His copilot successfully bailed out but by the time Brookley attempted to leave the doomed aircraft he was too low of altitude and his parachute did noy fully deploy.

Air Transport Command operated large numbers of cargo and passenger aircraft from the base as part of its Domestic Wing.

During the war, Brookley became Mobile's largest employer, with about 17,000 skilled civilians capable of performing delicate work with fragile instruments and machinery.

In 1944, the Army decided to take advantage of Brookley's large, skilled workforce for its top-secret "Ivory Soap" project to hasten victory in the Pacific.

[6] One of the keys to Allied victory in Europe was the Norden bombsight, which enabled bomber squadrons to target Germany's war-making industry and infrastructure much more accurately.

The long distances across the Atlantic, and especially the Pacific Ocean to the combat areas indicated a need for a transoceanic heavy-lift military transport aircraft.

SAC also continued to use the Globemasters to rotate Boeing B-47 Stratojet Medium Bombardment Groups on temporary duty in England and Morocco as part of their REFLEX operation.

[7] During this time, AFLC's Mobile Air Materiel Area (MOAMA) provided depot-level maintenance for various USAF aircraft of the period including the C-119 Flying Boxcar, C-131 Samaritan, F-84 Thunderstreak, RF-84 Thunderflash, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-104 Starfighter and F-105 Thunderchief.

The Republican candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater, carried Alabama in the election and it was highly believed that Johnson was punishing the state for defecting from its traditional Democratic Party ties.

McNamara steadfastly denied politics played any part in the decision to close Brookley citing the closure of other Air Force bases also on the same list.

[9] Instead, he claimed he had another agenda as he wanted to curb the Air Force's reliance on large aircraft in favor of long-range missiles and closing maintenance facilities such as Brookley was a way to do that.

The fact Brookley was also the only Air Force base with a seaport as well as having its own railyard making it logistically unique further didn't support McNamara's analogy.

Upon arrival in Mobile and other surrounding Alabama towns she was given a rather cold tepid reception and met with multiple boos, protests as well as several people holding up "Goldwater for president" signs.

Among them was a team of 30 special agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) who made camp in a dorm on Brookley grounds for the entire month of September 2005.

Once all gun stores and explosive storage sites were secured, the ATF team turned its attention to the three southern-most, coastal counties in Mississippi.

Coordinating with other federal, State, and local officials operating from a command post in Gautier, Mississippi, the team assisted law enforcement and national guard personnel in Biloxi, Pascagoula, Gulfport, and elsewhere along the I-10 corridor.