Tinker AFB, OK Installation Guide

This category contains information on organizational units and activities on Tinker AFB. It includes organization telephone contacts, basic safety and vehicle information, and items that are especially important or unique to this location. It also includes some basic statistics and history regarding the site.

Location........................ : Tinker Air Force Base, OK

Major Command................... : Air Force Materiel Command Primary Weapon Systems....... : N/A

Mission......................... :

The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center provides worldwide logistics support for a variety of weapons systems. This includes the B-1B, B-2, B-52, E3, and the multipurpose -135 series aircraft. The center manages all Contract Logistics Support aircraft, which include the C-9, -12, -18, -20, and -137 series aircraft; also the E-4, KC-10, T-43 and the VC-25. The Center also manages missile systems including the AGM-69A (SRAM), AGM-86B (ALCM), AGM-129A (ACM) and AGM-84C, the Air Force's Harpoon Missile. The engines managed by the Center's Propulsion Directorate include the F101, F107, F108, F110, F112, F118, J33, J57, J75, J79, T58, T64, TF30, TF33, and the TF41.

Population assigned-served...... : Active Duty Officer.......... : 1,606 Active Duty Enlisted......... : 7,015 Family Members............... : 11,392 Retirees..................... : 22,500 Civilian Employees........... : 12,467 Reserve Component Officers... : 236 Reserve Component Enlisted... : 1,457

Telephone Access................ : All numbers are in the 405 area code. DSN 884-XXXX, 336-XXXX and 339-XXXX; Comm (405) 734-XXXX, 736-XXXX and 739-XXXX; Operator asst 732-7321 on base 334-1110

History

Late in 1940, after the Nazis had overrun Europe and while the aerial Battle of Britain was being fought, local businessmen formed the Oklahoma Industries Foundation to bid for the War Department maintenance and supply depot to be located in the Midwest. They were successful. In April of 1941 the foundation acquired 1,460 acres of land and gave it to the federal government for construction of the Midwest Air Depot.

Construction work commenced on the depot and, in October 1942, it was named Tinker Field to honor an Oklahoma native, Maj Gen Clarence L. Tinker, who had lost his life leading bombers on a long-range strike against Wake Island. In 1943 the Douglas aviation plant began operations immediately east of the Depot. It produced more than 5,000 C-47 aircraft, as well as C-54 and A-26 attack bombers during the war.

During World War II, thousands of Tinker employees worked on B-27s, B-24s and readied B-29 aircraft to fight. The work force also overhauled tens of thousands of the engines which powered the fighting planes.

Immediately after the war, the depot acquired the Douglas plant, now Bldg 3001, and took a new name - Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area - OCAMA. It remained an important air logistics center and became an important jet engine, then aircraft overhaul center. Tinker personnel played a vital role in supporting the Berlin Airlift both in Oklahoma and by deploying overseas.

In the 50s, OCAMA refurbished giant B-36 bombers and took on complete system management of the Air Force's latest weapons, the B-52 bomber and KC-135 tanker. The base also repaired B-47 bombers and, in 1958, performed a vital project when hundreds of these aircraft flew in for wing modifications.

Computers, IBM 702 and 705 models, came to the base in the 50s, when major land acquisitions allowed for needed expansion. New base housing, a hospital, a chapel, and recreational facilities were erected on the new acreage. As well, initial work on the Tinker Diagonal Highway began and would make access to the area much easier.

Tinker supported the nation's efforts in the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crises and, as the war in Southeast Asia became more intense, played an even more important role in supporting B-52s and KC-135s. In 1967 Tinker became an inland aerial port of embarkation for Southeast Asia.

The 552nd AWAC Wing and its E-3 aircraft came to Tinker in the 1970s along with management of the A-7D Corsair, the E-4 Aerial Command Post aircraft and air and ground launched cruise missiles. In 1974 OCAMA became the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center - OC-ALC.

New management responsibilities came in the 1980s with the B-1B Bomber, surface to air missiles, and the F108-100 engine. The 28th Air Division was activated to handle expanded E-3 and electronic warfare operations and the base population, civilian and military, grew. In 1987, OC-ALC assumed management responsibility for the B-2 bomber.

Tinker and OC-ALC began the decade of 90s by assisting in Operation Desert Shield and, in 1991, by giving superlative support to the forces engaged in Operation Desert Storm. The Navy and Air Force made history on 29 May 1992 when the Naval Strategic Communications Wing ONE relocated to Tinker AFB. It is the first time that a Navy wing was relocated to an Air Force base. Tinker also became home to the first fully integrated, interservice security system when Navy security policemen united with the Air Force's 72nd Security Police Squadron.