Fairchild Air Force Base

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Fairchild Air Force Base

IATA: SKA - ICAO: KSKA
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		U.S. Air Force
Elevation AMSL		2,461 ft (750 m)
Coordinates		47°36′54.21″N, 117°39′20.89″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
5/25	13,899	4,236	Concrete

Fairchild AFB (IATA: SKA, ICAO: KSKA) is a U.S. Air Force installation in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The population of the base was 4,357 as of the 2000 census.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Weaponry
5 External link

[edit] History

Founded as the Spokane Army Air Depot in 1942, the base was transferred to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1947 and housed the Fifteenth Air Force as well as the 92d and 98th Bomb Groups. The name was changed to Spokane Air Force Base in 1948, and changed again to Fairchild Air Force Base in 1951, named for General Muir S. Fairchild, a native of Bellingham, Washington.[1]

Over the years, Fairchild has been home to the B-29, B-36, B-52 Stratofortress, KC-135 Stratotanker, and the Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic missile. For decades, at least six B-52H bombers — loaded with 20 ALCM nuclear cruise missiles, B61 nuclear gravity bombs and SRAM short-range nuclear missiles — were on 24 hour alert as part of the nations nuclear deterrent under the strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). On Jan. 23, 1987, following the inactivation of the 47th Air Division at Fairchild, the 92nd Bombardment Wing was reassigned to the 57th Air Division at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota.

December 7, 1993 marked the beginning of a significant change in the mission of Fairchild when the wings B-52H's were transferred. The first step in Fairchild’s transition to an air refueling wing. The departure of B-52s continued throughout the spring of 1994, with the last bomber leaving May 25, 1994. With that flight, the bomber mission of the 92d ended after 52 years of faithful duty.

Today, Fairchild’s aircraft and personnel make up the backbone of the Air Force’s tanker fleet on the west coast. The primary USAF SERE training location is located here at Fairchild AFB.

[edit] Geography

Fairchild AFB is located at 47°36′47″N, 117°38′41″W (47.612955, -117.644796)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 16.8 km² (6.5 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 4,357 people, 1,071 households, and 1,048 families residing in the town. The population density was 258.8/km² (670.2/mi²). There were 1,114 housing units at an average density of 66.2/km² (171.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 78.20% White, 7.90% African American, 0.53% Native American, 3.56% Asian, 0.37% Pacific Islander, 3.79% from other races, and 5.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.52% of the population.

There were 1,071 households out of which 72.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 90.8% were married couples living together, 4.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 2.1% were non-families. 1.9% of all households were made up of individuals and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.36 and the average family size was 3.39.

In the town the population was spread out with 34.1% under the age of 18, 24.9% from 18 to 24, 38.3% from 25 to 44, 2.1% from 45 to 64, and 0.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 127.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 135.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $33,512, and the median income for a family was $33,398. Males had a median income of $22,299 versus $15,815 for females. The per capita income for the town was $11,961. About 4.8% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.4% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Weaponry

Washington State has the distinction of having more warheads than four of the six known nuclear nations. These warheads are concentrated in two places: at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane and at the Bangor Submarine Base across Puget Sound, on the Hood Canal. At Fairchild, 85 nuclear gravity bombs (25 B61-7 gravity bombs and 60 B83 gravity bombs) are stored in a "reserve" nuclear depot. Bangor's 8 submarines have 24 Trident I missiles per boat with 8 warheads per missile, for a total of 1,536. [2] These bombs have since been removed in the 1990s from the base.