By this time, it was named after the famous aviator Major Richard Ira Bong, a Wisconsin World War II flying ace.

During 1956 and 1957, Strategic Air Command devised a program where the units were to be dispersed throughout the country, which in theory would lessen losses from a direct enemy attack.

"If Bong were being built in the middle of a great desert, or atop a mountain, or in some inaccessible place far from civilized centers, these grandiose plans might be somewhat justifiable."

Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas told 200 members at a hearing in the Racine County Courthouse on October 8, 1959, that the costs of missiles was another fiscal reason for the cancellation of Bong.

[26]" Concerned with the proximity of civilian air hubs and the possibility of in-air collisions, he went on to recommend cancelling the base over a year before the consensus aligned with his view.

[28] Major General W. P. Fisher indicated in a letter that air base would be fully combat capable and remain on constant ready alert.

Roger Sekadlo, manager of Mitchell Field, expressed relief after the announced base cancellation saying "Now we will have no intermingling of military jet bombers and passenger planes.

When pressed for reasons of the base closure on October 8, 1959, Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas opined "The facts are, if we try to simplify the problem, our highest priority weapons development -- intercontinental ballistic missile -- is the start of a chain of events that leads to a change of plans that has eliminated Bong.

[33]" Bong's location caused Civil Defense to rethink its evacuation strategy for the cities of Kenosha, Racine and the southern part of Milwaukee County.

[35] Representatives Henry S. Reuss and Charles A. Boyle had gone so far to write a joint letter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 questioning the advisability of a Strategic Air Command bomber base placed between Milwaukee and Chicago.

[25]" Reporter Robert W. Wells of the Saturday Evening Post would later ask a Pentagon official, John M. Ferry, about the feasibility of turning Bong in to a missile base.

[40] The Assistant Secretary of Defense indicated that the heating cost $250,000 (about $2 million adjusted for inflation in 2017) in federal appropriations[41] Three POL (propellant, oil and lubricants) tanks capable of holding 70,000 barrels of jet fuel and 20,000 US gallons (76,000 L; 17,000 imp gal) of gasoline sat vacant.

By 1961, residents inconvenienced by the closure of highway 43 between Burlington and Kenosha eventually battered the air base gates and unofficially reopened the road.

Hwy 75 instead ran north from a fork just above Klondike and along the former air base's eastern boundary until reconnecting at the intersection next to Brighton Elementary.

[61] An incomplete list of displaced residents includes the Gruinwall, Ratlidge, Sheahan, Kirkman, Meyer, Wiener, Muller, Ward, Rhodes, Schaefer, Theobold, Vacins, Ericks, and McEtridge families.

[68] The cemetery sat off of the southeast corner of former County Trunk LM and Brighton Road at 42°37′32.5″N 88°8′56.3″W / 42.625694°N 88.148972°W / 42.625694; -88.148972 (42.625686, -88.148983), between the runway and taxiway just south of the operational apron near a present-day storm sewer.

Topsoil was skimmed from the areas containing the runway apron, central heating pant and POL tank farm and stockpiled in the northwest corner of the base.

According to a report prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 1978, stating "Returning this land to agriculture was considered impossible as the topsoil had been stripped.

[77][78] The acquisition, modification and subsequent abandonment of eight square miles of private land reshaped the public's perception of government agencies, especially among southeastern Wisconsinites.

Representative Henry S. Reusscharged "From the beginning, a rank amateur would have been hard-pressed to select a more incongruous location for a strategic bomber base -- in the middle of the most congested air traffic corridors in the nation, and in the heart of an already vital target area for any enemy.

"[82] Residents of Wisconsin would be reminded of the government's mishandling of the project for the next two decades as numerous plans for the abandoned base were considered and red tape barred a swift resolution.

[83] The distrust of the federal government would later be transferred to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the state agency that acquired 5,190 acres of the former air base over a decade of legal wrangling.

In 1978, Brighton town chairman Lawrence Olsen gave voice to this animosity at a public hearing held at Westosha Central High School regarding the DNR's plan for the area.

[85] C & C Construction left over 10,000 feet of 6-inch and 10-inch insulated pipe, a 325 GPM water softener, sewage plant equipment, 72-ton reinforcing steel and miscellaneous other items on the base.

A mob source is said to have called the police with a tip, stating "If you want to find Biernat's body, look in the basement of an empty house in an abandoned area in Kenosha County."

When pressed for the specifics, the informant said "Well, you can be sure of one thing, it (the body) ain't going to fly away.” This led local authorities and the FBI to Bong.

The western 320 acres of the base lying in Racine County were deeded to the Burlington Are Join District and Wilmot Union High School, respectively.

The $100,000 (nearly $1 million adjusted for inflation as of research in 2017) corrugated Army Engineer's office at the corner of Highway 142 and 75 was bought by the Brighton Joint School District for $1.

In return, Herro and Associates granted a 10-year lease with an option to buy 960 acres at cost and a trust securing the corporation's bonds.

The two large holes that went on to create the lake are remnants from the air base construction as workers tried to reach bedrock in order to support a refueling station.