McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

base in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, located in the North Highlands area of

Sacramento County Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacrament ...

, northeast of

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

History

For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClellan was a logistics and maintenance facility for a wide variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies. Initially known as the Pacific Air Depot and Sacramento Air Depot, in 1939 the base was renamed for Major Hezekiah McClellan, a pioneer in arctic aeronautical tests. Born in 1894, he died on 25 May 1936 when his Consolidated P-30 which he was flight testing crashed near Centerville, Ohio. In 1986, the U.S. Air Force established the McClellan Aviation Museum on what was then McClellan Air Force Base. The museum was later chartered by the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...

. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

previously operated Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento at McClellan AFB as a tenant activity, operating and maintaining several

HC-130 Hercules The Lockheed HC-130 is an extended-range, search and rescue (SAR)/combat search and rescue (CSAR) version of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, with two different versions operated by two separate service ...

aircraft. CGAS Sacramento continues to operate at McClellan following its closure as an Air Force Base and is the only remaining military aviation unit and installation on the airfield. McClellan Air Force Base - CA 9 May 2002

McClellan Air Force Base - CA 9 May 2002

In 1993, the base was selected by the Pentagon for closure. At first, McClellan was scratched from a list of bases to be closed, but that decision was faced with allegations that the Clinton administration was playing politics. The base was eventually selected for closure, and there were plans to offset the expected loss of $1.5 billion, and 11,000 jobs, to the California economy. The plan relied on privatization and other investment to offset the economic and employment losses. The base is now McClellan Business Park, a growing business enclave that hosts a diverse mix of companies spread across more than 8 million square feet of space of all types. This former military facility is now home to hundreds of private companies, as well as state, federal and local government agencies. It is also home to AmeriCorps*NCCC Pacific Region The

Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...

's 604th Regional Support Group, part of

Fourth Air Force The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reserv ...

, was planned to move to

March Air Reserve Base March Air Reserve Base (March ARB), previously known as March Air Force Base (March AFB), is located in Riverside County, California, between the cities of Riverside, California, Riverside, Moreno Valley, California, Moreno Valley, and Perri ...

, CA., in July 1997, as a result of various Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) changes. In 2005, the McClellan Aviation Museum changed its name to the Aerospace Museum of California. Various military aircraft sit on display inside one of the hangars, and many more are outside on the flightline. The museum has displays which highlight the mission of the base when it was active, as well as neighboring bases such as Beale AFB,

Travis AFB Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 Kilometre, km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, California, Fairfield, i ...

and the since closed Mather AFB. The museum hosts educational programs to schools in the local area. In 2015, the ''

Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

'' reported that McClellan Airfield had been designated as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site, because the Environmental Protection Agency has identified 326 waste areas on the base. Water wells closest to the base in the Rio Linda-Elverta district, have had the highest levels of

hexavalent chromium Hexavalent chromium (chromium(VI), Cr(VI), chromium 6) is any chemical compound that contains the element chromium in the +6 oxidation state (thus hexavalent). It has been identified as carcinogenic, which is of concern since approximately of ...

, which is a known carcinogen. Water from six of 11 wells tested above the state's maximum contaminant levels for chromium-6, which is 10 parts per billion.

Names

* Pacific Air Depot, 1935 - 1 February 1937 * Sacramento Air Depot 1 February 1937 - 1 December 1939 * McClellan Field, 1 December 1939 - 13 January 1948 * McClellan Air Force Base (dates to be confirmed, closed 2001) * McClellan Business Park, 2009–present

Major command assignments

* Material Division, United States Army Air Corps, 24 August 1938 - 11 December 1941 * Air Service Command, 11 December 1941 - 17 July 1944 * Army Air Forces Materiel and Services Command, 17 July 1944 - 31 August 1944 * Army Air Forces Technical Service Command, 31 August 1944 - 1 July 1945 *

Air Technical Service Command An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

, 1 July 1945 - 9 March 1946 *

Air Materiel Command Air Materiel Command (AMC) was a United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In 1961, the command was redesignated the Air Force Logistics Command ...

, 9 March 1946 - 1 April 1961 *

Air Force Logistics Command An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

, 1 April 1961 - 1 July 1992 *

Air Force Materiel Command The Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). AFMC was created on July 1, 1992, through the amalgamation of the former Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and the former Air Force System ...

, 1 July 1992 - 13 July 2001

Environmental contamination

The McClellan Restoration Advisory Board provides a forum for the local community, regulatory agencies, and Air Force to share information on current and future environmental cleanup programs and reuse at the former base.

References

External links