Kincheloe Air Force Base

Kincheloe Air Force Base was a United States Air Force (USAF) base during the Cold War. Built in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1943 during World War II, the base was in service until 1977.

The base was known by various names, including Kinross Municipal Airport, Kinross Army Air Field, Kinross Air Field, Kinross Air Force Auxiliary Field, and Kinross Air Force Base. The present-day Chippewa County International Airport, Kinross Correctional Facility, and the community of Kincheloe are located on the site of the base. The base was named for Iven Kincheloe (1928–1958), a test pilot from Michigan.

During World War II, the Soo Locks were considered vital to the war efforts. An airport was planned in Kinross as early as June 1941. The airport was built by the United States Government through lease, license, easements and by fee of different tracts of land. A small airfield with three 5,520-foot x 300-foot runways was constructed in a triangle pattern with a small aircraft parking area and a few support buildings. The airfield was designated the Kinross Auxiliary Airfield, and was designated a Sub-Base of the Air Transport Command Alpena Army Airfield.

The mission of Kinross AAF was to serve as a refueling stop for aircraft headed for Alaska as well as to defend the locks of Sault Ste. Marie. However, no tactical units were assigned there during the war and the few support personnel who were stationed there were under the command of the 4250th Army Air Force Base Unit at Alpena AAF. The base was inactive beginning in 1945, and after the end of World War II, the airfield was leased to the City of Sault Ste. Marie for a civilian airport.

After the war, the airfield then served as a hub for private and commercial aviation. The city operated the airport and Capital Airlines and Trans-Canada Air Lines used it for commercial air service from 1945 to 1952.

With the outbreak of the Cold War in 1948 and active combat in the Korean War in June, 1950, the United States began building up its defenses. Army troops returned to the Sault, and the World War II Kinross Auxiliary Airfield, with its close proximity to the locks was reactivated using a right of return. On 1 July 1952, Kinross Air Force Base was transferred from civil control to the United States Air Force. It was placed under the jurisdiction of 30th Air Division, Air Defense Command and was planned as a fighter-interceptor base to provide air defense for Sault Ste Marie and the upper Great Lakes.

In October, 1952, the 4685th Air Base Squadron was assigned to the reactivated Kinross AFB. A month later the unit was redesignated as the 91st Air Base Squadron. Much construction was necessary to bring the World War II auxiliary airfield up to postwar USAF standards. Additional land surrounding the base was appropriated for military facilities and extended runways. A 7,000-foot jet runway (16/34) was laid down along with accompanying taxiways, concrete block buildings and other support facilities to replace the existing structures that were viewed as substandard for a permanent Air Force base.

On 16 February 1953, the first operational ADC unit, the 534th Air Defense Group was activated at Kinross AFB. It was assigned to the 4706th Defense Wing at O'Hare International Airport, Illinois. The 438th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was activated at the new base on 27 April, equipped with first-generation Lockheed F-94B Starfire jet interceptor aircraft. That same month, the base was closed to private noncommercial aviation because of the interceptor aircraft being flown off the field by the pilots of the 438th. The 438th FIS was upgraded quickly to new Northrop F-89D Scorpion interceptors as soon as they could be delivered and the F-94Bs were transferred to the Air National Guard.