Before European colonization, the area where Bolling Air Force Base is located was inhabited by the Nacotchtank, an Algonquian people. The largest village of the Nacotchtank was located just north of the air force base, south of Anacostia Park.[1] Another Nacotchtank village is believed to have existed on the base grounds, where two ossuaries (burial mounds) were discovered in 1936.[2] Other Nacotchtank archaeological sites have been found at Giesboro Point on the Potomac River.[3]
The Department of Defense (DOD) has owned the Bolling grounds since 1917, when the tract of land was scouted by William C. Ocker at the direction of General Billy Mitchell. Founded on 2 October 1917 as The Flying Field at Anacostia, it was the first military airfield near the United States Capitol. It was renamed Anacostia Experimental Flying Field in June 1918.[4]
Soon, the single installation evolved into two separate, adjoining bases; one Army (later Air Force) and one Navy. Bolling Field was opened 1 July 1918 and was named for Colonel Raynal C. Bolling, the first high-ranking air service officer killed in World War I. Colonel Bolling was the Assistant Chief of the Air Service, and was killed in action near Amiens, France, on 26 March 1918 while defending himself and his driver, Private Paul L. Holder, from German soldiers.[4] Flying activities began on 4 July 1918 with mailplanes landing there, with all equipment removed from the former location at the Polo Grounds, Washington, D.C.[5]
In the late 1940s, Bolling Field's property became Naval Air Station Anacostia and a new Air Force base, named Bolling Air Force Base, was constructed just to the south on 24 June 1948.[4]
Bolling AFB has served as a research and testing ground for new aviation equipment and its first mission provided aerial defense of the capital. It moved to its present location, along the Potomac in the city's southwest quadrant, in the 1930s.[4]
Over the years, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and National Guard units, as well as DOD and federal agencies also found the installation to be an ideal place from which to operate.[4]
In 1918, pilots from the installation were dispatched by President Woodrow Wilson to create the first permanent airmail route from Washington, D.C. to New York City.
Navy seaplanes were first tested and Air Force aerial refueling techniques were developed by installation-based personnel and military commands.
Following its successful transatlantic flight in 1927, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis returned to the installation. Soon after, the aircraft was used for Lindbergh's goodwill flight to Mexico and South America.
Air Force Lt. Col. Henry "Hap" Arnold led a bomber flight from Bolling Field on a 4,000-mile journey to Alaska in 1934, to demonstrate the capabilities of long-range strategic bombing missions.
Throughout World War II, the installation served as a training and organizational base for personnel and units going overseas. It also served as the aerial gateway to the nation's capital.
The Air Force's first headquarters was established at the installation, as Army Air Forces Headquarters in 1941 and, with the creation of the United States Air Force, Air Force Headquarters in 1947.
The Sacred Cow, President Harry Truman's initial official aircraft and Franklin Roosevelt's only official aircraft, retired from service on the installation in 1961. This aircraft was the predecessor to Air Force One and was used for both presidential and VIP support missions. President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which created the United States Air Force, at the desk on board this aircraft.
In 1962, fixed-wing aircraft operations at the air force and naval installations ceased, due to congested airspace around Washington National Airport on the opposite shore of the Potomac River.
Although fixed-wing aircraft operations ceased, the installations continued to serve the Military Airlift Command (MAC); the headquarters for the Air Force District of Washington; the Air Force 11th Wing; Commander, Naval Installations Command, Naval Media Center (now, Defense Media Activity-Navy) and many other military commands and federal agencies.[4]
The Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) was created and activated at Bolling on 1 October 1985 with the mission of providing administrative support to Air Force members. On 15 July 1994, AFDW was inactivated, but was reactivated 5 January 2005 to "provide a single voice for Air Force requirements in the National Capital Region" according to the base's website.[4]
[edit]Defense Intelligence Agency HeadquartersBolling Field, mid-1920sBolling Field and Anacosta Naval Air Station, mid-1940sThe last fixed-wing flight out of Bolling Air Force Base, 1 July 1962.[7]
Director of Military Aeronautics, 28 June 1918
3d Service Command, 6 March 1928
Chief of Air Corps (Exempted Station), 1 July 1936
^Editors, "Mailplanes Land at Bolling Field", Air Service Journal, Gardner, Moffat Co., Inc., New York, New York, 11 July 1918, Volume III, Number 2, page 53.
^Pike, John. "Bolling AFB". www.globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 28 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
^ abMueller, 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
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
