The base is about miles between Dallas and Oklahoma City. Wichita Falls is only 15 miles from the Oklahoma border and the Red River. The closest airport is the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport , located two miles from the main gate. From Wichita Municipal Airport All highways leading to the base are well marked. Sheppard is located less than 10 minutes from the bus terminal. Getting ready for a PCS move and in need of some help? Click here for more information on base entry requirements at Sheppard Air Force Base.
Permanent Party members who arrive after duty hours should report to the Sheppard Inn, Bldg , Ave J, and contact their appropriate squadrons or sponsor for inprocessing instructions. The Visitor Control Center issues temporary vehicle passes and can provide directions and information on the base. For more information on base access and the visitor control center, call or For a full list of military lodges and affiliated resorts in the area, visit the Department of Defense Lodging website.
While many military family members call base housing their home, others choose to live in nearby communities. The cost of living near Sheppard Air Force Base is lower than the national average, so area rental housing and real estate prices are reasonable. Local attractions include the Iowa Park Swimming Pool, a full-size pool with diving boards, and the nearby Nature Center, which features many species of native plant and a free-flying butterfly garden. The center is dedicated to the preservation of fragile species.
Burkburnett is home to approximately 11, people. The city has a number of attractions, including a local water park, golf course, train depot, six different parks, two casinos, and Lake Arrowhead State Park. It is also close to the Nature Center mentioned earlier. Lawton , Oklahoma is 80 miles from Oklahoma City, and 49 miles or just under an hour depending on traffic from Sheppard Air Force Base. The city is home to about 91, people.
Both Texas and Oklahoma offer traditional public schools, as well as public charter schools and private schools. For younger children, there are a variety of local daycares and child care programs on and off base. Children in grade school who live on base may attend Sheppard Elementary School. About 90 instructors, mostly aircraft mechanic graduates, taught an average of 1, glider mechanic students per day, with a new class starting every 10 days. A Liaison Pilot School predominately for artillery officers, who would act as spotters once graduated , helicopter training for both mechanics and pilots, and flight engineer courses for B and Cs, followed.
Production began to slow in , until the anticipated invasion of Japan called for increased demand for trained Airmen. Training continued, albeit at a much reduced rate.
In March , Sheppard Field instructors leaned their installation would be inactivated as part of the post-war reduction of military forces and infrastructure. For the local community, the news was not welcome. On 31 August , Sheppard closed its gates when the War Department placed Sheppard on inactive status. The War Department turned over some buildings to government agencies and non-profit organizations like Midwestern State University, then known as Hardin College, which used some of the dormitories.
Vegetation quickly invaded what buildings remained. Initially, the base provided basic military training, augmenting the over-taxed facility at Lackland Air Force Base. In January , aircraft maintenance training and helicopter flight training returned to Sheppard as the basic training mission wound down. Along with this came the influx of training airframes, such as the A- 26, B, B, and P; the first and last proved especially useful in training foreign students. As a result of the increase in specialized training and the number of graduates, Sheppard began to take on an air of permanency.
On 18 January , to the delight of the local community, Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington announced he had selected the installation to be a permanent Air Force base. The designation seemed appropriate, as once again the base saw the number of its students and instructors rapidly increase in response to the outbreak of the war in Korea.
This immediately accelerated all training activities at Sheppard. Despite going to a three- shift training schedule, Sheppard could not accommodate the influx of new students.
For example, in the three-month period ending 30 September , the aircraft mechanics course fell short some 1, graduates. In conjunction with the Korean War, a growing chill in the Cold War and advances in weapons technology brought about changes in military strength and projection policy.
As a result, the US established a large peacetime military. For Sheppard, this included new construction for family housing and training facilities, along with runway repairs. They not only included future aircraft mechanics, but intelligence analysts and other specialties.
An operational mission came to Sheppard on 15 January when Strategic Air Command activated a bomb wing. This included aerial refueling and bombardment squadrons with KCs and Bs. Crews trained ceaselessly and sat alert until SAC inactivated the wing in April Even before the SAC wing left, helicopter training returned to Sheppard in mid But when the bomb wing left, it opened up facilities for other use.
Before the end of the decade, students came from other countries, predominately Nicaragua, Turkey, and Ecuador. Base closures and mission realignments at other bases also brought new missions to Sheppard, including the move of virtually all Air Force Medical training from Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama. About this same time, Amarillo AFB closed, meaning more aircraft maintenance courses at Sheppard, along with consolidating the vast majority of field training responsibilities at Sheppard.
By the late s, Air Training Command focused on increased production demands brought about by the Vietnam war. The s brought a change to the flying training mission, which previously fell under the Sheppard Technical Training Center.
Home to a large historic district and the picturesque falls destroyed in , later rebuilt in beautiful Lucy Park that give the city its name, the area is a place of mild winters and sunny summers. But a big part of what makes the Wichita Falls area thrive is our base. The United States Air Force is, hands down, one of the most if not the most technically advanced military organization in the world.
As such, it takes some seriously complex and in-depth training to make our airmen the kind of knowledgeable and brave people who deserve to wear the uniform. And a vast majority of them will learn their vital skills here at Sheppard, the largest training facility the USAF has. Throughout World War Two, the base provided training to many of the invaluable pilots, mechanics, and engineers who served in the Army Air Forces.
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