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Pease Air Force Base

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Pease Air Force Base, located in Portsmouth and Newington, New Hampshire, United States, was a Strategic Air Command base used during the Cold War. Initially brought online in 1956, the 4,365-acre base closed in 1991 as a part of federal budget cutting measures. The base initially hosted B-47 Stratojets and KC-97 tankers belonging to the 100th and 509th Bomb Wings. In 1966 the 100th Bomb Wing was retired and the 509th was re-equipped with the B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker. 1966 brought the arrival of the New Hampshire Air National Guard, flying the C-97A Stratofreighter, the Guard unit was transferred from Grenier Field in Manchester, NH, which is now known as Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. The following year, 1967, the 54th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron flying HC-130s was transferred to Pease from their former base at Gander, Newfoundland. The C-130 squadron was inactivated in 1974. In 1970 the 509th traded its B-52s for the FB-111A fighter bomber. The former Air Force base remains the home of the New Hampshire Air National Guard's 157th Air Refuelling Wing, flying the KC-135R. The former active duty portion of the base has been given over to civilian control and now forms the Pease International Airport and Industrial Park. Many of the military buildings have been removed, and new offices, warehouses, and hangars have been constructed. Pan American Airways and SkyBus are airlines currently operating from Pease. Local legend says that Pease was scheduled for closing immediately after the following event: an Air Force plane was in pattern to land in the early morning hours, when the sea mist was just clearing. The pilot looked down at the ocean waters just off the Atlantic Coast and was shocked to see a Russian nuclear submarine on the surface. He even saw a Soviet sailor waving at him. He reported the event, and (again, from local military stories) it turned out that this was one of the first Russian titanium submarines that were undetectable by standard sonar at that time. Since the sub's offshore location was so close to Pease Air Force Base that it could easily have launched a short-range nuclear missile, the military decided that Pease's location was no longer safe, and it was therefore closed. Pease has since been reopened as a United States Air National Guard base. The preceding paragraph is suspect and inaccurate. Pease was looked at for closing by the BRAC commission for a variety of other real reasons, including the pending retirement of all FB-111A aircraft and the fact that Pease wasn't Federal property, but still NH territory (site of an old county airport). And contrary to the above metnitoned submarine story, Pease was no closer to the ocean than Langley, Andrews, or almost all of the Florida bases. Also, it never "closed" as an NH Air National Guard Base (I'm not sure what a US Air National Guard Base even is), as the KC-135 remained operational throughout. They were re-engined with the CFM-56's to become KC-135R models, but they didn't all leave for any period of time. Pease AFB was the first U.S. military base selected for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) in 1988. The closure of Pease AFB coincided with the end of the Cold War. The FB-111A aircraft stationed at Pease in 1991 were transferred to Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico and many were shortly thereafter retired from service. Some of the FB-111A aircraft were converted to F-111G aircraft and are still flying with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The KC-135A and KC-135Q aircraft were transferred to other bases and commands, and many were converted to the KC-135R version after leaving Pease. The air force base was later converted into an airport and industrial park. Its success in redevelopment has been seen as an example for other base realignments. ^[1] The old Base Exchange now house the US State Department's Passport Processing Center, and the old Base Commissary (grocery store) now houses the Visa Processing Center. There are also several colleges offering courses in the old base housing area, a brewery, and several small manufacturing outfits. Pease Air Force Base is named for Captain Harl Pease Jr., a native of Plymouth, New Hampshire, and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire (1939). Captain Pease posthumously won the Medal of Honor on August 7, 1942, while a B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft commander with the 19th Bomb Group based at Port Moresby, New Guinea.

Environmental Cleanup

On February 21, 1990 (55 Fed. Reg. 6154), Pease Air Force Base was listed on the National Priorities List, thus initiating environmental investigations and cleanups at several sites within the base under the federal Superfund law, or CERCLA.