Caribou Air Force Station
Caribou Air Force Station was the first of five, United States Air Force, Air Material Command (AMC) installations that were constructed during the period of 1951 – 1953. Each of the five installations was built specifically to provide operational storage of the nuclear stockpile, and to provide a specified number of weapons to their adjacent Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases. The first four installations were built and occupied by 1953. The fifth installation, although completed in 1953, would not be utilized until 1955. The first installation, code named “Site Easy” was originally known as the “North River Depot”. It was constructed between 1951-1952, and operations began in 1952. Funds were provided in 1951 to the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP), for the planning and construction of an ordnance storage site in the vicinity of a new Strategic Air Command Base. The AFSWP was directed to utilize the services of the Corps of Engineers, Department of Army, for planning and construction, and was made responsible for monitoring such work, and for operational security measures during these phases. The original directive to the AFSWP stipulated that upon completion of construction the installation would be turned over to Headquarters, Air Material Command for operational responsibilities.
Dobbins Air Reserve Base
In May, the local government issued bonds to purchase located miles southeast of Marietta along the western side of the new four-lane superhighway, U.S. Highway 41, linking Marietta with Atlanta. The CAA next allocated $400,000 for construction of two -long runways on the land. The W. L. Florence Company of Powder Springs, Georgia, the low bidder with a bid of $290,000, won the contract. This bid, well-below the estimated cost of $400,000, allowed the CAA to add the third runway to this construction project. The construction began on 14 July 1941. In the next month, the Gulf Oil Corporation and Georgia Air Services agreed to lease the airport, once completed, for $12,000 per year. In September 1941, Eddie Rickenbacker, America's leading flying ace of World War I, and then the president and general manager of Eastern Airlines, agreed to have this airport named "Rickenbacker Field" in his honor. In the same month, the U.S. Navy requested permission to use this airport for the flight training of Naval aviators. (The Navy had established the "Naval Aviation Reserve Base Atlanta", at what is now the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, in March 1941.) In October, Georgia Air Services signed a $70,000 contract for two 180x160-ft. airplane hangars to be built. Although it was far from completion, the dedication of this airfield took place in October 1941