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.
Air Force Plant NC
North American Aviation's president had inspected the field by December 1940 when the US government approved construction of a Kansas City production plant to produce B-25 Mitchell bombers for the USAAF and PBJ-1D bombers for the US Navy. Survey work began in December, the city of Kansas City, Kansas, purchased the airport in February, and the plant's groundbreaking was on 8 March 1941. Contract W535 AC 19341 for the initial production of 1,200 B-25D (NA-87) bombers was approved on June 28, 1941; production began in December 1941.