Sheppard Air Force Base
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| Sheppard Air Force Base
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| IATA: SPS – ICAO: KSPS – FAA: SPS | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military: Air Force Base | ||
| Owner | U.S. Air Force | ||
| Location | Wichita Falls, Texas | ||
| Built | 1941 | ||
| Commander | Brigadier General Richard T. Devereaux | ||
| Occupants | 82nd Training Wing, 80th Flying Training Wing |
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| Elevation AMSL | 1,019 ft / 311 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 15C/33C | 10,003 | 3,049 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| 15L/33R | 6,000 | 1,829 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| 15R/33L | 13,101 | 3,993 | Concrete |
| 17/35 | 7,021 | 2,140 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (1988) | |||
| Aircraft operations | 53,829 | ||
| Based aircraft | 223 | ||
| Sources: official web site[1] and FAA[2] | |||
Sheppard Air Force Base (IATA: SPS, ICAO: KSPS, FAA LID: SPS) is a United States Air Force base located five miles (8 km) north of the central business district of Wichita Falls, in Wichita County, Texas, United States.[2] It is the largest training base and most diversified in Air Education and Training Command.
Host unit at Sheppard is the 82d Training Wing (82 TRW), which provides specialized technical training, medical, and field training for officers, Airmen, and civilians of all branches of the military, other DoD agencies, and foreign nationals.
The 80th Flying Training Wing (80 FTW), also at Sheppard, conducts the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program, the world's only multi-nationally manned and managed flying training program chartered to produce combat pilots for NATO.
Brigadier General Richard T. Devereaux is the commander of the 82d Training Wing, and serves as the base commander of Sheppard AFB. Colonel David E. Petersen is the commander of the 80th Flying Training Wing.
Sheppard AFB shares its runway with Wichita Falls Municipal Airport.
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[edit] Units
[edit] 82d Training Wing
The 82 TRW is a non-flying wing that conducts all technical training at Sheppard. The 982d Training Group, under the 82d TRW, provides instruction in a wide range of specialties at Sheppard and also at more than 60 Air Force installations worldwide. The 82d Support Group, 82d Logistics Group, and 82d Medical Group support these organizations.
[edit] 80th Flying Training Wing
The 80th FTW mission is to provide combat airpower by producing top quality fighter pilots for the NATO alliance. It is home of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) Program. It is a uniquely manned multinational organization with a USAF wing commander and a German Air Force operations group commander in the top two leadership positions. Command and operations officers' positions in the flying training squadrons rotate among the participating nations, while the commander of the 80th Operations Support Squadron is always from the USAF.
Additionally, officers from all 13 participating nations fill subordinate leadership positions throughout the wing. Eight nations--Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United States--provide instructor pilots based on their number of student pilots. Canada, Greece, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom do not have student pilots in training, but do provide one instructor pilot. As an example of this totally integrated structure, an American student pilot may have a Belgian instructor pilot, a Dutch flight commander, a Turkish section commander, an Italian operations officer, and a German squadron commander.
Operational training squadrons are:
- 88th FTS "Lucky Devils" (T-38C)
- 89th FTS "Banshees" (T-37 and T-6A)
- 90th FTS "Boxing Bears" (T-38C)
[edit] History
Sheppard Air Force Base is named in honor of the late Senator John Morris Sheppard of Texas (1875-1941) who had been the chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee from 1933 until his death on 9 Apr 1941. Senator Sheppard helped lead the fight for military preparedness before Pearl Harbor.
[edit] Base Operating Units
- 62d Base HQ and Air Base Sq, 4 August 1941 - 1 May 1944
- 3706th AAF Base Unit, 1 May 1944 - 30 September 1946
- 3706th AAF Base Unit, 15 August 1948 - 28 August 1948
- 3750th Air Base Gp, 28 August 1948 - 1 January 1973
- 80th Flying Training Wing, - 1 January 1973 - Present
[edit] Major Commands Assigned
- AAF Technical Training Comd, 13 March 1942 - 31 July 1943
- AAF Training Comd, 31 July 1943 - 1 July 1946
- Air Training Command, 1 July 1946 - 31 August 1946, 1 August 1948 - 1 July 1993
- Air Education and Training Command 1 July 1993 - Present
[edit] World War II
Sheppard Field/AFB has been providing top-notch instruction in a diverse array of Air Force specialties for more than half a century. It was established on 300 acres (1.2 km²) just south of Kell Field. The land was sold to the military for one dollar by a Texas cattleman.
