Patrick Air Force Base

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Coordinates: 28°14′06″N 080°36′36″W / 28.235, -80.61

Patrick AFB
IATA: COF – ICAO: KCOF – FAA: COF
Summary
Airport type Military: Air Force Base
Operator United States Air Force
Location Cocoa Beach, Florida
In use 1950 - present
Commander Brig. Gen. Susan J. Helms, Commander, 45th Space Wing, and Director, Eastern Range
Occupants
Elevation AMSL 8 ft / 2 m
Website www.patrick.af.mil
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
2/20 9,023 2,750 Asphalt/Concrete
11/29 4,000 1,219 Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Patrick Air Force Base (IATA: COF, ICAO: KCOF, FAA LID: COF) is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is home to the 45th Space Wing and the Air Force Technical Applications Center.

Contents

Patrick Air Force Base started as the Naval Air Station Banana River which was commissioned on 1 October 1940. The station supported seaplane patrol operations during World War II. It continued to operate as a Navy support base for two years after the war, but the installation was finally deactivated on 1 August 1947.

The Navy transferred the Banana River Naval Air Station to the Air Force on 1 September 1948. The station was renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground (JLRPG) Base on 10 June 1949. On 1 October 1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground.

On 17 May 1950, the base was renamed the Long Range Proving Ground Base, but three months later was renamed Patrick Air Force Base, in honor of Major General Mason Patrick.

On 14 May 1951, the Long Range Proving Ground Division was assigned to the newly created Air Research and Development Command (ARDC). The next month the Division was redesignated the Air Force Missile Test Center (AFMTC).

Cost comparison studies done in the early 1950s pointed out the desirability of letting contractors operate the station. The first range contract was signed with Pan American World Services on 31 December 1953. The Air Force Missile Test Center began transferring property and equipment to Pan American at end the of that year. Pan American operated under contract to the Air Force for the next 34 years (until early October 1988). In 1988, the old Range Contract was divided into the Range Technical Services (RTS) and the Launch Base Services (LBS) contracts. The RTS Contract was awarded to Computer Sciences Raytheon (CSR) in June 1988, and the LBS Contract was awarded to Pan American World Services (later known as Johnson Controls) in August 1988.

Rocket garden in front of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick AFB, Florida, circa 1960's
Rocket garden in front of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick AFB, Florida, circa 1960's

The Air Force Test Range supported a wide variety of missile and space programs in the 1960s, but the demise of the Apollo space program and the end of land-based ballistic missile development at Cape Canaveral signaled a downturn in fortunes. On 1 February 1977 the range was inactivated.

In the 1960s, one office with a missile backdrop was used to film Air Force scenes from the sitcom, "I Dream of Jeannie," which was supposedly set in nearby Cocoa Beach. No cast was present.[2]

The Eastern Space & Missile Center (ESMC) was established on 1 October 1979. In 1990, ESMC was transferred from Air Force Systems Command to Air Force Space Command. On 12 November 1991 ESMC was transformed into the 45th Space Wing.

Headquartered at Patrick Air Force Base, the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is the sole Department of Defense agency operating and maintaining a global network of nuclear event detection sensors.

Based at Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB) is the Air-Sea Rescue Squadron that responds to boating and shipping accidents as well as monitoring all launches at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS).

Patrick AFB is home to the 45th Space Wing whose Officers and Airmen manage all launches of unmanned rockets at CCAFS. These rockets include satellites for the US Military, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency. Units from this wing have deployed abroad during wartime.[3]

The 920th Rescue Wing, part of Air Force Reserve Command, searches the Caribbean for downed aircraft and retrieves critically ill sailors from ships hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic. The unit continues searches into the night. It has also plays a vital part in rescues during hurricanes of boaters and non-sailors, and non-sailors as well.It is the only rescue wing in the Air Force Reserve.[4] In 2007, the wing deployed to Afghanistan[5]

The State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs helps foreign countries combat drugs and narcotics criminals. The Bureau operates a fleet of aircraft at Patrick Air Force Base to help detect and interdict drug trade in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.

The Department of Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), at Patrick Air Force Base, offers classes in providing equal opportunity for students from from foreign countries like South Africa and Russia, as well as 1,500 a year from the US military.

  • The Missileer - published weekly.

  1. ^ FAA Airport Master Record for COF (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-10-25
  2. ^ http://blogs.ocregister.com/travel/archives/2007/03/ooooooh_master_a_night_in_jean.html
  3. ^ Moody, R. Norman (May 12, 2007). After days of delay, airmen return from deployments. Florida Today. 
  4. ^ http://www.afreserve.com/mission.asp?id=7 retrieved May 9, 2007
  5. ^ Moody, R. Norman (May 12, 2007). After days of delay, airmen return from deployments. Florida Today. 


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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Air_Force_Base"
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