| OCR Text |
Show MAJOR HILL (then Captain) was killed October 30, 1935, at Wright Field, Ohio, while testing a Boeing XB-1- 7 bombardment plane (B-1- 7 Flying Fortress) for the Army Air Corps Mill's History Kesidhes Etock to Oirdraemc Oepof Hill Air Force Base, which is HILL AFB observing its 40th anniversary tomorrow, has roots that reach back to 1920. The Ogden Ordnance Depot served as a storage site of war reserve ammunition and components. It also stored and issued ammunition for the 9th Corps Area, Alaska and Insular Possessions, brought World War II to an end. When the Army Air Corps became the United States Air Force Sept. 18, 1947, the base followed the Air Force-wid- e pattern of renaming fields as bases, and Hill Field became Hill Air Force Base officially Feb. 5, 1948. to the During the early post-wa- r years, Hill became a storage site for vast numbers of History of Ogden Air Materiel Area, by Helen Rice. aircraft and item of support equipment. By the end of 1947, more than $200 million worth The depot was on an inactive status for of aircraft had been preserved in near perfect several years, following destruction of all but condition for possible future use. six of its ammunition magazines by a tornado-like When thd Korean conflict arose in 1950, Hill wind on June 16, 1929. and On July 1, 1939, Congress appropriated $8 personnel quickly removed needed from storage and returned them to the million for the establishment and conactive Air Force inventory. As more struction' of the Ogden Air Depot at that location. sophisticated aircraft were developed, the Six months later, on Dec. 1, 1939, the War Ogden Air Materiel Area had the responHill in site Field the sibility for managing the logistical support designated Department and depot maintenance for the 9 Scorpion, honor of Maj. Ployer P. Hill who had lost his Voodoo. and the the AFB while life in 1935 at Wright-Patterso- n Hill Air Force Base doubled in size April 1, piloting the original model of the famous 7 1955 when the Department of Defense added Flying Fortress. the adjacent Ogden Arsenal property which The new Utah defense installation soon became the West Area, adding more than 600 proved to be a strategically vital intermountain depot, partly because of its buildings. In January 1959, the Air Force named Hill inland location. as the single assembly and recycling point for The base shortly plunged into the war effort and the Minuteman missile. The base became the as battle-wear- y 0 aircraft depended on Hill for center of the Air Force missile program in the rehabilitation. The Hill workforce, which 1960s, as the Boeing Company used specifically constructed facilities here to peaked at 22,000 in 1943, provided aircraft assemble the Minuteman ICBM and the repair, engines and parts needed to return them to combat. It was here that the first Ogden Air Materiel Area handled the depot level maintenance of the missiles. progressive maintenance assembly line for 4 The Ogden base also became the logistics Liberator bombers was put into use. Aircrews from Hill' practiced combat manager for the F-- 4 Phantom jet, the fastest operations and munitions maintenance at' and most versatile fighter aircraft in the Air Force inventory in the 1960s and much of the Wendover range, eventually training for the 1970s. Hill built a specialized repair capability Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions that according B-2- B-2- F-8- F-8- 4 B-1- s, A-2- s, s, P-6- F-1- that enabled the base to provide depot level maintenance to more than 200 Phantoms a year. The seventies also marked another name change for the base when the Ogden Air Materiel Area became the Ogden Air Logistics Center Apr. 1, 1974. In January this year, Hill Air Force Base received the Air Forces newest star, the 6 Fighting Falcon aircraft. Ogden ALC was designated the logistics manager for the aircraft, and the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing is the first in the Air Force to fly the single-sea- t, single engine jet. But the base isnt limited to these few aircraft and missile systems in its daily mission. multi-nation- F-1- al Hill also has responsibility for logistics and depot' maintenance management of the Bomarc drone missile, the Maverick missile, the Walleye, LASER and electro-opticguided bombs, the Titan missile system, the emergency rocket communication system, ammunitions, aircraft landing gears, wheels, brakes, tires and tubes, aircraft engines, photographic equipment, aerospace training and simulation equipment. In its history, Hill Air Force Base has grown to be Utah's largest employer, providing jobs for more than 19,000 military and civilian workers. The annual payroll is nearly $350 million, and the presence of the installation injects double that amount annually into Utahs economy. The base now consists of 6,666 acres of land, compared to the original 3,000, and the current value of real estate, buildings, improvements, equipment, and inventories at Hill exceeds $3.4 billion. al ar HILL AIR FORCE BASE was named after Maj. Ployer P. Hill, of the Army Air Corps. r Ip t n II WORKERS AT THE BASE repaired and modified these At-ll-s for delivery to the Turkish Government after World War II. in 1948. Hill AFB repaired ail types of aircrafts from World War II, on. . This production line photograph was taken |
