Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base

For the civilian use of this facility and airport information, see Rickenbacker International Airport.

Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation at Rickenbacker International Airport near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker. It is the home of the 121st Air Refueling Wing (121 ARW), an Air National Guard (ANG) unit that serves as the host wing and operates in federal service under the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC).

Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base
Near Columbus, Ohio in the United States
A KC-135R Stratotanker of the Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refuelling Wing touches down at Rickenbacker ANGB during 2012.
Rickenbacker ANGB Location in the United States
Coordinates	39°48′49″N 082°56′48″W / 39.81361°N 82.94667°W / 39.81361; -82.94667
Type	Air National Guard Base
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Air Force (USAF)
Controlled by	Ohio Air National Guard (ANG)
Condition	Operational
Website	www.121arw.ang.af.mil
Site history
Built	1940s (as Lockbourne Army Airfield)
In use	1940s – present
Garrison information
Current commander	Colonel David B. Johnson
Garrison	121st Air Refueling Wing
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: LCK, ICAO: KLCK, FAA LID: LCK, WMO: 724285
Elevation	226.7 metres (744 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 5R/23L 3,688.6 metres (12,102 ft) Asphalt/concrete 5L/23R 3,627.7 metres (11,902 ft) Asphalt
Airfield shared with Rickenbacker International Airport. Source: Federal Aviation Administration^[1]

Rickenbacker ANGB operates at the airport as a tenant of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, sharing the facility with commercial airlines and other civilian aircraft operators. The air base is a joint military facility whose own tenant activities include the Ohio Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility #2, Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve units, and associated facilities.

During World War II, the installation was a U.S. Army Air Forces training base known as Lockbourne Army Airfield, becoming an Air Force base in 1948 a few months following the establishment of the United States Air Force as an independent branch of the U.S. armed forces. The base was named Lockbourne AFB from 1948 to 1974 and later Rickenbacker AFB from 1974 to 1980. The facility was transferred from Strategic Air Command and the active duty Air Force on 1 April 1980 and turned over to the Air National Guard.

Further reading

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rickenbacker Air Force Base.

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
  This article incorporates public domain material from Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. United States Air Force.

1. "Airport Diagram – Rickenbacker Intl (LCK)" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.

• Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office 1961 (republished 1983, Office of Air Force History, ISBN 0-912799-02-1).
• Ravenstein, Charles A. Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History 1984. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
• Mueller, Robert, Air Force Bases Volume I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982, Office of Air Force History, 1989
• Futrell, Robert Frank (1983) The United States Air Force in Korea, 1950–1953, Maxwell AFB, Alabama Office of Air Force History, ISBN 0-912799-71-4
• Lloyd, Alwyn T. (2000), A Cold War Legacy, A Tribute to Strategic Air Command, 1946–1992, Pictorial Histories Publications ISBN 1-57510-052-5
• Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.
• Turner Publishing Company (1997), Strategic Air Command: The Story of the Strategic Air Command and Its People. Turner Publishing Company ISBN 1-56311-265-5
• Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas OCLC 71006954, 29991467
• Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC. OCLC 57007862, 1050653629
• Strategic-Air-Command.com
• American Military Aircraft (RB-29, RB-45, EB-47, RB-47)
• Rickenbacker International Airport Official Website
  (Source of much of early history and information about turnover to civil authorities)