Mather Air Force Base
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| Mather Air Force Base
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| Part of Air Training Command (ATC) | |
| Located near Rancho Cordova, California | |
 17 August 1998
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| Type | Air Force Base |
| Coordinates | |
| Built | 1918 |
| In use | 1918-1993 |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
| Garrison | 323d Flying Training Wing |
- For the civil use of this facility after 1993, see Sacramento Mather Airport
Mather Air Force Base (Mather AFB) was an United States Air Force Base located in Rancho Cordova, California on the south side of U.S. Route 50. An Air Training Command (ATC) installation, it also hosted a tenant Strategic Air Command (SAC) Bomb Wing, a SAC-gained Air Force Reserve air refueling wing and a California Army National Guard aviation unit. Mather AFB was closed on October 1, 1993 as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) and reopened in 1995 as Sacramento Mather Airport. The airfield is located 18 miles east of the Sacramento Capitol.
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[edit] History
The United States Army Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, activated Mills Field on February 21, 1918 as a pilot training base that was surrounded by ranch land and vineyards. Mills Field was renamed Mather Field for Second Lieutenant Carl Spencer Mather, an Army Signal Corps pilot, who was killed in an air collision at Ellington Field, Texas in January 1918. He earned his pilot's license at the age of 16 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Signal Corps on January 20, 1918. Five days later, he was killed during one of the first training classes for World War I pilots. The remainder of his class was restationed at Mills Field and requested that the facility be renamed in Mather's honor. On May 2, 1918, the name was changed to Mather Field, the precursor to Mather Air Force Base and today's Sacramento Mather Airport.
Following World War I, the field was used intermittenly to support small military units. During World War II, Mather Field was used for pilot and navigator training as well as observer and bombardier training. When the 509th Operations Group was transferring to Tinian (in the Marianas Island chain) for the atomic mission, the commanding general of Mather Field was told at gunpoint [1] that he was not allowed on board The Great Artiste which had landed there.
During the Cold War, Mather AFB became the sole aerial navigation school for the U.S. Air Force and its allies after Harlingen, Texas and James Connally Air Force Base, Texas were closed and Ellington was converted into a joint Air National Guard Base, Coast Guard Air Station and NASA flight facility in the 1960's. The 3535th Navigator Training Wing, Air Training Command (ATC), was responsible for Bombardment Training beginning in 1946 and later transitioned to Undergraduate Navigator Training (UNT), Advanced Navigator Bombadier Training (NBT), Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) training and Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) training after the closure of the other Navigator training bases. Renamed the 3535th Flying Training Wing (3535 FTW), the wing initially flew T-29 for Air Force Navigator training until the early 1970s when it was replaced by the T-43A (Boeing 737) aircraft. The 3535 FTW was redesignated as the 323d Flying Training Wing (323 FTW) on April 1, 1973. In 1976, following the decommissioning of Training Squadron TWENTY-NINE (VT-29) at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, the 323 FTW also commenced training of student Naval Flight Officers in the Advanced Maritime Navigation training pipeline. Students in this pipeline were destined to fly land-based naval aircraft such as the P-3 Orion, EP-3 Aries and the EC-130 and LC-130 Hercules aircraft. This resulted in UNT being redesignated as Interservice Undergraduate Navigator Training (IUNT). The Navy also activated Naval Air Training Unit (NAVAIRTU) Mather as a parent activity for U.S. Navy instructors, USN students and NATO/Allied naval aviation students assigned to the 323 FTW at Mather. The Marine Aerial Navigation School (MANS) also relocated to Mather in order to train enlisted USMC and USCG navigators for Marine Corps KC-130 and Coast Guard HC-130 aircraft. The 323 FTW continued training USAF Navigators, Naval Flight Officers, NATO/Allied students, as well as conducting advanced training for newly-winged USAF Navigators as Radar Navigator/Bombadiers, EWOs and WSOs until it was inactivated on September 30, 1993. Concurrent with the wing's inactivation, all Navigator and Naval Flight Officer Maritime Navigation pipeline training was moved to Randolph AFB, Texas and consolidated under the 12th Flying Training Wing, which up until that time had primary responsibility for training and certifying instructor pilots.
On October 1, 1993, Mather AFB was decommissioned as an active Air Force Base under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. At the time of closure, the base encompassed 5,845 acres (24 km²), including 129 acres (522,000 m²) of easements. Most of the base was ruled surplus to the needs of the federal government and has been transferred or leased to various entities, primarily the County of Sacramento.
In 1995, the airport was officially reopened as a Sacramento Mather Airport, a 2,675 acre (11 km²) cargo airport. Another 1,432 (5.8 km²) acres became the Mather Regional Park. Other areas of the former Air Force Base have been developed for housing and a business park. The former USAF Hospital was converted into the Veterans Administration Medical Center, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Northern California Terminal Radar Control TRACON facility is also located at Mather.
The U.S. military has identified frozen remains found atop a California glacier as those of a World War II era airman, named Ernest G. Munn, who vanished on November 18, 1942 on a training flight from Mather Field, the Department of Defense said March 10, 2008. He was 23 at the time.[2]
[edit] Units
- 3535th Navigator Training Wing (ATC) 1946 to 1973
The 3535th Navigator Training Wing was composed of the following squadrons:
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- 3535th Navigator Training Squadron (3535 NTS)
- 3536th Navigator Training Squadron (3536 NTS)
- 3537th Navigator Training Squadron (3537 NTS)
- 3538th Navigator Training Squadron (3538 NTS)
- 3539th Navigator Training Squadron (3539 NTS)
- 3540th Navigator Training Squadron (3540 NTS)
- 3541st Navigator Training Squadron (3541 NTS)
- 323d Flying Training Wing (ATC) 1973 to 1993
The 323d Flying Training Wing was composed of the following squadrons:
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- 449th Flying Training Squadron (449 FTS)
- 450th Flying Training Squadron (450 FTS)
- 451st Flying Training Squadron (451 FTS)
- 452d Flying Training Squadron (452 FTS)
- 453d Flying Training Squadron (453 FTS)
- 454th Flying Training Squadron (454 FTS)
- 455th Flying Training Squadron (455 FTS)
- 4134th Strategic Wing (SAC) 1958 to 1963
On April 1, 1958, the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) 4134th Strategic Wing composed of the 72nd Bombardment Squadron and 904th Aerial Refueling Squadron was assigned to Mather AFB. The Strategic Wings were formed in the late 1950's as part of SAC's plan to disperse its heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. All of the "Strat" Wings had one squadron of B-52s containing 15 aircraft. Half of the planes were maintained on fifteen minute alert, fully fueled, armed, and ready for combat. The remaining planes were used for training in bombardment missions and air refueling operations. Most of the "Strat Wings" also had a squadron of KC-135 tankers. The Strategic Wing designation was phased out in early 1963. In most cases, the aircraft and crews remained at the same base, but the wing (and its bomb squadron) were given new designations. The 4134th Strategic Wing was deactivated on February 1, 1963.
- 320th Bombardment Wing (SAC) 1963 to 1989
The 320th Bombardment Wing (320 BW) was assigned to Mather AFB on February 1, 1963. The 320th BW included the 441st Bombardment Squadron and 904th Aerial Refueling Squadron. The 441 BS flew the B-52G and the 904 ARS flew the KC-135A. The 320 BW and the 441 BS were inactivated on September 30, 1989.
