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 air of one’s native country is the most healthy air.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Circumstances define us; they force us onto one road or another, and then they punish us for it.”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)
“Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)