Cleared to land at Westoveryesterday.com!
Welcome back, Airmen! See reunion notices below!
Please Please click on this link if  you would like to receive e-mail updates that inform you of new articles and photos added to this site. I will update my e-mail distribution list accordingly.

THIS UNOFFICIAL WEB SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE THOUSANDS OF MEN AND WOMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES WHO HAVE SERVED -- AND SERVE TODAY -- AT WESTOVER
This web site is not affiliated with the United States Air Force and as such does not reflect the beliefs or values of the USAF. It's solely this webmaster's opinions and research!





























Looking for an old friend from
Westover?

Since launching this site in January 2006, more
than 50,000 visitors have visited this site.
I have more than 100 people listed in my e-mail
distribution list. For privacy  considerations, each
time I send out an e-mail notifying people of an
update to the site, I "blind cc" everyone to keep
e-mail addresses confidential.
Here's how this page works:
1.  If you would like to  find someone through this
site, or would like your name added to the list
below, simply e-mail me by clicking here.  Please
be sure to include when you were assigned to
Westover.
2.  I'll add your name below as soon as possible
and will link your e-mail address from my site
(using your first and last name) so that friends you
may be seeking may reach you.
3. I have linked some of these units to names of
unit members whose photos are on pages in my
site.

HQ Eighth Air Force

814th Combat Defense
Squadron

814th Civil Engineering
Squadron

8th Reconnaissance
Technical Squadron

99th Bombardment Wing

99th Air Refueling Squadron

99th Civil Engineering
Squadron

99th Armament and
Electronics Maintenance
Squadron

99th Field Maintenance
Squadron

99th Organizational
Maintenance Squadron
Frank Malone, 1969-'73

57th Air Division

337th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron

1856th AACS

18th Communications
Squadron
Jim Musser,  December 1962-September
'65
Robert and Rita Petty, December
1955-December '59

1917th Communications
Squadron
LINKS
Westover Air Force Base, Mass. (Taken April 1957, photographer unknown.)
Click on the location links to see more!
Photo donated from Bill Sheehan
Runway  15/33 >>
7,050 feet
Built in 1942
<< KC-97 tanker
North Ramp >>
KC-97 tankers
4050th Air
Refueling Wng
KC-97 tankers >>
4050th Air
Refueling Wing
<< Runway  5/23
11,597 feet
Built 1955
<< East Ramp, B-52s
and  B-47 Stratojet
Nosedocks built in 1956 >>
Nosedocks built in 1956
<< Westover Road
Former
Runway 1/19 >>
<< Eighth Air Force
NCO Leadership School

Although we might not see the Westover so many of us remember in its heyday
of the Cold War ever again, we can re-capture it -- thanks to today’s technology!

This web site serves two primary purposes:

-- Helping bring back those special years for those who were stationed at the
base through photos and interviews, so that these memories of their service to
our country may be preserved for their families and generations to come.
-- To inform people of the base’s continued role in national defense. Although it
is half the size of its former active-duty operation, Westover is the nation’s
largest Air Force Reserve base, covering 2,500 acres.




Check out my new "NOW AND THEN" photo section below this 1957 aerial
photo of the base!
NOW
THEN
Alert barns for fighter squadrons (pictured in
February 2011; they were torn down shortly
after this was taken).
Alert barns circa late '60s. after the fighters
had left. Westover housed as many as three
fighter squadrons during the late 1950s.
Click here to read more (photo by Tom
Hildreth).
Alert facility in 2010 (now houses Westover
Metropolitan Airport and Massacahusetts
State Police)
This Holyoke Transcript-Telegram photo
spread covers the opening of the alert facility
in 1959 (clipping courtesy of Stan
Lukasiewicz)
General's Row, spring 2008
General's Row, 1961 (photo courtesy of Lisa
Szatkowski)
This is looking down James Street towards
the base from Sentry Cleaners, 2008. The
gate is now much closer to the base and
located near the ellipse.
The photo above shows the bustling James
Street gate in the winter of 1958 (photo
courtesy of Loyal Madden, 3084th Aviation
Depot Group).
My good friend and former 57th Air Division Airman, ret.
SMSgt Stan "Luke" Lukasiewicz, holding his C-5A model,
2007.
Luke standing next to a  Westover B-52
54-2685, 1957 Armed Forces Day.
View from nearly same vantage point (perhaps
the old control tower?) circa late 1960s( (photo
from Boone Publications base guide)
I shot this looking towards Mount Tom and South Hadley,
December 2011. To the upper right pf the Base Ellipse is the
new Armed Forces Reserve Center. Bldg 1520, the former
police and fire station, is in the foreground to the right.




>> Air Force Special Projects Production Facility Reunion 28 Sept-3 October, 2014 Dayton Ohio.
Reunion includes former members of the AFSPPF, 6594th Test Squadron, 8RTS, OL-1 1814 Comm Gp ,
497RTS, 7405th Spt Gp, 7499 Spt Gp: spouses, families and friends

Contact:
Dick Temple dick.temple@faa.gov





I was at Westover from April '66-Feb.'70. I was in the 814th CES as a Construction Equipment Operator. We
plowed all that snow on the flight line!!!

