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No One Saw It Coming

Congress authorized a base realignment and closure (BRAC) round in 2005. At a minimum, BRAC 2005 must eliminate excess physical capacity; the operation, sustainment, and recapitalization of which diverts scarce resources from defense capability. However, BRAC 2005 can make an even more profound contribution to transforming the Department by rationalizing our infrastructure with defense strategy. BRAC 2005 should be the means by which we reconfigure our current infrastructure into one in which operational capacity maximizes both warfighting capability and efficiency.

Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
November 15, 2002

No one in Elk City ... or Cordell ... or Clinton ... or Dill City ... or Sentinel. Or, especially, in Burns Flat, where the Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base had become a fixture and where school administrators basked in lofty enrollment numbers for a district isolated on Oklahoma's western plains.

Then, on a chilly morning on Dec. 7, 1965, word leaked from Washington, D.C., that Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base would be completely deactivated within four years. The closure was part of the Department of Defense's plan to close, consolidate, or substantially reduce 149 bases throughout the United States and overseas. The news hit like a sledgehammer.

School administrators halted construction on expansion projects. Civic leaders formed committees to fight the closure. People cried. "We were completely blindsided," recalled Frank Kliewer, 78, who, at the time, was Base Area Civilian Advisory Committee chairman and a Cordell business leader. "We went to Washington several times after that, trying to stop the closure by politicizing it ... but it didn't work."

Congress would not be swayed. The U.S. Air Force operated Clinton-Sherman as a Strategic Air Command fighter and satellite bomber base, which had served as home to the legendary B-52 Stratofortress bombers since 1954. From 1942 to 1946 during World War II, the site was used as the Clinton Naval Air Station. But it was the B-52 that gave the installation some luster and importance.

Defense Department officials, however, were suddenly announcing plans to phase the B-52 out of operation. Officials additionally decided to relocate the base's KC-135 Stratotankers and AGM-26B Hound Dog missiles, thus rendering Clinton-Sherman and its 2,700 acres "excess" government property. This, too, caught people by surprise.

Shock soon turned to anger as some civic leaders vented their frustration toward President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. Suddenly, the impact began to sink in along with panic.

The economic numbers were sobering. Clinton-Sherman employed 3,078 people -- 298 civilians -- with an annual payroll of more than $14.4 million. Studies conducted at the time determined that airmen and civilians employed at the base annually spent a combined $2.2 million for groceries, $2.25 million on living quarters, $2 million for automobiles, $1 million for furniture, and slightly less than $1 million for clothing and recreation.

Neighboring towns were bracing for the hit as much as Burns Flat, especially Elk City, Cordell and Clinton. Researchers determined 1,156 of Elk City's residents were connected to the base, along with another 865 in Cordell and 709 in Clinton. In addition, Air Force children were the reason schools in Washita, Custer and Beckham counties received as much as $390,000 in supplemental aid per year.

None would feel the blow harder than Burns Flat, though. "We never got caught up with building classrooms, but now the schools may have empty spaces," said C.C. Holcomb, Burns Flat's superintendent at the time.

Holcomb boasted Washita County's largest school district in 1965 with 1,760 students and 75 teachers. Within four years, his calculations would be realized at the expense of human emotions.

Bertha (Haws) Richmond, 90, of Burns Flat worked as a high school registrar when the base finally closed on Dec. 31, 1969. Earlier that month, she watched the children leave for Christmas break, most of whom knew they would never return. "The parking lot was packed with cars and parents," Richmond recalled. "Everyone was crying. It was the big exit. And it was worse than any funeral I have ever attended."

Garline Thomas, 62, of Burns Flat had just completed her first semester of teaching in the winter of 1969. "All three of our schools were full, and as a new teacher, I remember moving from one classroom to the next," recalled Thomas, now an administrative secretary at Burns Flat High School. "When we returned from Christmas break our enrollment had dropped from some 1,700 students to 250 kids. It was dead. I suddenly had my own classroom, but I had two, three, and sometimes six kids in a class. I learned early on you can have too many kids in a classroom, but then I also learned you can be too small, too." "It was devastating for a lot of towns," Kliewer said. "In Cordell, we lost a lot of economic muscle when that base closed."

