On 3 April 1941, the
War Department began looking for an area to construct an air depot in central New York. Orders to begin construction came from the War Department on 23 June 1941 and ground was broken on 2 August 1941. Facilities were completed in February, 1942, and flight operations on the depot airfield began on 18 February 1942. Construction had been supervised by
Kenneth Nichols of the
United States Army Corps of Engineers Syracuse Engineer District, which was headed by
James C. Marshall. Marshall and then Nichols became District Engineer for the
Manhattan Engineer District (MED) which built the atomic bomb. After a series of names and realignments, the base was finally named "Griffiss Air Force Base" in 1948 to honor
Lieutenant Colonel Townsend Griffiss (1900–1942): a
Buffalo native and 1922
West Point graduate. In 1942, Griffiss became the first U.S. airman to be killed in the line of duty in the
European Theatre of World War II when the
B-24 Liberator bomber he was aboard was shot down by friendly fire over the
English Channel. The USAF had originally applied "Griffiss Air Force Base" to
Fort Worth Army Airfield in
Texas on 1 January 1948, but its name was changed on 27 February.
Rome Air Depot On 1 February 1942, the Rome Air Depot was activated and throughout World War II the depot provided aircraft engine maintenance and repair, and trained air depot groups in engine repair. With the end of the war and the sharp reduction of AAF aircraft operations, activities were sharply curtailed in the fall of 1945. The Rome Air Depot continued operations well into the 1960s as an
Air Force Logistics Command Air Materiel Area (AMA), supporting USAF electronics and radar systems. The depot began a phasedown in the early 1960s, with the depot closing in 1967 and its functions being transferred to other AFLC Air Materiel Areas.
Air Defense Although many aircraft landed at Griffiss during the war, the airfield had no permanently stationed flying units. It wasn't until after World War II that the
Air Force Reserve 65th Reconnaissance Group conducted aerial photo and mapping operations from Griffiss, from 27 December 1946 until being inactivated on 27 June 1949. On 3 October 1950, the
1st Fighter-Interceptor Group of
Air Defense Command (ADC) became the first permanently assigned USAF flying unit at Griffiss. Although the
group moved to California in 1951, its
27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS) remained behind. ADC units were stationed there for the next 30 years, as Griffiss became a center for the Northeast air defense mission and was the headquarters of the
Northeast Air Defense Sector. The 27th FIS flew
Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars,
North American F-86 Sabres,
Northrop F-89 Scorpion,
Lockheed F-94 Starfires and
Convair F-102 Delta Daggers before leaving Griffiss in 1959. In October, 1955, the
465th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was assigned to Griffiss with F-89 Scorpion all-weather fighters. ADC activated the
4727th Air Defense Group as a headquarters for the two squadrons in February, 1957, and it became a major tenant at Griffiss. The 49th FIS moved—less personnel, equipment and aircraft—from
Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts and replaced the 465th FIS in October, 1959, receiving, after the transfer, its
McDonnell F-101 Voodoos. Later that year, when the 27th FIS departed Griffiss, the 4727th was discontinued. The wing had both B-52s and
KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft. In 1963, the 4039th Strategic Wing was replaced by the
416th Bombardment Wing. Wing crews and aircraft deployed to the Pacific during the Vietnam War to bomb targets in both North and
South Vietnam. In November 1984 the base was added to the
National Priorities List because hazardous chemicals were found in soil and ground water. Solvents, lead and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) had been disposed in landfills and dry wells. Prior to the
1986 United States bombing of Libya, a
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3.2 supersonic reconnaissance aircraft left
Beale Air Force Base in California and, using multiple KC-135 midair refuelings plus a Griffiss land refueling each way, did the approximately 12,000-mile round-trip in less than half a day. In 1988 the wing took up a primarily conventional role. In 1991, wing crews and aircraft bombed Iraqi targets after the
Invasion of Kuwait, during the
Gulf War. On 1 June 1992, as part of the disestablishment of SAC, the wing's
Boeing KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft were transferred to the newly established
Air Mobility Command (AMC). The 416th retained its B-52 aircraft and the wing was transferred to the newly established
Air Combat Command (ACC); Griffiss became an ACC base. The wing was inactivated in 1995, and the base closed. Among the tenant activities at Griffiss AFB, the base was also home to a
U.S. Army aviation brigade from 1988. The
10th Mountain Division was set up at
Fort Drum from 198X. Yet there was no space at the fort for the division's aviation units. Despite this, the division's aviation brigade was technically activated in April 1988 at Fort Drum. In actual fact, the
Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division was activated on 2 July 1988 at Griffiss AFB. Several years afterwards, the brigade moved to Fort Drum. At its peak, the base was the largest employer in Oneida County.
Civilian airport, 1995-present Griffiss AFB was selected for realignment by the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1993. It was closed in September 1995. The base closure on 30 September 1995 meant that 5,000 jobs or 30 percent of the city's economic base were lost. The population decreased by almost 10,000, from 44,350 in 1990 to 34,950 in 2000. The Air Force Research Laboratory had not been closed, and became core of the redevelopment plan, of making it part of a corporate business and to build a technology park around it. In 2004, a new $24 million facility opened. The former base complex is now home to the
Griffiss Business and Technology Park. Post-closure, two Air Force activities remained: the
Rome Research Site of the
Air Force Research Laboratory, and the
Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) of the
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) as operated by the
New York Air National Guard from a small complex of buildings in the Technology Park. Griffiss was the site of the
Woodstock '99 music festival in late July 1999. Notorious for overpricing, triple-digit heat, aggressive music, and lack of water, it descended into chaotic destruction and blazes with riot police deployed and making mass arrests, although base assets were unscathed. In December 2013, Griffiss International Airport was selected as a test site by the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to "aid in researching the complexities of integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the congested, northeast airspace." Students from the
Rochester Institute of Technology will work with Griffiss to test drones at the airport. With the construction of a new terminal building in 2015, public officials hoped to secure additional investment in the facility to attract passenger airlines. The new terminal building also allows for international flights to the airport, as it was constructed to accommodate a
US Customs Service-regulation facility for potential international passengers. ==Environmental contamination==