Fairchild AFB, WA

Fairchild AFB is a census-designated place in eastern Washington, about twelve miles west of Spokane, where flat farm land became one of the Northwest’s major military aviation sites. Spokane residents helped assemble the land and funding for a new Air Corps logistics depot in 1941, and the site became operational in under eighteen months. During World War II it repaired damaged aircraft and moved supplies, becoming known under a string of official and local names—including Spokane Army Air Depot and Galena, after the nearby train station. After the war it shifted to bomber operations, then became Spokane Air Force Base before taking the Fairchild name in 1951 for Gen. Muir S. Fairchild.

The base later moved through Strategic Air Command bombers and tankers before becoming an Air Mobility Command air-refueling hub. The 92nd Air Refueling Wing, Washington Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing, and the 336th Training Group all help give the installation its current shape, with survival training and tanker operations at the center. The local scoop is that Fairchild started as a Spokane civic project and repair depot, then kept changing missions without leaving the Spokane community behind.