Offutt Air Force Base

Offutt Air Force Base (IATA: OFF, ICAO: KOFF, FAA LID: OFF) is a U.S. Air Force installation near Omaha, and lies adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the Air Force Weather Agency, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the Air Combat Command (ACC), the latter serving as the host unit.

Aviation use at Offutt began in September 1918 during World War I as a Army Air Service balloon field. It was renamed in honor of World War I pilot and Omaha native 1st Lt. Jarvis Offutt in 1924.

Offutt AFB's legacy includes the construction of the first two bombers to drop atomic bombs and over 40 years as the headquarters for the former Strategic Air Command (SAC) and home for its associated ground and aerial command centers for the U.S. in case of nuclear war during the Cold War. The population was 8,901 at the 2000 census.

Read more about Offutt Air Force Base:  Overview, History, General's Row, Offutt in Popular Culture, Geography, Demographics

Famous quotes containing the words air, force and/or base:

    The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries. And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Nature—were Man as unerring in his judgments as Nature.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

    Teach us to live our lives with purpose and with power
    for visions of a better world and for decision’s hour;
    To choose the way of life, reject the way of death,
    until the radiant force of God fills mind and strength and breath.
    Walter J. Mathams (19th–20th centuries)

    In the land of turkeys in turkey weather
    At the base of the statue, we go round and round.
    What a beautiful history, beautiful surprise!
    Monsieur is on horseback. The horse is covered with mice.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)