World War II In 1942, the
United States Army Air Corps selected the site of the present-day base to be the home of Sedalia Glider Base, a training base for
WACO glider pilots. In May 1942, construction workers began building a railroad spur for the new air base in an area known to locals as the "Blue Flats" because of the color of the soil. The new railroad line was built by the
Missouri Pacific Railroad. The base was officially opened on August 6, 1942. On November 12, 1942, the name was changed to Sedalia Army Air Field. After the end of
World War II, operations at the airfield declined, and many of the buildings were abandoned. In December 1947, the base was put on inactive status.
340th Bomb Wing In August 1951, the base was renamed again, to Sedalia Air Force Base, as it was now part of the United States' newest military service branch, the
United States Air Force. The transition of Whiteman AFB from a bomber base to missile base required massive military construction 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. Beginning in the late 1960s, 10 of the 150 active missiles had their warheads swapped with
Emergency Rocket Communications System (ERCS) transmitters, which would ensure communication with surviving American strategic forces in the event of a nuclear war. 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. On November 30, 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 December 17, 1993, Whiteman AFB's first B-2 touched down on the installation's runway. 21 B-2s would eventually be produced, 19 of which are still operational. All 19 are based at Whiteman AFB. On April 1, 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. On December 10, 2022, a B-2 suffered an in-flight malfunction and made an emergency landing, with an onboard fire being extinguished by base firefighting personnel; there were initially no other details released, and the Air Force has thus far declined to state what caused the accident. The aircraft was subsequently declared a total loss as a consequence of the duration and costs of potential repairs, and was retired from service. The nineteen remaining B-2 aircraft were temporarily grounded and checked for safety defects. In June 2025, during the
Twelve-Day War, seven stealth bombers from the airbase were sent to strike Iranian nuclear program sites. The bombers completed their mission, dropping
GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator 'bunker-buster' bombs and successfully returned to the airbase, having traveled to Iran and back. The operation was called "
Operation Midnight Hammer" by the Americans. In January 2026,
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins commenced the process to shut down a business adjacent to the base, reported to be affiliated with
Guo Wengui, a former Chinese intelligence agent. == Based units ==