Former Burns Flat Mayor Tom Morse, 73, saw the impact firsthand in the summer of 1970. En route to Vietnam, Morse moved his wife, Nancy, to Burns Flat because the defunct Clinton-Sherman offered one of the military's few housing options at the time. "The place was like a ghost town," Morse recalled. "Only 43 of 900 housing units were being rented."

Since then, Morse has witnessed Burns Flat rise and fall with the oil boom and bust of the 1980s. The town no longer echoes with the noise of people, or even offers a grocery store, just the promise of a spaceport. "We still have hope," Morse said. "I'd just say people are more skeptical now, especially when they hear talk about something coming to town. A lot of things have been talked about since that base closed."

Ron Jackson. Burns Flat and surroundings surprised by air base closure. The Oklahoman. February 13, 2005.

Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base

In March 1955, approximately 2,700 acres were transferred to the Air Force for use as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) fighter and satellite bomber base. A new runway, several large nosedocks, and numerous other support facilities and buildings were constructed for use by SAC. Nine hundred housing units were added to accommodate the personnel required to operate the base.

The Air Force operated its Strategic Air Command (SAC) Base from 1954-1969. During this time period, B-52 Bombers were the main aircraft located at Clinton-Sherman. Air Force personnel stationed at Clinton-Sherman included the 98th Bombardment Squadron assigned to the 4123rd Strategic Wing (1959-1963), and the 6th Bombardment Squadron assigned to the 70th Bombardment Wing (1963-1969).

A dispersal program by 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB included deployment of Detachment 2 to Amarillo Air Terminal (formerly Amarillo AFB) and Detachment 3 to Clinton-Sherman Industrial Air Park (formerly Clinton-Sherman AFB). Both detachments were active from around 1969 until 30 March 1975 when they were inactivated.

The history of Clinton-Sherman began in 1942 when the United States department of Defense purchased 5,000 acres of land for the Clinton Naval Air Station. The installation was used to train pilots and as a base for their training planes. In the 1940's the skies around the Clinton Naval Air Station were filled regularly with aircraft. The U.S. Navy used the airfield for training purposes. In June 1946, the Navy ceased operations, and the Clinton Naval Air Station was closed and all facilities were turned over to the War Assets Administration. The City of Clinton acquired the land and buildings from the War Assets Administration in 1947. Sherman Iron Works leased space in the facility renamed Clinton-Sherman Airport, for use in salvaging surplus combat aircraft and parts. Thousands of the aircraft that were surplus from World War II were dismantled for their metal and surplus parts.

In 1954, the United States Military again returned to the site then renamed Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base for pilot training and development of aircraft equipment.

In 1969 military operations were de-emphasized, and Clinton-Sherman was designated for closure. On December 31, 1969, the Air Force closed the installation. The Midwestern Oklahoma Industrial Foundation was formed to represent a four county area around the facility. The foundation then sponsored legislation to create the Midwestern Oklahoma Development Authority, which was granted the power to issue revenue bonds. After consulting with federal economic advisors, it was determined that the largest portion of Clinton-Sherman should be developed as an Industrial Airpark. Recreation, housing, and a Vocational-Technical School were recommended for the remaining land.

A Cold War Legacy Subtitled: A Tribute to the Strategic Air Command 1946-1992. This 'labor of love' is a veritable notebook of recollections, data, SAC stories, and vignettes reporting the various stages of SAC's evolution. Lloyd's detailed accounts of the commanders, people, places, weapons systems, and operational concepts are presented in a way to give personal identity and recognition to SAC's people as they went about making history. Everyone who served in the Command will find his or her circumstances reflected in this very complete historical work.

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