Cold War Infrastructure for Strategic Air Command (SAC): The Bomber Mission - Hangars, Command Posts, Major Commands, B-36, B-47, and B-52, Sixteen Air Force Bases from Barksdale to Whiteman

This is a fascinating survey and detailed history of Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber mission properties addressing the history of flightline real property supporting these missions from 1947 to 1991, with an emphasis on buildings and structures of the 1947 to 1963 period.

During the more than half-century that unfolded between the closing months of World War II and winding down of the Cold War in 1989-1991, the U.S. War Department evolved into the Department of Defense as it is now understood, with its primary supporting arms of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, and its reserve forces of the Army, Air Force, and Air National Guards. American military infrastructure is predominantly a phenomenon of the 1939-to-present period, thus precisely paralleling the modern movement in Western European and U.S. architecture and engineering. The years bracketed by 1945 and 1991 also mirror a particular world condition with regards to the development of nuclear weapons. During these decades knowledge within the scientific community emerged exponentially, yet was closely held by the two competing super powers of the U.S. and the Soviet Union into the 1980s. Coupled with strides in physics and mathematics accompanying the shifts from atomic to thermonuclear weaponry, were significant gains in computer capabilities, electronics, and the conquest of near- and far-space—all of which directly supported military activities such as higher order aircraft, radar surveillance, command and control, satellite monitoring, long-range missiles, smart weapons systems, unmanned devices, and general intelligence.

Chapter 1 - Cold War Events and the Operational Infrastructure of the Air Force * 1946-1950 * The Germans * The Major Commands and First Generation Infrastructure * ADC and ANG * SAC * The 1950s * Evolution of the Directorate of Civil Engineering * Achieving Standardized Design * Prefabricated Structures, the Steel Industry, and Mobilization * The Major Commands and Second Generation Infrastructure * ADC and TAC * SAC * After 1960 * Chapter 2 - Evolution of Key Property Types * First Generation Maintenance Hangar for the B-36 * Second Generation Maintenance Hangar for the B-36, B-47, and B-52 * Prefabricated, Mobilization Infrastructure * Nose Docks, Temporary Shelters, and Wing Hangars * Prefabricated Airmen Dormitories * Pavement Experimentation for the Very Heavy Bomber * Q Areas * A Structures * C Structure * Plants I and II (A and B) * Command and Control Building * S Structure * Alert Apron Configurations and Crew Quarters * Headquarters Command Post and the SAC Chapel * Command Post * SAC Chapel * Late Cold War SAC Infrastructure * Chapter 3 - Character-Defining Features and National Register Integrity * First Generation Maintenance Hangar: the Thin-Shell, Concrete Structure * Second Generation Maintenance Hangar: the Steel, Double-Cantilever Series * Prefabricated, Mobilization Infrastructure * Wing Hangars * SAC Airmen Dormitories * Experimental Pavement * Q Areas * Alert Aprons and Moleholes * SAC Command Post and Chapel * Command Post * Chapel * Late Cold War Infrastructure * Chapter 4 - Real Property Management of Historic SAC Infrastructure * Barksdale Air Force Base * Beale Air Force Base * Cannon Air Force Base * Davis-Monthan Air Force Base * Dyess Air Force Base * Ellsworth Air Force Base * Holloman Air Force Base * Langley Air Force Base * Minot Air Force Base * Moody Air Force Base * Mountain Home Air Force Base * Nellis Air Force Base * Offutt Air Force Base * Seymour Johnson Air Force Base * Shaw Air Force Base * Whiteman Air Force Base * Chapter 5 - Recommendations * Current ACC Installations: Issues of Inventory * Nose Docks and Wing Hangars * Experimental Airfield Pavement * Alert Crew Trailers