Travis Air Force Base | |||||||||||
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Near Fairfield, California in the United States of America | |||||||||||
![]() A McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base during 2015 | |||||||||||
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Coordinates | 38°15′46″N 121°55′39″W / 38.26278°N 121.92750°W | ||||||||||
Type | US Air Force Base | ||||||||||
Site information | |||||||||||
Owner | Department of Defense | ||||||||||
Operator | US Air Force | ||||||||||
Controlled by | Air Mobility Command (AMC) | ||||||||||
Condition | operational | ||||||||||
Website | www.travis.af.mil | ||||||||||
Site history | |||||||||||
Built | 1942 | (as Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base)||||||||||
In use | since 1942 | ||||||||||
Garrison information | |||||||||||
Current commander | Colonel Derek M. Salmi | ||||||||||
Garrison | |||||||||||
Airfield information | |||||||||||
Identifiers | IATA: SUU, ICAO: KSUU, FAA LID: SUU, WMO: 745160 | ||||||||||
Elevation | 19.2 metres (63 ft) AMSL | ||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] |
Travis Air Force Base (IATA: SUU, ICAO: KSUU, FAA LID: SUU) is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, in Solano County, California.[2]
Situated at the southwestern edge of the Sacramento Valley and known as the "Gateway to the Pacific," Travis Air Force Base handles more cargo and passenger traffic through its airport than any other military air terminal in the United States. The base has a long history of supporting humanitarian airlift operations at home and around the world. As of September 2009[update], Travis AFB included approximately 7,390 active USAF military personnel, 3,260 Air Force Reserve personnel and 3,690 civilians.[3]
Travis AFB has a major impact on the community as a number of military families and retirees have chosen to make Fairfield their permanent home. It is the largest employer in the city and Solano County as well, and the massive Travis workforce has a local economic impact of more than $1 billion annually. The base also contributes many highly skilled people to the local labor pool.[3]
The base's host unit, the 60th Air Mobility Wing, is the largest wing in the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, with a versatile fleet of 26 C-5 Galaxies, 27 KC-10 Extenders, 24 KC-46 Pegasus, and 13 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
The base's former Strategic Air Command Alert Facility is a U.S. Navy complex that typically supports two transient Navy E-6B Mercury TACAMO aircraft assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron THREE (VQ-3) Detachment and normally home-based at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
The base is also host to the David Grant USAF Medical Center, a 265-bed, $200 million Air Force teaching hospital, which serves both in-service and retired military personnel.[3][4]