Des Moines Air National Guard Base

History

The Des Moines City Council passed a resolution in May 1940 granting permission to a local architect to draw up plans for a hanger for the unit. The original resolution disavowed any local funding, however. The federal government authorized the formation of a unit in Iowa in July 1940. In January 1941, with the unit approved, a $350,000 budget was finalized, with the federal government funding $250,000 through the Works Progress Administration, the National Guard Bureau providing $50,000 and the final $50,000 coming from local businesses. Originally slated to be complete in the summer of 1941, competition for labor with the Ankeny Ordinance Plant (now the John Deere Des Moines Works) delayed completion until November 1943.

The Jet Age

The next major expansion of the base came with the addition of jets to the Wing. During 1952, over one million dollars of federally funded improvements were added to the runways at the airport. The work included the addition of 1,800 feet to the main runway and 3,480 feet of taxiways to better accommodate the Wing receiving jet aircraft upon their return to peacetime service. The Wing entered the jet age in 1953, the first airframe being a Lockheed T-33 trainer in June. The crash of a transient F-80 off the end of the runway that summer drew a harsh light on the need to complete the longer runways to accommodate the faster takeoff and landing speeds of jet aircraft.

The original 37 acres leased to the unit was expanded to 113 in 1957, with the base acquiring new land to the west along the runway.

The end of 1970 saw the 132nd’s F100s move onto the base, following the installation of the required arresting gear for the fighter’s high-speed landings. The jets spent the winter on the alert ramp at the west end of the base. In March 1984, the new Operations/Maintenance building was added to the west side of the hangers, with a hush house for full load engine testing in 1985.

Expansion for the new millennium

The 1990s were a decade of major change on the base, with 20 buildings torn down and 23 new ones built pursuant to the infrastructure needs of the unit’s incoming F-16 Fighting Falcons. In 1997, the base expanded by 35 acres, solidifying space for the base’s expansion, with the base's lease extended to 2030 the next year. In 2000, an agreement with the City of Des Moines allowed for the relocation of McKinley Ave, as the old McKinley became Viper Drive, the backbone of the base’s road infrastructure. The new road path allowed the base to be a consolidated whole again, with McKinley Ave again outside the fence.

Loss of aircraft - Joint base

With the 2013 departure of the 132d Fighter Wing's F-16s, the unit that had flown manned aircraft for more than 70 years diversified its missions, expanding to include RPA, ISR and cyber warfare units. These mission changes created some debate over the base's status as having an aeronautical mission; if there was no aeronautical mission, Des Moines International Airport could be in violation of FAA regulations and lose access to grant funding as a result. The Des Moines Airport Authority attempted to void the guard's lease and charge 'fair market value' to rectify the matter. This was addressed in the short term by the reassignment of Black Hawk helicopters from Company C, 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation (Iowa National Guard) from Boone, IA to the base, occupying the hangers that formerly held F-16s.^[2] This issue was permanently resolved by President Obama's signature on H.R. 5944, which allowed airports in similar circumstances continued access to funding by classifying RPA operations as aeronautical.^[3]

With the addition of the Army National Guard unit to the base, a transition to a joint base status has begun. Eventually, Air Force operations will occupy the area to the west of the main gate, while Army operations will occupy the east.