Elmendorf Air Force Base

Elmendorf Air Force Base
Characteristics
ICAO code	PAED
IATA code	EDF
Coordinates	61 ° 15 '4 "  N , 149 ° 48' 23"  W Coordinates: 61 ° 15 '4 "  N , 149 ° 48' 23"  W.
Height above MSL	65 m (213  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	2 km north of Anchorage
Basic data
opening	1940
operator	United States Air Force
surface	5300 ha
Runways
06/24	3048 m × 61 m asphalt / concrete
16/34	2286 m × 46 m asphalt

The Elmendorf Air Force Base (in short: Elmendorf AFB ) is a base of the US Air Force (USAF) in Alaska and is one of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) . The US Alaskan Command , to which it and all units stationed are subordinate, is located on the base . In 2010 it was combined with Fort Richardson to form the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson .

The base lies just north of Anchorage and has two start - and landing runways: 06/24 (3050 m) and 16/34 (2290 m). The Eleventh Air Force (11th Air Fleet) of the PACAF is represented here with combat aircraft ( F-15 , F-22 ), transport aircraft (C-130, C-17 ), and reconnaissance aircraft ( E-3 AWACS ). Around 6,500 soldiers and 1,000 civilian employees were stationed on the base in 2006.

history

Five F-22 Raptors at Elmendorf AFB

On June 8, 1940 , the US Army Air Corps began building an airfield for Fort Richardson . Hugh Merle Elmendorf was chosen as the namesake . On December 12, 1940 the airfield was officially named Elmendorf Field and was renamed Elmendorf Army Air Base on June 21, 1942 .

At the end of the Second World War , the US Air Force stationed more units in Elmendorf in order to be prepared against a threat from Japan . After the war, on March 26, 1948, the base was given its current name, Elmendorf Air Force Base .

As the north-western outpost of the USAF, the base has been of strategic importance since the Cold War and therefore became the seat of a regional control center for NORAD and the Alaskan Air Command, which existed from 1947 to 1975 . Since the 1950s, Elmendorf AFB has been an important stopover for flights to the Far East , initially in the Korean War and Vietnam War , and from the mid-1980s for reconnaissance flights with AWACS machines. In February 2007 the F-22 was introduced in Elmendorf, which is gradually replacing the F-15. In June 2007 the first C-17 destined for this base landed here , replacing the C-130 .

Elmendorf Air Force Base was a possible emergency landing site for the space shuttle in the event of an unscheduled landing.

Incidents

• On December 26, 1968 launched Boeing 707-321C of Pan American World Airways ( air vehicle registration N799PA) on a cargo flight without set -lift devices from the Elmendorf Air Force Base. Shortly after take-off led a stall to crash the machine, the three members of the flight crew were killed (see also Pan Am flight 799 ) .

Web links

Commons : Elmendorf Air Force Base  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Homepage of Elmendorf AFB (English)
• Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DOD support to manned space operations for STS-127th US Northern Command, July 9, 2009, archived from the original on September 15, 2012 ; accessed on October 7, 2011 (English). 
2. ↑ Accident Report B-707 N799PA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 16 of 2019.