Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Lowry Air Force Base
    Lowry Air Force Base
    Lowry Air Force Base
    Ebook177 pages53 minutes

    Lowry Air Force Base

    By Jack Stokes Ballard, John Bond and George Paxton

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    From 1937 to 1994, Lowry Air Force Base, located on the eastern edge of the city of Denver, served the nation and the surrounding community in many distinguished ways. The air base, primarily a technical training center, graduated more than 1.1 million enlisted members and officers in skills ranging from armament to photography, tremendously strengthening the country s war efforts in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. In addition, from the 1980s, Lowry Air Force Base remained one of Colorado s largest employers, with approximately 10,000 military and civilian men and women, providing an economic impact approaching $1 billion annually. Thus Lowry significantly contributed to maintaining the world s largest air force and to promoting the accelerated growth of the Denver metro area and Colorado.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateApr 1, 2013
    ISBN9781439643105
    Lowry Air Force Base
    Author

    Jack Stokes Ballard

    Author Jack Stokes Ballard holds a doctorate of philosophy in American history from UCLA, taught history at the Air Force Academy, served a career in the Air Force, and, as a lieutenant colonel, was chief of the Plans and Requirements Division at Lowry (1974�1980). John Bond, a retired Air Force master sergeant, was a student at Lowry and served at the base, and when assigned to the Air Force Academy, he greeted the first cadets at the Lowry interim site. He worked for IBM (1965�1988) and as a volunteer historian and photograph archivist at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. George Paxton holds a bachelor of arts degree from Columbia, a doctor of medicine degree from Boston University, and a master of science degree from the University of Colorado. He is a retired Denver physician, served as a Public Health Service medical officer, and was in the Naval Reserve, attaining the rank of captain.

    Related to Lowry Air Force Base

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      North To alaska

      Jul 25, 2023

      North To alaska
      11 min read

    • Article

      Engines Not Required

      Jan 23, 2024

      Engines Not Required
      12 min read

    • Article

      First Raid To Blechhammer

      Feb 18, 2020

      First Raid To Blechhammer
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Flying Parson

      Sep 4, 2018

      The Flying Parson
      11 min read

    • Article

      Aviation History Online

      Sep 28, 2021

      Aviation History Online
      1 min read

    • Article

      First In

      Jun 4, 2019

      First In
      12 min read

    • Article

      Lesson Not Learned?

      Jul 25, 2023

      Lesson Not Learned?
      2 min read

    • Article

      Into Cold Air

      Feb 16, 2021

      Into Cold Air
      6 min read

    • Article

      Sticking The Landing

      Jul 12, 2022

      Sticking The Landing
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Great Stewardess Rebellion

      Jul 12, 2022

      The Great Stewardess Rebellion
      9 min read

    • Article

      “Death Didn’t Care If You Were A Butcher’s Boy Or A Public Schoolboy”

      Jun 11, 2020

      Rob Attar: What were the origins of the Lancaster bomber? Why was it needed? John Nichol: At the start of the Second World War, the Royal Air Force’s offensive capability was quite limited. It soon became clear that the RAF needed bigger, better an

      9 min read

    • Article

      God’s Pilot

      Jul 3, 2018

      God’s Pilot
      9 min read

    • Article

      The First Sst

      Jan 25, 2022

      The First Sst
      5 min read

    • Article

      An Instrumental Choice

      Oct 17, 2018

      An Instrumental Choice
      9 min read

    • Article

      P.j. Ash’s a-1 Skyraider

      Oct 4, 2022

      P.j. Ash’s a-1 Skyraider
      2 min read

    • Article

      Not Nimitz

      Dec 22, 2020

      Not Nimitz
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Mighty Mitchell

      Mar 3, 2020

      The Mighty Mitchell
      10 min read

    • Article

      Pilot projects

      Sep 7, 2021

      Pilot projects
      1 min read

    • Article

      Who’s Afraid Of The Dark?

