Wurtsmith Air Force Base Site, Michigan

This was a Strategic Air Command base, which housed B-52 bombers ready to go and constantly flying, with nuclear weapons aboard, and stored in bunkers on base, starting in 1961. This continued until 1991, when the nation’s nuclear alert status ended, and SAC became the Air Combat Command. The bombs were shipped elsewhere, and most of the bombers went to AMARC, in Arizona, to have their wings cut off, (visibly so to Russian satellites). Wurtsmith, which once had a population of more than 3,000, closed in 1993, and was taken over by the local community for redevelopment. It was then a civil airport, with some commercial and industrial activity. The largest business was Kalitta Air, a cargo aircraft company, which used the airport as its maintenance site, and as a base for charter operations. Kalitta had a few dozen aircraft, mostly Boeing 747s and 767s, used by the government and commercial companies for on-demand freight operations. The Wurtsmith Air Museum was also on site.