Dover Air Force Base

Dover Air Force Base Part of Air Mobility Command (AMC)
Aerial photo of Dover Air Force Base - 1995
Location of Dover Air Force Base
IATA: DOV ICAO: KDOV FAA LID: DOV
Summary
Airport type	Military: Air Force Base
Operator	United States Air Force
Location	Dover, Delaware, United States
Built	March 1941
In use	December 20, 1941 - present
Commander	Col Steven B. Harrison - Commander, 436th Airlift Wing
Elevation AMSL	28 ft / 9 m
Website	public.dover.amc.af.mil
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 1/19 9,602 2,927 Asphalt 14/32 12,903 3,933 Asphalt/Concrete
Source: FAA, official site

Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB (IATA: DOV, ICAO: KDOV, FAA LID: DOV) is a base of the United States Air Force in the state of Delaware. The base is located two miles south of the city of Dover — the capital of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Part of the base was a census-designated place (CDP), which had a population of 3,394 at the 2000 census.

Dover AFB is home to the 436th Airlift Wing (436 AW) of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), known as the "Eagle Wing", and the AMC-gained 512th Airlift Wing (512 AW) of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), referred to as the "Liberty Wing". It was the only base to solely operate the massive C-5 Galaxy, with two active flying squadrons (the 3rd Airlift Squadron, which now operates the C-17 Globemaster III, and 9th Airlift Squadron) and two Air Force Reserve flying squadrons (the 326th Airlift Squadron and the 709th Airlift Squadron).

Dover AFB is also the home for the largest military mortuary in the Department of Defense, and has been used for processing military personnel killed in both war and peacetime. The Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs was used in 1978 for the victims of the Jonestown mass murder/suicide, 1986 for identifying the remains of the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, and in 2003 for the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was also a major site for identifying the remains of military personnel killed in the 9/11 attacks. It is also home to the Air Mobility Command Museum.

Two sections of the 436th Aerial Port Squadron warehouse collapsed on Feb. 18, 2003, as a result of a record snow storm. No one was injured in the collapse that caused more than an estimated $1 million in damages. The damage covered two of the six cargo processing bays in the facility

The base is treated as a census-designated place named "Dover Base Housing." Since 1997, the base has been served by three highway exits with Delaware Route 1, allowing quick access to Dover and to southern Delaware from the complex. Dover AFB provides almost $470 million a year in revenue to the city of Dover, making it the third largest industry in Delaware.

History

Construction began on Dover’s three hard-surface runways and one hangar foundation in March 1941. Originally intended as a municipal airport it was converted to an Army Air Corps base just weeks after the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. On 20 December 1941, the first military unit arrived at Dover’s new airfield: the 112th Observation Squadron of the Ohio National Guard which flew anti-submarine patrols off the Delaware Coast. In 1942, three B-25 Mitchell bomber squadrons arrived and assumed the anti-submarine mission. Following a 1943 construction project that lengthened the main runway to 7,000 feet, seven P-47 Thunderbolt squadrons arrived for training in preparation for eventual involvement in the European Theater.

In 1944 the Air Technical Service Command chose Dover as a site to engineer, develop, and conduct classified air launched rocket tests. The information collected during these experiments resulted in the effective deployment of air-to-surface rockets in both the European and Pacific combat theaters. On 1 February 1951, the 148th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard arrived with P-51 Mustangs. During the 1950s problems developed with many of the facilities in Dover, which had been hastily constructed to support its World War II mission. As a result a massive Civil Engineering project was undertaken to modernize the base.

On 1 April 1952 Dover was transferred to the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) and became home to 1607th Air Transport Wing. A full function hospital was completed in 1958 and base housing was expanded to handle 1,200 families in 1961. On 1 January 1966, the Military Air Transport Service was redesignated the Military Airlift Command (MAC). Along with the reorganization, the 1607 ATW was deactivated and the 436th Military Airlift Wing (436 MAW) activated and assumed the mission at Dover. The 436 MAW started replacing C-141 Starlifters and C-133 Cargomasters with the new C-5 Galaxy in 1971. Two years later Dover became the first all C-5 equipped wing in the Air Force, trading the last of its C-141 to Charleston AFB, South Carolina.

