Pease Air Force Base

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"Pease" redirects here. also refers to an older spelling of pea.

Pease Air Force Base was a Strategic Air Command base used during the Cold War. Initially brought online in the late 1950s, the base closed in 1991 as a part of Federal budget cutting measures. During its time in operation the base hosted B-47 Stratojets, KC-135 Stratotankers and the FB-111A fighter bomber under the 509th Bombardment Wing. Located near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the base is currently still in operation as a United States National Guard tanker base. The former Air Force part of the base has been given over to civilian control and now forms the Pease Airport and Industrial Park. Many of the military buildings have been removed, and new offices, warehouses, and hangars have been constructed. Pan American Airways currently operates from Pease.

The closure of Pease AFB coincided with the end of the Cold War. The FB-111A aircraft stationed at Pease in 1991 were transferred to Travis Air Force Base and were shortly thereafter retired from service. The KC-135 aircraft were transferred to other bases and commands.

Pease Air Force Base is named for Captain Harl Pease Jr., a native of Plymouth, New Hampshire, and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire (1939). Captain Pease posthumously won the Medal of Honor on August 7, 1942, while a B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft commander with the 19th Bomb Group based at Port Moresby, New Guinea.