The 27 SOW traces its lineage to the 27 Bombardment Group from World War II. After their aircraft had been destroyed when attacked in the Philippines, the Airmen of the 27th Bomb Group converted into the 1st Provisional Air Corps Regiment (Infantry). These men became legacy pathfinders -- the first generation of multi-capable Airmen, adapting and overcoming unprecedented battlefield challenges. They salvaged machine guns and cannons from crippled aircraft to fortify American fighting positions and vehicles with heavy weaponry. Although they lacked formal infantry training, they quickly adapted, training alongside Army Infantry counterparts while under fire to become a staunch fighting force. Two battalions of maintenance, ordnance, intelligence, ground staff, and aircrew Airmen bravely held the left flank of the US Army’s II Corps throughout the defense of Bataan, even escaping encirclement in the final battles, earning them the moniker “The Steadfast Line.”
Previous Airfield Names • Army Air Base, Clovis, 25 September 1942 (establishment)-7 April 1943 • Clovis Army Airfield, 8 April 1943 – 12 January 1948 • Clovis Air Force Base, 13 January 1948 – 7 June 1957 • Cannon Air Force Base, 8 June 1957–present Cannon Air Force Base is named in honor of General
John K. Cannon (1892–1955).
Airline service The history of the base began in the late 1920s, when a civilian passenger facility,
Portair Field, was established on the site. Clovis was a stop on the first coast to coast "air/rail" service between
Los Angeles and
New York City which began in 1929.
Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) used a
Ford Trimotor aircraft to fly passengers between Los Angeles and Clovis with en route stops at
Kingman, AZ and
Winslow, AZ as well as
Albuquerque, NM. At Clovis, passengers heading east would then transfer and board an overnight train operated by the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to
Waynoka, OK where they would connect to another TAT-operated Ford Trimotor aircraft the next morning and continue their journey to the
Port Columbus Airport in
Ohio (now the
John Glenn Columbus International Airport) where they would transfer again for the final stage of the journey to New York City via the
Pennsylvania Railroad. The same rail and flight services, transfers and connecting points were used by passengers heading west. In late 1930 the service had been modified to where the aircraft would fly the western portion of the service via
Amarillo, TX rather than Clovis. Transcontinental Air Transport went on to merge with
Western Air Express and form what would become
Trans World Airlines (
TWA) while Western Air Express would eventually once again regain its status as an independent air carrier and then subsequently be renamed
Western Airlines. In later years, both TWA and Western evolved into major airlines operating extensive domestic and international route systems. In 1948 a new carrier,
Pioneer Air Lines, began serving Clovis with the airport being one of several stops on a route between Albuquerque and
Dallas Love Field. The other stops included
Santa Fe, NM,
Las Vegas, NM and
Tucumcari, NM as well as
Lubbock, TX,
Abilene, TX,
Mineral Wells, TX and
Fort Worth, TX. A second route was then created between Amarillo and
El Paso, TX with stops at Clovis,
Roswell, NM, and
Las Cruces, NM. This second route crossed at Clovis with the initial route between Albuquerque and Dallas which resulted in Clovis being a small hub for Pioneer Air Lines where passengers were then able to connect between the two routes. Initially the airline used 21-seat
Douglas DC-3 twin prop aircraft but then upgraded to the 36-seat
Martin 2-0-2 twin prop aircraft in 1952. In 1955 Pioneer was acquired by and merged into
Continental Airlines which maintained the same basic service with DC-3 aircraft minus some of the stops and also subsequently upgraded its flights with
Convair 340 twin prop aircraft followed by the British manufactured
Vickers Viscount four engine turboprop in 1959 with the Viscount (which the airline referred to as the "Jet Power Viscount II") being the first turbine powered aircraft type to serve Clovis. The April 1, 1955 Continental system timetable listed three daily DC-3 flights serving the airport including a roundtrip Albuquerque - Santa Fe - Clovis - Lubbock - Abilene - Fort Worth - Dallas Love Field service as well as a one way westbound Houston
Hobby Airport -
College Station, TX -
Temple, TX -
Waco, TX - Dallas Love Field - Fort Worth - Abilene - Lubbock - Clovis - Santa Fe - Albuquerque flight. According to the September 27, 1959 Continental Airlines timetable, a Viscount propjet was being operated on a daily roundtrip routing of Albuquerque (ABQ) - Santa Fe (SAF) - Clovis (CVS) - Lubbock (LBB) - Abilene (ABI) - Fort Worth (via
Greater Southwest International Airport) (GSW) -
Dallas Love Field (DAL). The
Clovis Municipal Airport opened in 1959 and took over airline service for Clovis. However, for a brief period during the late 1970s,
Texas International Airlines introduced 85-seat
Douglas DC-9-10 jet service to Clovis, which was operated via Cannon. According to the March 15, 1978 Texas International system timetable, the airline was operating three departures every weekday from the airport with two nonstops to Albuquerque (ABQ) which offered connections via ABQ to TI DC-9 jet service on to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH) and Los Angeles (
LAX) as well as a nonstop flight to
Hobbs, NM with this service continuing on to
Carlsbad, NM. In 1978, Texas International reverted to using Convair 600 propjets via the Clovis Municipal Airport (CVN).
