JONESBORO, Ark.-An Arkansas State University history professor has helped place a former northeast Arkansas air base on the National Register of Historic Places - the first step in creating a national park to highlight the base's nuclear weapon storage facilities and defensive strategies used during the Cold War.
Edward Salo and several students worked with Mississippi County officials in applying for the historical designation to preserve the former Eaker Air Force Base's "alert shack," an area where airmen stayed while on long-term duty, a recreational area used by families of the airmen and a weapons storage facility.
The base received the status earlier this year, and now members of the Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority, which oversees the former air base property, will try and obtain U.S. National Park interest in creating a museum and park that highlights the wartime efforts of the 1950s through the 1990s, the Jonesboro Sun reported.
"It's interesting to see this aspect of American military history," Salo said. "It was so prevalent in the nation's military planning for nuclear attack. It never happened, but we were prepared for it in so many different ways."
The base, first known as the Blytheville Air Force Base, opened in 1942 after military officials chose the 2,670-acre site near the Mississippi River for an advanced flying school.
The base was closed in 1945 after World War II, but reactivated in 1955 when the U.S. Air Force assigned the base to the Tactical Air Command to house tactical bombers. Two years later, it was transferred to the Strategic Air Command and airmen were placed in the Crew Readiness Center, prepared to launch aircraft and missiles on a moment's notice in case of an attack by the USSR.
The unit was placed on a 24-hour alert in October 1962 after U.S. spy planes detected Soviet Union nuclear missile sites in Cuba. By late October, Salo noted in his register application, the Blytheville base was placed on Defcon II, the highest military readiness level before war.
The base also played a role in the Vietnam War. B-52s launched from the base were deployed on bombing missions to Vietnam. A bomber from Blytheville was the first shot down during Operation Linebacker II, a mission targeting complexes in North Vietnam, in December 1972. Three crewmen died in the crash. The base was also used for stops for refueling air tankers and for storing Titan missiles during heightened tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1980s and during the Gulf War in 1990-1992.
In 1988, the Air Force renamed the base to honor World War II General Ira Eaker, the former commander of the 8th Air Force. Officials had hoped, after hearing rumors of the base's possible closure, that the name would endear the base among military leaders.
Instead, the base closed in 1992, sending more than 3,000 airmen away from Blytheville.
"We took a hit when the base closed," said Barrett Harrison, the director of the Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority and a former Blytheville mayor. "But Blytheville's people are resilient and we come back."
Harrison said the historic designation of the base will help pave the way for the authority's attempt at creating a museum in the "alert shack" that focuses on the Cold War era.
He said a feasibility study conducted recently predicted 50,000 people would visit the museum within two years of its opening.
"We'd like to see that happen," he said.
Mississippi County Judge Terri Brassfield said the historic designation will be good for the county's economy.
"We're thrilled by this," she said. "The fact that it's on the National Register proves it has attention. A museum and national park would only add value to our county."