Kindley Air Force Base facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kindley Air Force Base |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. David's Island, Bermuda Near St. George's, Bermuda in United States |
|||||||
The former AFB Kindley Field, as it appeared in 1993
|
|||||||
St. David's Island, after the construction of the airfield. The airfield encompasses all of the Island.
|
|||||||
|
Kindley Air Force Base
|
|||||||
| Coordinates | 32°21′52.3″N 64°40′53.5″W / 32.364528°N 64.681528°W | ||||||
| Type | Air force base | ||||||
| Site information | |||||||
| Owner |
|
||||||
| Operator |
|
||||||
| Open to the public |
Yes | ||||||
| Condition | Operational - returned to the Bermudian government for use as L.F. Wade International Airport | ||||||
| Site history | |||||||
| Built | 1941-1943 | ||||||
| In use | 1943-1995 | ||||||
| Fate | Returned to the Bermudian government for use as L.F. Wade International Airport | ||||||
| Battles/wars | World War II | ||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: BDA, ICAO: TXKF | ||||||
| Elevation | 12 feet (4 m) AMSL | ||||||
|
|||||||
Kindley Air Force Base was an important military base for the United States Air Force (USAF) located in Bermuda. It operated as a USAF base from 1948 to 1970. Before that, from 1943 to 1948, it was known as Kindley Field and was run by the United States Army Air Forces.
Contents
Building Kindley Air Force Base
How the Base Started: World War II
Before the United States joined World War II, the leaders of the United Kingdom and the US made a deal. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to exchange old US Navy ships for the right to use land for military bases. These bases would be in British territories in the West Indies, Bermuda, and Newfoundland.
When US engineers arrived in Bermuda in 1941, many people were surprised. The engineers planned to build a large airfield. After some discussions, the plans changed. The US Army would build an airfield in the north of Castle Harbour. The US Navy would build a base for flying boats at the west end of the island.
The new airfield was meant for both the US Army Air Forces and the Royal Air Force. It would be a key stop for planes flying across the Atlantic Ocean. The US Army called their area Fort Bell, and the airfield within it was named Kindley Field. It was named after Field E. Kindley, an American pilot who fought in World War I.
Before this, Bermuda had two air stations for flying boats: one for civilians on Darrell's Island (later used by the Royal Air Force), and a Royal Naval Air Station on Boaz Island. Bermuda's small, hilly land made it hard to build a regular airfield. The US Army solved this by leveling small islands and filling in the water between them.
They leveled Longbird Island and other small islands in Castle Harbour. They filled in waterways and part of the harbor to connect these islands to St. David's Island and Cooper's Island. This added about 750 acres (3 km2) of new land to Bermuda. The total base area became 1,165 acres (4.7 km2).
The airfield was finished in 1943. Most of the base was used by the US Army Air Forces. The western part of the airfield, near the causeway, was used by the RAF. The RAF moved its operations to this new landplane base.
The Base After the War
After World War II ended, the US Army was the main military group left at the base. The RAF left Kindley Field and Darrell's Island. The US Army also reduced its forces. On January 1, 1946, the US Army Air Transport Command took over the entire base. The name Fort Bell was no longer used, and the whole facility became known as Kindley Field.
In 1947, the U.S. Army Air Forces became a separate branch of the military called the United States Air Force (USAF). At this time, the entire base was renamed Kindley Air Force Base. The USAF continued to use the base mainly as a place for planes to refuel during trans-Atlantic flights.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kindley Air Force Base was used for U.S. Navy reconnaissance flights. These planes, like the P-2 Neptune and P-3A Orion, tracked Soviet ships in the Atlantic. By the 1960s, planes could fly much farther, so Kindley Field became less important to the USAF.
At the same time, the U.S. Navy was using P5M/SP-5B Marlin seaplanes to patrol for submarines from NAS Bermuda. These patrols helped protect US cities from Soviet submarines carrying nuclear missiles. When the Navy stopped using flying boats, they needed a land-based airfield. In 1965, the US Navy moved its air operations to Kindley Field.
Because the airfield was now very important for naval operations, it was officially given to the U.S. Navy in 1970. It then operated as Naval Air Station Bermuda until 1995.
During the later years of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy often stationed a patrol squadron of nine P-3C Orion aircraft at Kindley for six months at a time. These squadrons came from bases like NAS Jacksonville, Florida, or NAS Brunswick, Maine. Other planes from NATO countries, like the Royal Air Force's Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and Canadian Armed Forces' CP-140 Auroras, also used the base.
In 1985, when there was a lot of Soviet submarine activity, more P-3C aircraft and S-3 Viking planes were sent to Bermuda. These extra planes helped the P-3C squadron already there.
The old NAS Bermuda was renamed the NAS Annex. It became a dock for visiting US naval ships and supported the nearby Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Bermuda. This facility helped with the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), which listened for submarines. Both bases closed in 1995. The former Kindley Field then became the current Bermuda International Airport.
Since 1962, some sounding rockets have been launched from Kindley. Also, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has had a tracking station on Cooper's Island since the 1960s. This station helps track crewed space flights.
See also
- United States Army Bermuda Garrison
- Fort Bell Army Airfield (1941–1948)
- Naval Air Station Bermuda, Kindley Field (1970–1995)
- USCG Air Station Bermuda (1963–1965)
- Royal Air Force, Bermuda, 1939-1945