"East of Williams Bay, near Kansasville, Wisconsin, I visited the former Richard Bong Air Force Base, 3347. This short-lived Air Force base is now called Richard Bong State Recreation Area, located at 42-37-45, 88-09-15. The property, originally known to the Air Force as the Kansasville Area, was redesignated Richard Bong Air Force Base on 1 Dec 1955. Corps of Engineers documents indicate the land was acquired in fee during 1957 and 1958. On 5 Jun 1957, jurisdiction, control and accountability of the installation were assigned, on an inactive status, to Strategic Air Command. The base was declared excess by the Air Force on 23 Aug 1960. By that time, the runway and taxiways had been graded and the subsurface prepared -- they were within weeks of being paved. A few other buildings had been constructed. I was pleased to see that the state maintained the name of the property, and that they describe the base and its namesake in their visitor pamphlet. In fact, the signs refer to the runway area as -- the runway! I was able to drive the length of the park road that now sits on the planned parallel taxiway. On a different day I might have walked on the planned runway, but I had arrived during a special pheasant hunt. Not having pre-registered as a participaing hunter, I had to stay on the paved road and out of the runway area" -scott d. murdock (airforcebase.net)
...we train our dogs on the runway these days....
....and how about the size of them mosquitoes!
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