It was officially opened as an Army Air Corps training center on 17 October 1941, following the arrival of the first military members on 14 June. Facilities were completed sufficiently to allow the first class of 22 aviation mechanics to enter training that October; the class graduated February 23, 1942.
During World War II, Sheppard conducted basic training, and it also trained glider mechanics, technical and flying training instructors and B-29 engineers. In addition to the basic flying training, the base also provided advanced pilot training for ground officers, and helicopter pilot training.
Sheppard Field reached its peak strength of 46,340 people while serving as a separation center for troops being discharged following World War II from September through November 1945. Sheppard Field was deactivated August 31, 1946 and declared surplus to the War Department's needs. It was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers April 30, 1947. Over the next two years the National Guard used the base.
[edit] USAF Training Center
Control and accountability for Sheppard Field was transferred to the Department of the Air Force August 1, 1948, and it was reactivated August 15, 1948, to supplement Lackland AFB, Texas, as a basic-training center and was renamed Sheppard AFB. Basic training was discontinued in June 1949, but was resumed from July 1950 to May 1952.
Over the next three decades three training schools were stationed at the base training students in aircraft maintenance, transportation, communication, civil engineering, Aircrew Life Support and field training.
The aircraft mechanics school was transferred to Sheppard from Keesler AFB, Miss., in April 1949 to make room for expansion of electronic training at that base. The school was renamed the Department of Aircraft Maintenance Training within the 3750th Technical School. During the Korean War (1950-1953) several airmen from such places as Greece and Turkey were trained as mechanics.
Comptroller, transportation, and intelligence training moved to Sheppard from Lowry AFB, Colorado, in the fall of 1954. Communications, refrigeration, air conditioning, and power production operator and repairman training were transferred here from F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, in 1959. Intelligence training returned to Lowry in February 1962. Training in certain missile systems began at Sheppard in 1957 and was conducted there through September 1985.
The 3950th Technical Training Wing was designated the Sheppard Technical Training Center January 1, 1959. It has had two subsequent name changes and is now the 82d Training Wing.
The base conducted two Undergraduate Pilot Training programs from 1961-1971, one for West Germany and the other for South Vietnamese helicopter pilots.
The 80th Flying Training Wing began conducting the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program in 1981. This one-of-a-kind program includes 13-NATO countries.They are: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the Unites States. Approval to conduct the program was recently extended through the year 2005.
The Air Force School of Health Care Sciences offered training in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and health-services administration. The population of the base had declined to 3,825 in 1990.
In February 1992, restructuring and downsizing of the Air Force caused a realignment and renumbering of units at Sheppard. Some of the training wings were redesignated as groups, and the technical training groups became squadrons.
[edit] Strategic Air Command
Between 1960 and 1965 the Strategic Air Command had units stationed at the base that conducted aerospace rescue schools and weather instruction. In addition, The 494th Bomb Wing, a Strategic Air Command operational Wing of B-52 Stratofortress bombers and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft also designated as the 4245th Strategic Wing, was based there.
In July 1969 Detachment 1, 2nd Bombardment Wing, with four B-52 aircraft, became a tenant organization and remained until 1975. These aircraft rotated as part of SAC’s dispersal concept.
[edit] BRAC 2005
The Department of Defense has proposed a major realignment of the base, with a projected loss of over 2,600 military personnel, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program announced on May 13, 2005.
[edit] See also
- Texas World War II Army Airfields
- Air Education and Training Command
- Air Training Command
- Strategic Air Command
[edit] References
Much of this text in an early version of this article was taken from pages on the Sheppard Air Force Base website, which as a work of the U.S. Government is presumed to be a public domain resource. That information was supplemented by:
- Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C., 1989
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Sheppard Air Force Base, official web site
- ^ a b FAA Airport Master Record for SPS (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
[edit] External links
- Sheppard AFB, Texas from GlobalSecurity.org
- The Handbook of Texas - Sheppard Air Force Base (source of History)
- BRAC 2005: Closings, Realignments to Reshape Infrastructure
- Base list leaves Texas cities relieved or rethinking plans, a May 2005 Houston Chronicle article
- FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 5 June 2008
- Resources for this U.S. military airport:
- AirNav airport information for KSPS
- ASN accident history for SPS
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KSPS
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