World War II After the United States entered
World War II, the first military unit to use the facility was a glider detachment. On 6 July 1942 the base was assigned to
Second Air Force. In 1943, the military began to use the facility as a bomber base. Clovis AAF was assigned to
II Bomber Command,
Second Air Force. On 8 April 1943, the base was renamed Clovis Army Air Field
. The host unit at Clovis AAF was the
16th Bombardment Wing, a training unit for Consolidated
B-24 Liberator bomber crews for Europe. The 16th Bomb Wing arrived in January 1943. By mid-1946, the airfield was placed on reduced operational status due to postwar funding cutbacks and decreased flying activities. On 16 October 1946, the 234th AAFBU was inactivated and on 1 November 1946, the airfield was placed under the administrative control of
Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado. Clovis AAF was placed on temporarily inactive status on 28 May 1947.
Cold War With the establishment of the
United States Air Force (USAF) in September 1947, Clovis AAF was reactivated. The 509th Airdrome Group, Clovis Detachment took over day-to-day responsibilities for the airfield on 16 December 1947. The 509th operated Clovis AAF as a detachment from its headquarters at
Roswell Army Air Field,
New Mexico, using the airfield as a deployment facility for the group's B-29s. Clovis AAF was renamed "Clovis Air Force Base" on 13 January 1948. However, with no funds to host an active
Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomb wing, Clovis AFB was placed on reserve/standby status on 1 July 1948. Its caretaker unit was the 234th Air Force Base Unit. Commanders'
F-100D Super Sabre at Cannon AFB during the 1950s Clovis AFB remained on standby status until 1 April 1950 when jurisdiction was transferred from SAC to
Air Training Command (ATC). ATC assigned the base as a sub post of
Reese AFB,
Texas on 12 May 1950, while construction ensued to bring the base up to USAF standards. Plans were made to make Clovis AFB a contract flying training facility, however, the advent of the
Korean War changed the USAF's plans for Clovis and jurisdiction was transferred to
Tactical Air Command (TAC) as a fighter base on 23 July 1951. The first USAF unit to use Clovis AFB was the
Air National Guard's
140th Fighter-Bomber Wing (140th FBW), which arrived in October 1951 after being activated due to the Korean War. The 140th FBW was a composite unit, made up of elements from the
Colorado,
Utah and
Wyoming Air National Guards. From the early 1970s to the early 1990s Cannon AFB was the sole operator of the
F-111D Aardvark tactical fighter bomber. The F-111D aircraft were operated by the
522nd,
523rd, and
524th Tactical Fighter Squadrons. The mesas and canyons of the largely unpopulated terrain in eastern New Mexico were ideal for training crews to use the F-111s
terrain following radar. To obtain crew practice dropping ordnance, the F-111s used the nearby Melrose bomb range.
21st century On 13 May 2005, the
Secretary of Defense recommended that Cannon Air Force Base be closed as part of the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) process. However, on 25 August 2005, the BRAC Commission overturned the recommendation that the base be closed, but upheld the withdrawal of the base's
F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft. The USAF had until 31 December 2009 to propose a new use for Cannon AFB, otherwise the base would be closed in 2010. Cannon AFB attempted to reopen a rejected EIS alternative, by substituting an Environmental Assessment. Comments were accepted through 4 October 2010. On 20 June 2006, it was announced that Cannon AFB would transfer from
Air Combat Command (ACC) and become an
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) installation. Initial word was that the
16th Special Operations Wing would transfer from
Hurlburt Field, Florida. It was later decided that the 27th Fighter Wing would transfer from ACC to AFSOC and become the
27th Special Operations Wing. This action would entail expanding and realigning some aspects of both the
16th Special Operations Wing and AFSOC, also headquartered at
Hurlburt Field. This designation means that the base will receive new aircraft to replace the F-16s lost in the BRAC realignment. Jurisdiction was formally transferred to AFSOC on 1 October 2007 and new airframes such as the
CV-22 Osprey and
AC-130H Spectre were assigned to the new wing at Cannon. In 2023, the FW1
Ute Reservoir pipeline project started construction to provide potable water by 2030 for Cannon Air Force Base and the communities of
Clovis,
Portales,
Elida,
Texico. ==Role and operations==