Portland Air National Guard Base

Portland Air National Guard Base is a United States Air Force base, located at Portland International Airport, in Portland, Oregon.

The base is the home of the 142nd Wing, Oregon Air National Guard. The 142nd FW participates around the globe supporting drug interdiction, NORAD air defense, as well as contingency operations such as Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. To complete these missions, four groups are assigned to the 142nd Wing: 142nd Operations Group, 142nd Maintenance Group, 142nd Mission Support Group and the 142nd Medical Group.

In addition, the Portland, Oregon Air National Guard Base is host to several tenant units:

Additionally to National Guard activities, the air base serves as the headquarters for the 73rd Columbia Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.

The base's history begins in 1936 when Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding allowed the City of Portland to purchase 700 acres of land along the Columbia River and bordering the Columbia Slough for a "Super Airport" to replace an earlier facility established in 1926.

On 1 July 1940 the GHQ Air Force Northwest Air District established a small depot to provide service for military aircraft using the airport. The 57th Service Squadron moved to the airport from Hamilton Field, California on 31 March 1941, the Air Corps facilities being designated Portland Army Air Base. Due to tensions between the United States and the Japanese Empire, the Oregon National Guard, sent its 123d Observation Squadron with North American O-47s to conduct patrols over the Columbia River approaches and the Oregon Pacific coastline.

The initial Air Corps use of the base was when Northwest Air District moved the 55th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) to the new base in late May 1941 from Hamilton Field. Three squadrons of P-43 Lancers (the predecessor to the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt) operated from the base. Portland AAB was also used as a transport field, with the 64th Transport Group at March Field, California stationing its 16th Transport Squadron at the base in July 1941 with C-47s. Later, during World War II, the base was a very active air transport center handling about 47 military transport landings a day.

After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the 17th Bombardment Group at Pendleton Airport in Northeast Oregon, now called Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, sent the B-25 Mitchell-equipped 34th Bombardment Squadron (as part of the Sierra Bombardment Group) to conduct antisubmarine and coastal patrols along the Pacific Coast. The P-43s from the 55th PG also flew reconnaissance missions until February 1942 when they were moved to Paine Field, Washington (although two of the squadrons had been dispersed to various fields in the Pacific Northwest right after the attack).