Griffiss Air Force Base

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This article is about the United States Air Force base in New York. For the USAF base in Texas, formerly of the same name, see Carswell Air Force Base.

Griffiss Air Force Base was a U.S. Air Force base in Rome, New York. Ground was broken on August 2, 1941 for the Rome Air Depot, to be completed in 1942. After a series of names and realignments, the base was finally named Griffiss Air Force Base in 1948. The base is named for Lt. Col. Townsend E. Griffiss, a U.S. Army aviator originally from Buffalo, New York who was the first U.S. airman to be killed in the line of duty in World War II.

During its time as an Air Force base, Griffiss was home to the following units:

1st Fighter Interceptor Group, 1950–1951
4727th Air Defense Group, 1957–1959
41st Air Refueling Squadron, 1959–1992
456th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 1959
49th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 1959–1987
4039th Strategic Wing, 1959–1963
416th Bomb Wing, 1963–1995
509th Air Refueling Squadron, 1990–1994
668th Bomb Squadron
485th Engineering Installation group 1972–1995

For most of its life with the 416th Bomb Wing, the base was equipped with the B-52 Stratofortress. The last B-52G landed at the base on May 9, 1991, the B-52G 58-0225 "Mohawk Valley". It was also the first B-52G assigned to Griffiss in 1960. It is preserved on the grounds. The 416th Bomb Wing operated the B-52H aircraft from 1991-1994. The wing inactivated on September 30, 1995. The wing also operated KC-135 aircraft from 1958-1992 when the aircraft realigned under the 380th Air Refueling Wing at Plattsburgh AFB NY. The KC-135 aircraft continuted to fly from Griffiss until 1994.

The Rome Air Development Center was begun at the base on June 12, 1951, as a response to the specific electronics needs of air forces learned by the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the war. The RADC would be renamed to Rome Laboratory in 1991 as a response to its changing role in research and development.

The base was realigned for civilian and non-combat purposes in 1995. It is now home to the Griffiss Business and Technology Park, and it is still home to the Rome Research Site of the Air Force Research Lab. At its peak, the base was the largest employer in Oneida County, New York.

Griffiss was the site of the notorious Woodstock 1999 concert festival. The base was chosen for its defensibility.