Military

Seymour Johnson AFB, NC

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is annexed to Goldsboro, North Carolina, a city on Highway 70 about midway between Raleigh, North Carolina - the state capital - and New Bern, North Carolina - the former capital city - on the coast.

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base occupies over 3,300 acres in the southeast section of Goldsboro. Seymour Johnson Field was opened in April 1942 as Headquarters, Technical School, Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. In June 1943, a secondary mission was added which included preparation of officers and men for overseas duty. The unit was known as the Provisional Overseas Replacement Training Center. Seymour Johnson Field received a third mission in September 1943: to provide basic military training for cadets preparing to become technical officers in the Army Air Corps. The 75th Training Wing was established to conduct the program through its Aviation Cadet Pre-Training la k- School.

The 326th Fighter Group arrived in October 1943 and in January 1944 began training replacement pilots for P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. In April of that year, basic training of P-47 pilots became the primary mission of Seymour Johnson Field.

At the end of WWII in Europe, Seymour Johnson was designated as a central assembly station for processing and training troops being reassigned in the continental United States and Pacific theater of operations. This function was discontinued in September 1945 and the field became an Army-Air Force Separation Center.

Seymour Johnson Field was deactivated in May 1946. Community leaders were successful in their campaign to reopen the base in 1956. Seymour Johnson Air Force Base was reactivated as a Tactical Air Command base on April 1, 1956. Three months later, the 83rd Fighter-Day Wing was assigned to the base as the primary unit.

Seymour has been an active Air combat Command base since it reopened. The 4th Fighter Wing, one of the Air Forces most distinguished fighter wings, moved to the base in 1957, replacing the 83rd and has been the host unit since then. Other units have come and gone since the base reopened.

The 4th Fighter Wing is the host unit at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and accomplishes its training and operational missions with 92 F-15E Strike Eagles. Two of the wings four fighter squadrons are operational units, capable of deploying world-wide on short notice and immediately generating combat power. The other two squadrons are responsible for training all F-15E aircrews for the Air Force.

BRAC 2005

Secretary of Defense Recommendations: In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to realign Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB), ND. It would distribute the 319th Air Refueling Wing's KC-135R aircraft to the 916th Air Refueling Wing (AFR), Seymour-Johnson AFB (eight aircraft) and several other installations. The 916th would host an active duty associate unit.

In another recommendation, DoD would establish a Centralized Intermediate Repair Facility (CIRF) for F100 engines at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC by realigning base-level F100 engine intermediate maintenance from Langley Air Force Base. This recommendation would standardize stateside and deployed intermediate-level maintenance concepts, and compliment other CIRF recommendations made by the Air Force. These CIRFs would increase maintenance productivity and support to the warfighter by consolidating dispersed and random workflows, improving reliability-centered maintenance. Realigning F100 engine maintenance from Langley and establishing an eastern region CIRF at Seymour Johnson would anticipate the installation as a maintenance workload center for F-15 engines. Seymour Johnson was projected to have up to 87 F-15 aircraft as compared to only 24 F-15 aircraft at Langley.

Secretary of Defense Justifications: Military judgment also indicated the potential for emerging missions in homeland defense, particularly for border states. Therefore, Grand Forks is retained as an active installation, but realigned to distribute its KC-135R force structure to bases with higher value for the tanker mission--MacDill (36), McConnell (15), Seymour Johnson (25), and Scott (38). The additional aircraft at Seymour Johnson would optimize the squadron, increase the wing's capability, and establish another new active duty/Air Force Reserve unit association.

Community Concerns:

Commission Findings: The Commission established Air National Guard KC-135 wings at: Scott AFB, Illinois, Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina, MacDill AFB, Florida, Hickam AFB, Hawaii, McConnell AFB, Kansas, and Forbes Field, Kansas. This recommendation is consistent with the Commission's Air National Guard Laydown plan.

Commission Recommendations: The 916th Air Refueling Wing (AFR), Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC (16 PAA KC-135R/T), which will host an active duty associate unit;