When war broke out between Israel and the combine forces of Egypt and Syria on 13 October 1973 (the Yom Kippur War) the 436 MAW responded with a 32-day airlift that delivered 22,305 tons of munitions and military equipment to Israel. The 436 MAW also assisted in the evacuation of Americans from Iran on 9 December 1978 following the Islamic Revolution. That year, Dover Air Force Base was also used to store hundreds of bodies from the mass murder and suicide of the Jonestown community in Guyana.

Some of the more memorable flights during the post-war period included the airdrop and test firing of a Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile and the delivery of a 40-ton superconducting magnet to Moscow during the Cold War, for which the crew received the Mackay Trophy.

It is one of only seven airports in the country that serve as launch abort facilities for the Space Shuttle.

In March 1989, C-5s from Dover delivered special equipment used to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. On 7 June 1989, while attending the Airlift Rodeo, a 436 MAW C-5 set a world record when it airdropped 190,346 pounds and 73 paratroopers. In October 1983, the wing flew 24 missions in support of Operation Urgent Fury, the Grenada rescue operation and later flew 16 missions to support Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama, in August 1989.

During Desert Shield, the wing flew approximately 17,000 flying hours and airlifted a total of 131,275 tons of cargo in support of combat operations to free the Kingdom of Kuwait.

In 1992, with the disestablishment of Military Air Command, Dover AFB was transferred to the newly established Air Mobility Command (AMC) and the 436 MAW and 512 MAW (Associate) were resdesignated as the 436th Airlift Wing (436 AW) and the 512th Airlift Wing (512 AW), respectively. Dover also served as a major port of entry and exit for the conflicts in the Balkans and Somalia during the latter half of the 1990s.

Following the attacks of 11 September 2001, the 436 AW and 512 AW became major participants in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. An aircrew from Dover's 3rd Airlift Squadron landed the first C-5 in Iraq in late 2003 when they landed at Baghdad International Airport and the two wings continue to support operations in the region.

By 2008, the air traffic tower serving the airfield, built in 1955, was the oldest such tower in use in the United States Air Force.

==

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 3,394 people, 1,032 households, and 1,017 families residing in the base. The population density was 5,061.6 people per square mile (1,955.9/km²). There were 1,245 housing units at an average density of 1,856.7/sq mi (717.5/km²). The racial makeup of the base was 72.57% White, 16.59% African American, 0.77% Native American, 1.86% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 2.80% from other races, and 5.30% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.75% of the population.

There were 6,032 households out of which 76.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 90.2% were married couples living together, 5.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 1.4% were non-families. 1.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 0.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.29 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the base the population was spread out with 40.2% under the age of 18, 16.5% from 18 to 24, 41.5% from 25 to 44, 1.7% from 45 to 64, and 0.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 103.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.5 males.

The median income for a household in the base was $34,318, and the median income for a family was $34,659. Males had a median income of $26,322 versus $20,444 for females. The per capita income for the base was $12,119. About 5.2% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.5% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

In Popular Culture

• The Dover test is an informal test and a journalistic phrase to describe whether the general population of the United States is supporting the participation of the United States in a war or other military action by the public reaction to returning war casualties.
• Rock band Straylight Run's song, "Later That Year" refers to the Dover Air Force Base, specifically working in the CTK environment.

See also

• Delaware World War II Army Airfields
• Eastern Air Defense Force (Air Defense Command)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Dover Air Force Base

External links

• Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
• Civil Air Terminal at Dover AFB (official site)
• Dover Air Force Base at GlobalSecurity.org
• Template:Wikimapia
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective September 5, 2024
• Resources for this U.S. military airport:
  • FAA airport information for DOV
  • AirNav airport information for KDOV
  • ASN accident history for DOV
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KDOV
• Air Mobility Command Museum Photos of the aviation museum at Dover Air Force Base