Buckley Space Force Base Through Time

Buckley Space Force Base evolves from a 1930s bombing range to a pioneering space-missile warning installation.

In 1938, the City of Denver donated more than 65,000 acres southeast of the city to the War Department for use as a bombing range. Preparing for the looming threat of war, by 1941 the site was named Buckley Field to honor Longmont, Colorado, native First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley, a World War I pilot who was tragically killed during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918.
Buckley Field became home to the Army Air Forces Technical School, where aircraft armorers were trained, as well as a site for basic training for enlistees and aviation cadets during World War II. After the war, Buckley Field transitioned into a Naval Air Station and later became the first installation administered solely by the Air National Guard.
During the Cold War, Buckley Air National Guard Base became the home to space-based missile warning, controlling the Defense Support Program satellites. The base was reassigned to the newest military service--the United States Space Force--and renamed Buckley Space Force Base in 2021.