Establishment Bergstrom, seven miles outside of Austin in
Travis County, was originally activated on September 19, 1942, as
Del Valle Army Air Base. The
United States Army leased from the city of Austin, on land acquired from the
Santiago Del Valle Grant. The
Chisholm Trail ran through the tract. The name of the base was changed to
Bergstrom Army Air Field on March 3, 1943, in honor of Austinite captain John August Earl Bergstrom, who was killed at
Clark Field,
Philippines, during one of the early
Japanese bombings at the start of
World War II. Bergstrom was a member of the
19th Bombardment Group.
Under the Bergstrom Name The base was renamed Bergstrom Field on November 11, 1943 at the suggestion of then-Congressman
Lyndon B. Johnson. It became Bergstrom Air Force Base in December 1948, coinciding with the creating of the USAF as a separate service. Initially, Bergstrom was the home of troop carrier units, some of which participated in the
Berlin Airlift. The base was transferred to
Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1949, followed by the arrival of the
27th Fighter Wing on March 1 of that year. The
12th Fighter-Escort Wing arrived at the base in December 1950. On July 1, 1957, the base was transferred from SAC to
Tactical Air Command (TAC). The 27th Fighter Wing received new
F-101A and
F-101C Voodoo fighter aircraft directly from the
McDonnell factory. Four squadrons flew the Voodoo under the 27th, the
481st,
522nd,
523rd, and
524th Fighter Squadrons. The Voodoos had a short run at Bergstrom, being sent to the UK as a nuclear deterrent in 1958. On October 1, 1958, the base came under SAC control again, and the 4130th Strategic Wing moved in. Flying under the
Second Air Force, the unit flew
B-52 Stratofortress bombers and
KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft. The 4130th was dissolved and its assets and personnel became the
340th Bombardment Wing, Heavy on September 1, 1963. On July 1, 1966, the base was once again transferred back to TAC, becoming home to the
Twelfth Air Force and the
75th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW). The 12th was the controlling organization responsible for all TAC reconnaissance, fighter, and airlift operations west of the
Mississippi River. On July 15, 1971, the 75 TRW was replaced by the
67 TRW. The base became the primary tactical reconnaissance base in the entire USAF. Four squadrons equipped with the RF-4C Phantom operated under the 67th, the
12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS), the
45th Tactical Reconnaissance Training Squadron (TRTS), the
62nd TRTS, and the
91st TRS. Co-located was the
Air Force Reserve's
924th Tactical Airlift Group as of October 8, 1976, flying
C-130 Hercules transports. The 924th changed missions and designations in September 1981, becoming the 924th Tactical Fighter Group flying the F-4D and then F-4E Phantom. Bergstrom hosted the Reconnaissance Air Meet (RAM) in 1986, 1988, and 1990. RAM was a competition between the USAF,
Air National Guard,
United States Navy,
United States Marine Corps, and select foreign reconnaissance units. A drawdown of USAF tactical reconnaissance, hastened by the end of the
Cold War, saw the 45TRTS and 62TRTS disband, followed by the 91TRS. The 12TRS deployed its RF-4Cs to the Middle East in support of
Operation Desert Shield/
Desert Storm in 1991. Shortly after their return from the desert, the 12th and its parent 67TRW were re-designated 12 Reconnaissance Squadron and 67 Reconnaissance Wing, respectively. Shortly after, both organizations were disbanded.
Later years In the 1960s, Bergstrom AFB became the place where
Air Force One often flew into and out of. It was also the airfield that
Lyndon B. Johnson flew into and out of when he was president, traveling between Washington and his ranch in Texas. During the 1970s, Austin's municipal airport became crowded and noise complaints increased. The city approached the USAF in 1978 to propose a shared civil-military airport at Bergstrom, but the original proposal and further ones in 1981 and 1984 were all rejected. In 1979, the
Concorde visited Bergstrom, followed by the
Space Shuttles
Columbia and
Discovery on their
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in 1981 and 1985, respectively. In 1990, Bergstrom ended up on a list of 75 military facilities under study for closure by the
1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission which led to economic concerns for the region. ==See also==