Fascinating Facts About Sewart Air Force Base
Editor’s Note: Last week I had the opportunity to visit the former Sewart Air Force Base in Smyrna. The former WWII base will soon become the new home of the Tennessee Air National Guard’s 118th Wing Unit.
The 118th Wing serves a variety of missions focused on intelligence, cyber operations, combat support, and domestic emergency response. The project is estimated to take 8 to 10 years to complete and generate $1.93 billion in economic impact and investment to the local area, contributing to a total projected impact of $5.9 billion through 2050, while the National Guard presence would also enhance local events such as the Great Tennessee Air Show and strengthen the region’s emergency response capabilities.
My late father was stationed there and flew 24 bombing missions in a B-17 during WWII. 
Many residents of Smyrna, La Vergne and Rutherford County had fathers and relatives who were stationed there or worked as civilians on the old base.
1. Lightning-Fast Construction
Six thousand workers built an entire air base from scratch in just months! They erected 200 buildings and a complete airfield on 3,325 acres near Smyrna, Tennessee, transforming farmland into a military powerhouse almost overnight after Pearl Harbor.
2. Heavy Bomber Flight School
Smyrna was where future World War II heroes learned to fly the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers. Top graduates earned their wings as Second Lieutenants, while others became Flight Officers – all trained to take the fight to the enemy.
3. Skiing to Antarctica
In 1960, seven ski-equipped C-130 Hercules from Sewart made aviation history by flying from Tennessee all the way to Antarctica! They broke records previously held by Navy aircraft and revolutionized polar supply missions by landing directly at South Pole research stations instead of dangerous parachute drops.
Road naming honors legacy of Sewart Air Force Base
4. America’s Only Operational C-130 Base
For a brief shining moment in 1958, Sewart Air Force Base held the unique distinction of being the only operational C-130 Hercules base in the entire United States – making it the epicenter of America’s tactical airlift capabilities.
5. The Four Horsemen Aerobatic Team
The 774th Troop Carrier Squadron featured “The Four Horsemen,” a spectacular C-130 flight demonstration team that wowed audiences with precision formation flying using four massive cargo planes – imagine the Blue Angels, but with aircraft the size of small buildings!
6. Global Crisis Responders
Sewart’s wings simultaneously deployed to opposite sides of the world in summer 1958, responding to crises in both Lebanon and Taiwan. Talk about military multitasking – defending freedom on two continents at once!
7. Helicopter Haven
Beyond cargo planes, Sewart hosted multiple helicopter squadrons flying the distinctive twin-rotor CH-21 Shawnee helicopters, adding vertical lift capability to complement their fixed-wing transport mission.
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8. From Warbirds to Workers
After closure in 1971, the former air base became an economic powerhouse for Smyrna, attracting major industries and nearly tripling the town’s population between 1970 and 1980 – proving that military installations can have amazing second lives.
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