      Feb 7, 2023

      Who’s Afraid Of The Dark?
      12 min read

    • Article

      A Tale Of Two Dickens

      Nov 24, 2022

      A Tale Of Two Dickens
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Greatest Flight

      Feb 16, 2021

      The Greatest Flight
      8 min read

    • Article

      The First 172

      Jul 3, 2018

      The First 172
      4 min read

    • Article

      Thunder In The Cinema

      Jul 2, 2019

      Thunder In The Cinema
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Dole Disaster

      Apr 25, 2023

      The Dole Disaster
      12 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lowry Air Force Base

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Lowry Air Force Base - Jack Stokes Ballard

      Museum.

      INTRODUCTION

      The Lowry Air Force Base motto, Sustineo Alas (I Sustain the Wings), adorned entryways of old base buildings. That inscription appropriately reflected the continuous mission of this Colorado air base from its inception in 1937: photography and armament training as the Denver branch of the Chanute (Illinois) Air Corps Technical School. During this 57-year span, until it closed in 1994, Lowry served as one of the nation’s most important military technical training centers, providing the necessary skilled technicians, officers, and airmen to sustain Air Force operations through World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Due to the urgent need for all types of trained personnel during World War II, the center operated three shifts, seven days a week, and sometimes 24 hours a day. Space was at a premium, and the Army Air Corps established a satellite school across town at Fort Logan to train clerical airmen. Lowry base population peaked at around 20,000 during World War II. After the war, the training included intensive instruction in armament (nuclear and conventional), avionics, electronics, fire protection and aircraft rescue, intelligence, supply, food service, clerical, ordnance disposal, and space systems operations. These wide-ranging training programs required the continuous updating of curriculum, staff expertise, and training equipment as technology rapidly advanced. By the 1980s, this effort involved a base population of 10,000 students, staff, and support personnel, providing a vital boost to the local economy.

      While technical training remained the focus, Lowry also maintained air operations until 1966. In 1940, Lowry began training the first group of bombardier instructors, using the extensive bombing range to the southeast of the base. Over 100 aircraft occupied the ramps in 1945.

      In 1955, Lowry AFB became the first location of the newly authorized Air Force Academy. The first class members arrived on July 11, and cadet training continued until August 1958, when the Colorado Springs site opened. Lowry AFB also hosted the Eisenhower Summer White House and filming of the movie The Glenn Miller Story in the 1950s.

      As the missile and space age began, Lowry received new missions. Three Titan missile silos were emplaced on the old Lowry bombing range in October 1961, but they were deactivated in 1965. Space systems training involving both maintenance and operations began in the 1960s and involved classified work at satellite tracking installations at nearby Buckley Field.

      Just as Lowry’s emphasis on training and missions changed to missile and space technology, it became a victim of Department of Defense reorganizations, base closures, and economic pressures to consolidate training programs. As a consequence, Lowry Air Force Base closed on September 30, 1994. It could reflect on its history and proudly proclaim that its 1.1 million skilled graduates had indeed sustained (Sustineo Alas) the nation’s wings.

      One

      THE BEGINNING

      1937

      Lowry Field, later to become Lowry Air Force Base, came into existence at the present location in March 1938. The Lowry name and the enthusiasm for flying, however, dated to 1924, when the Colorado National Guard named the airport at Thirty-eighth Avenue and Dahlia Street, east of Denver’s present-day Park Hill Golf Course, Lowry Field.

      Lt. Francis B. Lowry, a Denver resident, was killed in 1918 in France while serving as an artillery observer and aerial photographer for the Army Air Service. Lieutenant Lowry rests in the Fairmount Cemetery near the base, and the field and base were named for him.

      The grounds and original facilities were occupied by the Agnes Phipps Memorial Sanatorium. Lawrence C. Phipps built the medical facility east of Denver in 1903 for the treatment of tuberculosis during the era of fresh air care. It had closed and been vacant for six

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1