It was the headquarters of several SAC intercontinental bombardment wings, equipped with the latest heavy bombers from B-29 Superfortresses; B-36 Peacemakers and B-52 Stratofortresses.

The west side of the airfield was home to United States Air Force Plant 4, a 602-acre (2.44 km2) industrial complex occupied over the decades by Convair, General Dynamics, and now by Lockheed Martin.

With the end of the Cold War and the subsequent downsizing of the American military, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission of 1991 recommended that Carswell AFB be closed by 1994.

In April 1918 these airfields were turned over to the Air Service, United States Army as training fields for American pilots.

Hundreds of pilots learned their basic and primary flying skills at these airfields in the Fort Worth area during the war.

[2] In 1940 the City of Fort Worth had filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), asking for a primary pilot training airfield for the Army Air Corps.

[2] However, after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army changed its plans and instead of being an operational base, "Tarrant Field", as the facility was called, became a heavy bomber training school.

[2] The first unit assigned to the base was the Army Air Forces Training Command Combat Crew School on 1 July 1942.

The school was officially opened on 12 October 1942[2] and was under the jurisdiction of the 34th Flying Training Wing at San Angelo Army Airfield, Texas.

Training Command instructor pilots were flown to the Consolidated manufacturing plant in San Diego to learn about the Dominator,[2] which was planned as a stablemate of the B-29 Superfortress; much like the B-17 Flying Fortress was teamed with the B-24 Liberator.

[2] In November 1945, the jurisdiction of Fort Worth AAF was transferred to Second Air Force, which established its 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing at the base, equipped with B-29A Superfortresses.

[1] The Air Force had decided to keep Fort Worth as a permanent airfield and in 1946, constructed an 8,200-ft north–south extra heavy-duty runway for future use.

[citation needed] Fort Worth AAF was assigned to the newly formed Strategic Air Command in March 1946,[1] and on 1 October 1946, the 7th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy was activated.

On 1 November 1946, the Eighth Air Force moved its headquarters to Fort Worth AAF from MacDill Field, Florida.

Completing this aerial demonstration, they headed for Fort Worth, landing 31 hours after launch from Japan and covering 7,086 miles.

This flight was the largest bomber formation flown from Fort Worth AAF overseas to date, landing in Germany on 13 September.

During their ten-day stay, the group bombers participated in training operations over Europe, as well as a show-of-force display by the United States in the early part of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

[6] In February 1949, a B-50 Superfortress (developed from the famed B-29) and named Lucky Lady II took off from Carswell for the first nonstop flight around the world.

For 10 years, the "Peacemaker" cast a large shadow on the Iron Curtain and served as the nation's major deterrent weapons system.

The aircraft, staging through Limestone AFB, Maine, would land at RAF Lakenheath, the United Kingdom, following a night radar bombing attack on Heligoland, West Germany.

[6] A five-ship B-36 formation was flown on 15 January 1949, in an air review over Washington, D.C., commemorating the inauguration of the President of the United States, Harry S.

7–11 must have been considered a lucky combination, because the two wings continued to share Carswell Air Force base until 13 December 1957, when the 11th moved to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, and began receiving B-52 Stratofortresses.

During the relief of Khe Sanh, unbroken waves of six aircraft, attacking every three hours, dropped bombs as close as 900 feet (270 m) from friendly lines.

[10] Rotational deployments to Guam, and also to U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand continued on a reduced scale until 1975.

On 12 January 1961, Major Henry J. Deutschendorf (the father of singer John Denver) commanded a B-58 crew from the 43rd that set out to break six flight records; five of which the Soviet Union held.

One of the last things the wing did while at Carswell AFB took place on 28 March 1964, the day after a major earthquake devastated Alaska.

Members of the 43rd flew two B-58s the 5,751 miles (9,255 km) to Alaska and back, processed the film, and then delivered the pictures to Washington DC 14.5 hours after the wing received the request.

The group supported missions included military airlift to South Vietnam beginning in 1965 and to U.S. forces in the Dominican Republic during a 1965 crisis.

The 7 BW was released of all operational capabilities on 1 January 1993 and was transferred to Dyess AFB, Texas without personnel or equipment on 1 October 1993 where it currently flies the B-1 Lancer.

[15] Carswell ceased USAF active duty operations on 30 September 1993 and was transferred to the Air Force Base Conversion Agency (AFBCA) for property distribution and reuse.