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Tinker Air Force Base — Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC)— is a major U.S. Air Force base located in Oklahoma City , near the suburb of Midwest City , Oklahoma . The base has more than 26,000 military and civilian employees and is the largest single-site employer in Oklahoma. The installation covers 5033 acres (20.368 km²) (7.864 m²) and has 760 buildings with a building floor space of over 15.2 million square feet. UNITS CURRENTLY STATIONED AT TINKER Tinker AFB is home to seven major Department Of Defense , Air Force and Navy activities with critical national defense missions.
HISTORY on display at Tinker.]] In 1940 , the War Department was considering the central United States as a location for a supply and maintenance depot. Oklahoma City leaders offered a 480 Acre (1.94 km&2) site and acquired an option for 960 additional acres (3.89 km&2) of land. On April 8 , 1941 , the order was officially signed awarding the depot to Oklahoma City. In 1942, the new installation was named Tinker Field in honor of Major General Clarence L. Tinker of Pawhuska, Oklahoma . General Tinker was killed in a crash while leading a flight of B-24 Liberators on a long-range strike against Japanese forces on Wake Island during World War II. Tinker Field was the site of a Douglas Aircraft factory producing approximately half of the C-47 Skytrain s used in World War II . The site also produced a number of A-20 Havoc s. Production ceased in 1945. The first successful Tornado forecast in history was issued on March 25 , 1948 from Tinker, about three hours before the tornado hit the southeast corner of the base. A granite marker in the Heritage Airpark on the base commemorates the event. On September 29 , 1957 , Buddy Holly and The Crickets recorded "An Empty Cup", "Rock Me My Baby", "You've Got Love", and "Maybe Baby" in the Tinker Air Force Base Officer's Club. During much of the 1990s, Tinker was home to the Automated Weather Network switching facility, which consolidated all U.S. military weather data worldwide. Originally based at Carswell Air Force Base , this unit was later moved to an Air Force Weather Agency facility at Offutt Air Force Base . On May 3 , 1999 , a deadly tornado caused extensive damage to the northwest corner of the base and surrounding communities. ¹ For many days afterwards, Tinker personnel helped by providing shelters, search and rescue, and clean-up efforts. In July 2005 , Tinker hosted the US Air Force Thunderbirds as part of their Star Spangled Salute, the base's annual Independence Day celebration. This was the first time the Thunderbirds had performed in Oklahoma in almost 20 years. EXTERNAL LINKS
TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS AT TINKER AFB Several Transformational efforts are under work at Tinker AFB, including 5S, 6 Sigma, Lean, and Balanced Score Card. |
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