Tommy Martin, Sgt, USAF
tmartin21@triad.rr.com



*********************************************

Great Page on Westover AFB. My Name is Gary Thomas email address is stlgary@gmail.com
Stationed at Westover AFB 1971-1972. I worked in the Fuels Branch (POL).

*********************************************

Thank you, Andrew. My unit was 814 FFS.

I am particularly looking for info on the DJ at the service club, which was directly across the street from my
barracks. His name is Sgt. Bryan McCortney., as well as any others in food service during that time.
Thank you for this great website...a real tribute to Westover as it was.

Pete


*********************************************

I want to still be connected to Westover AFB. Even though it was a short period of time ( 3 ½ years ), I
consider it to be the best time of my life, even though I didn’t know it @ the time. I was part of the 99th FMS ,
jetmac flight line from March 1967 to September 1970 , went TDY three times, Guam, Thailand and
Okinawa (ARC LIGHT MISSIONS).

NAME: JOHN MUCCI E-4 ,
E MAIL: JETMANB52@COMCAST.NET

*********************************************

I had sent you some info a while back of when I was at WAFB from 1959 to 1962, in the 99th field maint. sq.
I would be interested in contact with former work mates in 99th hyd. shop. So add my e-mail address to
your list.. Thanks. A1C Charles T Sims
Simschz@aol.com


I WAS STATIONED AT WESTOVER AFB JANUARY 1952 UNTIL DECEMBER 1955. I WORKED IN THE FIRE
AND AIRCRAFT CRASH RESCUE. MY DUTY WAS AT THE MAIN FIRE STATION AND THE CRASH STATION
NEAR THE BASE HANGAR.

WILBUR MERRITT
CANDOWIL @ AOL.COM

Served @ Westover from 4-60 till 4-62 @ the LOX plant which was @ the Northwest end of the base. My
Squadron was 814 Aircraft Support.
Thanks Hank Kolb
hfkoly@yahoo.com

*********************************************

Beverly a.(Romblad) Moran
okbam39@yahoo.com
18th communications Sq.
1962 till sep. 1965
I served at both the base switchboard and the 8th A.F. switchboard at the Notch. I met my husband at
Westover and we are still married 44 years later. I met a lot of wonderful people at Westover and have
many fond memories of my time there.
Westover Air Reserve Base -- official base web site
http://www.westover.afrc.af.mil/

Notch (SAC command bunker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZrPqE4BkXQ&feature=related

Photos of 1958 construction at the Notch
http://www.westoveryesterday.com/TheNotch.html

814th Combat Defense Squadron -- former 814th CDS member Alan Hayes' superb web site, tons of awesome pictures, memories of duty at  Westover
http://www.814thcds.com/

1955 Yankee Flyer base newspapers (SAC took over operations of Westover on 1 April, 1955)
http://www.westoveryesterday.com/YankeeFlyers.html

Milestones at Westover
http://www.westoveryesterday.com/milestones.html

In Memoriam: Dedicated to those lost their lives while serving at Westover

My Facebook photos of Westover's history
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1783109421905.2101957.1364562535&type=3

Historic photos of SAC's heyday at Westover
http://andrewsb.smugmug.com/Military/Westover-AFB-The-Heyday-Years/19172699_vMhJFk#!i=1494128457&k=636wngK

Loring Air Force Base, Maine (closed in 1994)
http://www.loringairforcebase.com/
LINKS
LINKS
Counter
BULLETIN BOARD
Photo provided by Al Crane, who
worked in this building shows
the Air Force Special Projects
Production Facility, circa 1970.
This building was also known
as P-1900, and before AFSPPF,
also housed the 8th
Reconnaissance Technical
Squadron (Recce Tecces)
which developed top-secret film
for SAC leadership to review.
During the Cuban Missile
Crisis, film developed here by
these Air Force technicians was
sent to President John F.
Kennedy and showed the Soviet
Union's buildup of missiles in
Cuba. According to Mr. Crane,
AFSPPF has been recognized  
for its role as the primary
production facility for National
Reconnaissance Program
satellite and selected airborne
photographic systems from
1961-1976.

.
REUNION NOTICE
EMAILS
Alert barns for fighter squadrons (pictured in
February 2011; they were torn down shortly
after this was taken).
Inset photo shows the B-36 Peacemaker, the largest aircraft in the Air Force inventory at the time, parked at a Westover AFB
Armed Forces Day in 1955. The bomber was from Loring AIr Force Base, Maine. Larger photo features today's largest Air
Force aircraft, a C-5B Galaxy preparing to land at  today's Westover Air Reserve Base (photo by Andrew Biscoe). There are 16
C-5s assigned to the base, which is about half of the size of the former Air Force base.
THEN
This 2009 photo of the KC-135A model shows its placement near the Base Ellipse. The KC-135A model is a replica of 56-3630, one of two tankers assigned to SAC's 99th Air Refueling Squadron and which participated in the command's
Operation Topsail in June 1958.