during the late 1950s, SAC extended the runway at Dow to 11,000' and alert pads were constructed at the end of Runway 15. On 15 February 1960, SAC established the
4038th Strategic Wing at Dow as part of SAC's plan to disperse its
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the
Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. The wing consisted of the
341st Bombardment Squadron, of 15 B-52Gs, and the
KC-135-equipped
71st Air Refueling Squadron. Half of the aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled, armed, and ready for combat. The 4038th SW was redesignated as the
397th Bombardment Wing (397th BW) on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesignation and was assigned to SAC's
Eighth Air Force,
6th Air Division. The 341st BS was also redesignated as the
596th Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's World War II historical bomb squadrons. The 71st ARS designation was unchanged, and component support units were also redesignated to the 397th numerical designation of the newly established wing. The 397th Bomb Wing continued to conduct strategic bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet operational commitments of
Strategic Air Command, including deployments to Southeast Asia during the
Vietnam War. By 1968,
Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) had been deployed and become operational as part of the United States' strategic triad, and the need for B-52s had been reduced. In addition, funds were also needed to cover
Vietnam War costs., which led to the closure of several other domestic air force bases and naval air stations that year. Dow AFB officially closed and the "keys" to the major portions of the base were passed to the City of Bangor on 1 April 1968. The 397th Bombardment Wing was inactivated on 25 April 1968, and its aircraft were reassigned to other SAC units.
Maine Air National Guard With the inactivation of Dow AFB in 1968, most of the base was purchased by the city of Bangor and reopened the following year as Bangor International Airport. The portion of Dow AFB not turned over to the city became the basis for the current Air National Guard Base and the
Maine Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility. Under Maine ANG jurisdiction, the airfield was initially the home to the
101st Air Defense Wing of the Maine Air National Guard, an ANG associate of Aerospace Defense Command's (ADC)
36th Air Division at what was then
Topsham AFS, Maine. It operated
F-102 Delta Daggers until 1969, then changed to
F-101 Voodoo interceptors until 1976. In 1976, the 101st was reassigned to be an associate unit of SAC and was renamed the
101st Air Refueling Wing (101 ARW), operating the
KC-135 Stratotanker. The 101 ARW was later re-equipped with the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker, which it continues to operate today. and shares the runway with the civilian airport facilities. With the disestablishment of SAC in 1992, the 101 ARW is now operationally gained by the
Air Mobility Command (AMC).
Over the horizon radar About 1985, the
776th Radar Squadron was reformed with its headquarters at Bangor ANGB. The mission of the squadron was to operate two
over the horizon radar (OTH-B) very long-range early warning radar sites. The squadron operated an OTH-B transmitter site at
Moscow AFS, Maine, and a receiver site at
Columbia Falls AFS, Maine . These systems were inactivated in 1997, and the unit was inactivated.
Previous names • Godfrey Army Airfield, 1941 • Dow Army Airfield, 1942 • Dow Air Force Base, 1947–1968
Major commands to which assigned • Air Service Command, 1941 •
Air Transport Command, 1944 : On standby status, May–November 1946 •
Air Defense Command, 1946 •
Strategic Air Command, 1952–1968 : Air Defense Command controlled tenant units, 1952–1968
Major units assigned • 101st Fighter Group, 4 April 1947 : Re-designated 101st Fighter Wing, 1 October 1950 : Re-designated 101st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, 1952 : Re-designated 101st Air Defense Wing, December 1960 : Re-designated
101st Air Refueling Wing, 1976–present
Previous aircraft operated •
KC-135R Stratotanker (2007–present) •
KC-135E Stratotanker (1984–2007) •
KC-135A Stratotanker (1956–1968) (1976–1984) •
KC-97G Stratofreighter (1955–1963) •
KC-97F Stratofreighter (1955–1963) •
KB-29P Superfortress(1953–1955) •
F-101B Voodoo [1969–1976) •
F-102A Delta Dagger (1969) •
F-89J Scorpion (1959–1969) •
F-89D Scorpion (1957–1959) •
F-94A Starfire (???-???) •
F-86D Sabre (???-???) •
P-51H Mustang (???-???) •
P-51D Mustang (1950) •
P-80C Shooting Star (1948–1950) •
P-47D Thunderbolt (1947–1948) • F-84G Jan 1953 to Jan 1954 • F-84F Jan 1954 to 1955 == Based units ==