Whiteman Air Force Base (IATA:SZL,ICAO:KSZL,FAALID:SZL) is aUnited States Air Force base located just south ofKnob Noster,Missouri,United States. The base is the current home of theB-2 Spirit bomber. It is named for2nd Lt George Whiteman, who was killed during theattack on Pearl Harbor.

Whiteman Air Force Base
NearKnob Noster,Missouri in theUnited States of America
AB-2A Spirit from the509th Bomb Wing flying over Whiteman AFB.
Site information
Type	US Air Force Base
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Air Force
Controlled by	Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC)
Condition	Operational
Website	www.whiteman.af.mil
Location
Whiteman Show map of North America Whiteman Show map of the United States Whiteman Show map of Missouri
Coordinates	38°43′49″N093°32′55″W / 38.73028°N 93.54861°W /38.73028; -93.54861
Site history
Built	1942 (1942) (as Sedalia Glider Base)
In use	1942 – present
Garrison information
Current commander	Colonel Keith J. Butler[1]
Garrison	509th Bomb Wing (Host)
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: SZL,ICAO: KSZL,FAA LID: SZL,WMO: 724467
Elevation	265.4 metres (871 ft)AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 01/19 3,779.5 metres (12,400 ft) Concrete
Source:Federal Aviation Administration[2]

The facility covers 5,566 acres (2,252 ha, 8.7 sq.mi.) of land and is maintained by the 509th Civil Engineer Squadron.^[3]

In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Corps selected the site of the present-day base to be the home of Sedalia Glider Base, a training base forWACO glider pilots. In May 1942, construction workers began building a railroad spur for the new air base in an area known to locals as the "Blue Flats" because of the color of the soil. The new railroad line was built by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The base was officially opened on 6 August 1942. On 12 November 1942, the name was changed to Sedalia Army Air Field.^[4]

After the end ofWorld War II, operations at the airfield declined, and many of the buildings were abandoned. In December 1947, the base was put on inactive status.^[5]

In August 1951, the base was renamed again, to Sedalia Air Force Base, as it was now part of the United States' newest military service branch, theUS Air Force.^[4]

In October 1952, the base was turned over to the340th Bombardment Wing. Improvements were made to the 1942 runway, as well as other base facilities, andStrategic Air Command (SAC) scheduled the base to receive squadrons flying theB-47 Stratojet and theKC-97 Stratofreighter. The first B-47 landed at the base in March 1954.^[5]

On 3 December 1955, the base was renamed Whiteman Air Force Base in honor of 2nd Lieutenant George A. Whiteman, an Army Air Corps pilot who was killed during theJapanese attack on Pearl Harbor while attempting to take off fromBellows Field. Whiteman was born inLongwood, Missouri, and graduated fromSmith-Cotton High School inSedalia, less than 20 miles from the base that would bear his name.^[4]

In 1963, Whiteman AFB transitioned from being a bomber base to a missile base. SAC activated the351st Strategic Missile Wing at Whiteman on 1 February. On 1 September, having retired its B-47 and KC-97 aircraft, the remnants of the 340th Bombardment Wing were transferred toBergstrom AFB, Texas where it assumed control of theB-52 Stratofortress andKC-135 Stratotanker assets of the inactivating 4130th Strategic Wing.^[6]

The transition of Whiteman AFB from a bomber base to missile base required massive military construction (MILCON) projects. 867,000 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated to make room for underground launch facilities and 15 launch control centers. 168,000 yards of concrete, 25,355 tons of reinforcing steel, and 15,120 tons of structural steel were used in the effort, and a vast underground intersite cable network was installed.^[4]

The 351st employed theLGM-30 Minuteman weapons system, anICBM capable of hitting targets up to 4300 miles away. In the mid-1960s, the Minuteman I missiles were swapped out in favor of the Minuteman II, an ICBM with increased range and an improved guidance system.^[4][7]

In the 1980s, Whiteman AFB became the first missile base to field an all-female Minuteman missile crew, as well as the first male and female Minuteman crew.^[4]

The 351st Missile Wing and its three squadrons of Minuteman II ICBMs were inactivated on 31 July 1995 as a result of planned phaseout of the Minuteman II.

At the 1986Reykjavik Summit between U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan and the new Soviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachev, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to a drawdown of nuclear arms via two treaties: theINF Treaty andSTART I. This would lead to the eventual phase-out of the Minuteman II systems at Whiteman, and put the future of the base in question. On 5 January 1987,Ike Skelton, a U.S. Congressman representingMissouri's 4th district, announced that Whiteman AFB would be the home of the USAF's new Advanced Technology Bomber, which would eventually be called theB-2 Spirit.^[8]

On 30 November 1988, SAC announced that the509th Bomb Wing would divest itsFB-111 andKC-135 aircraft, relocate from its then-home station ofPease AFB, New Hampshire which was being realigned as anAir National Guard base pursuant toBRAC, and become the nation's first operational B-2 bomber unit. On 17 December 1993, Whiteman AFB's first B-2 touched down on the installation's runway.^[9] 21 B-2s would eventually be produced, 20 of which are still operational. All 20 are based at Whiteman AFB.^[10]

On 1 Apr 1994, the442nd Fighter Wing of theAir Force Reserve Command relocated to Whiteman AFB with theirA-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft to become a tenant command at Whiteman AFB following theBRAC-directed closure of their former home station,Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri.^{[citation needed]}

On 10 December 2022, a B-2 suffered an in-flight malfunction and made an emergency landing, with an onboard fire being extinguished by base firefighting personnel; there were initially no other details released, and the Air Force has thusfar declined to state what caused the accident. The aircraft was subsequently declared a total loss as a consequence of the duration and costs of potential repairs, and was retired from service. The nineteen remaining B-2 aircraft were temporarily grounded and checked for safety defects.^{[11][needs update]}

Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Whiteman, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location.

• Whiteman AFB official site
• Historic American Engineering Record documentation, filed under Knob Noster, Johnson County, MO:
  • HAER No. MO-86, "Whiteman Air Force Base, Bomber Alert Facility S-6", 29 photos, 6 measured drawings, 24 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
  • HAER No. MO-87, "Whiteman Air Force Base, Oscar O-1 Minuteman Missile Alert Facility", 46 photos, 4 measured drawings, 31 data pages, 3 photo caption pages
  • HAER No. MO-88, "Whiteman Air Force Base, Minuteman Missile Launch Facility Trainer T-12", 25 photos, 3 measured drawings, 22 data pages, 2 photo caption pages