Grissom Air Reserve Base

Grissom Air Reserve Base
Near Bunker Hill, Indiana in the United States of America
Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers (60-0359 and 63-8041) of the 434th Air Refueling Wing.
Grissom ARB Show map of Indiana Grissom ARB Show map of the United States Grissom ARB Show map of North America
Coordinates	40°38′53″N 86°09′08″W / 40.64806°N 86.15222°W / 40.64806; -86.15222 (Grissom ARS)
Type	US Air Reserve Base
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Air Force (USAF)
Controlled by	Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC)
Condition	Operational
Website	https://www.grissom.afrc.af.mil/
Site history
Built	1942 (1942) (as Naval Reserve Air Base Peru)
In use	1942 – present
Garrison information
Current commander	Colonel Thomas O. Pemberton
Garrison	434th Air Refueling Wing (Host)
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: GUS, ICAO: KGUS, FAA LID: GUS, WMO: 725335
Elevation	247.1 metres (811 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 05/23 3,810.3 metres (12,501 ft) Asphalt
Airfield shared with Grissom Aeroplex Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Grissom Air Reserve Base is a United States Air Force base, located about 12 miles (19 km) north of Kokomo in Cass and Miami counties in Indiana. The facility was established as a U.S. Navy installation, Naval Air Station Bunker Hill, in 1942 and was an active Air Force installation, Bunker Hill Air Force Base from 1954 to 1968, and Grissom Air Force Base from 1968 to 1994. Pursuant to a BRAC 1991 decision, the installation was downsized to an Air Force Reserve installation and renamed Grissom Air Reserve Base.

Since then it has been a joint-use civil airport/military base. Approximately 1700 acres plus the runway and taxiways comprise the current military installation, with the Grissom Aeroplex comprising the civilian aviation activities providing general aviation and charter service.

Originally named Bunker Hill Air Force Base, the base was renamed Grissom Air Force Base in 1968^[2] in memory of astronaut and Indiana native Lieutenant Colonel Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, USAF, who, along with fellow astronauts Lieutenant Colonel Ed White, USAF, and Lieutenant Commander Roger Chaffee, USN, perished in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on 27 January 1967.

It is home to the largest KC-135R Stratotanker wing in the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), plus units from the United States Army Reserve and also the US Marine Corps Reserve. The host unit is the 434th Air Refueling Wing (434 ARW), the "Hoosier Wing", which consists of three major groups and a variety of squadrons and flights. The wing develops and maintains the operational capability of its units and trains reservists for worldwide duty, with the wing operationally-gained by the Air Mobility Command (AMC). Training consists of flight operations, deployments, and weekday and weekend training.^{[citation needed]}

Other organizations located at Grissom ARB include the U.S. Army Reserve's Company A, 1st Battalion, 330th Regiment; 316th Psychological Operations Company (Tactical); Detachment 1, 855th Quartermaster Company; the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve's Marine Corps Reserve Center Grissom and Detachment 1, Communications Company, 4th Marine Logistics Group.^[3][4]