History
The facility was originally opened in June 1942 as Lockbourne Army Airfield (named after the nearby village of Lockbourne). It was then named the Northeastern Training Center of the Army Air Corps, and provided basic pilot training and military support.
During the Cold War the facility was known as Lockbourne Air Force Base and was assigned to the USAF Strategic Air Command. Lockbourne AFB was redesignated Rickenbacker Air Force Base on 18 May 1974, by Department of the Air Force Special Order GA-11 of 6 March 1974, to honor Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker, the leading American fighter pilot of World War I.
The base was transferred from the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to the Air National Guard and redesignated Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base on 1 April 1980.
The base was recommended for closure by the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, but as a result of a proposal by the State of Ohio, the 1993 Commission recommended that Rickenbacker ANGB be realigned rather than closed. The Commission decided to retain the 121st Air Refueling Wing and the 160th Air Refueling Group of the Ohio Air National Guard in a military cantonment area at Rickenbacker ANGB instead of realigning to Wright-Patterson AFB. The Air National Guard would continue to operate as tenants of the Rickenbacker Port Authority (RPA) on the RPA's airport and the military facilities were realigned as Rickenbacker Air National Guard Station on 30 September 1994 by the 1991 Congressional Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
In August 2001 a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the start of construction for a new, consolidated Navy and Marine Corps Air Reserve Center at Rickenbacker International Airport. The $10 million center, scheduled for completion in early 2003, will be located at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Club Street adjacent to the Air National Guard facility at Rickenbacker. Being developed by the Navy Reserve, the project will consolidate the Naval Air Reserve Center at Rickenbacker with the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center currently located on Yearling Road in Columbus. When completed, the nearly 1,000 Navy and Marine Corps reservists currently located at the two existing reserve centers will shift their activities to this new facility. Once the new center opens, the site of the existing Naval Air Reserve Center at Rickenbacker will be redeveloped by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which operates the 5,000-acre (2,023 ha) airport.
In March 2012, Direct Air suspended operations from the airport. The charter carrier was subject to Chapter 7 liquidation on April 12, 2012.
Read more about this topic: Rickenbacker International Airport
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