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Stewart Air National Guard Base
The 105th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard is based at Stewart Air National Guard Base. The former Stewart Air Force Base is also known as Newburgh-Stewart IAP and Stewart International Airport. Stewart IAP (ANG) is located in Newburgh, New York. It’s home to the 105th Airlift Wing whose mission is to provide peacetime and wartime inter-theater airlift operations using the C-5A “Galaxy” cargo aircraft. Newburgh is approximately 100 miles due south of Albany, the capital of New York State. The base encompasses 267 acres and contains 36 buildings, amounting to approximately 757,000 square feet. There is no family or transient housing. The day-to-day base population is approximately 660 personnel; however, one weekend each month the population surges to 1600 in response to Air National Guard drills.
The C-5 Aircrew Training System [ATS] provides assured aircrew ground training that is concurrent with the C-5 weapon system and its operating procedures. The ATS includes total contractor training with instructors, courseware, aircrew training devices (ATD), computer based training (CBT) and instructor based training (IBT). Training sites are located at Altus AFB OK, Dover AFB DE, Travis AFB CA, Westover ARB MA, Kelly AFB TX, and Stewart ANGB NY. A new basic contract was awarded to FlightSafety Services Corporation (FSSC), Englewood CO, on 5 May 1999. The basic contract delivered a new Weapon Systems Trainer (WST) to Stewart ANGB NY with spares.
West Point began its association with Stewart in the 1930’s when then Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur directed that a site near West Point be found to construct an airfield in order to teach cadets to fly. The Stewart family donated 220 acres of land to West Point in 1942 for that purpose, and later that year Stewart Airfield was dedicated as the "Wings of West Point".
In 1948 Stewart Airfield became Stewart Air Force Base. In 1956 the 331st Fighter Interceptor Squadron was transferred from Stewart Air Force Base in New York to Webb AFB in Texas to defend the southern United States border on air intercept missions. The First Air Force, Air Defense Command, was headquartered at Stewart Air Force Base, NY. First Air Force was reactivated at Stewart Air Force Base, Newburgh, N.Y., on Jan. 20, 1966. During this period, the unit was charged with the air defense of the northeastern United States, Greenland, Iceland and parts of Canada. During the late 1960s the Eastern NORAD Region was one of the six regions comprising the North American Air Defense Command with responsibility for conducting all United States and Canadian air defense activities. In 1966 the 26th NORAD (CONAD) Region and the 26th Air Division -- both at Stewart Air Force Base -- were designated the Eastern NORAD (CONAD) Region and the First Air Force, ADC, still at Stewart Air Force Base.
In 1970 Stewart Air Force Base was deactivated and acquired by New York State. In 1971, New York State acquired by eminent domain nearly 8,000 acres of farmland bordering Stewart Air Force base for the planned development of a fourth super-airport to service metropolitan New York. Stewart did become a commercial airport but all the land proved unnecessary for runways and super-sonic noise buffer.
On 25 January 25 the 52 American hostages held in Iran returned home to Stewart International Airport.
In 1999 New York Governor George Pataki transferred about 5,400 acres to the Department of Environmental Conservation, and allowed the Empire State Development Corporation, (New York State's development arm), to offer 1,200 acres for development.
The New York Air National Guard flew tons of relief supplies to El Salvador, to help the nation and its people recover from a series of devastating earthquakes in January and February. On 19 March 2001, a giant C-5 "Galaxy" cargo jet from the New York Air National Guard's 105th Airlift Wing departed from Stewart (ANGB) laden with relief supplies donated by Centro Civico and other organizations. The aircraft flew to Charleston Airforce Base, on-load the additional supplies and proceed to Sotocana, Honduras, where the Nicaragua-bound materials were off-loaded.
At approximately 0845 hours Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, September 11, a commercial airplane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. As of September 12, National Medical Response Team-Weapons of Mass Destruction- EAST (NMRT-E) was en route to Stewart ANGB. This team is a specialized response force sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service that is designed to provide medical care following a nuclear, biological, and/or chemical incident. They are specially trained to work towards decontamination of sites, and can provide medical care in contaminated areas if needed.
Stewart Army Subpost (STAS)
Stewart Army Subpost is located in New Windsor, 60 miles north of New York City off Interstate 87 near Newburgh. In 1998 the Congress decided that the Stewart Army Subpost tract of 270 acres would be given to the town of New Windsor, and the post was divested STAS by 30 September 1999. Approximately 260 acres were transferred to the Town of New Windsor, 90 acres to the U.S. Marine Corps, 41 acres to the U.S. Army Reserve and 10 acres to the State of New York.
Over the years Stewart was home to numerous Air Force, Marine and Army units. STAS served since the early 1970s as a home for USMA staff and faculty and for a time, from 1946 until 1957, as the site for the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School. Major units included Headquarters, Garrison Commander; Military Airlift Group Detachment B (Marines); 105th Airlift Group (Air National Guard); Readiness Group - Stewart; 411th Engineer Brigade. The Wings of West Point, the Army’s 2nd Aviation Detachment, the Air Force’s 105th Airlift Wing and the Marine Aircraft Group 49, Detachment B will still maintain facilities at Stewart airport.
The population included 600 active-duty; 1,800 family members; 210 Air Guard; 724 civilians. Housing included 164 senior enlisted family units; 427 enlisted family units; 14 unaccompanied officer units; 86 unaccompanied enlisted units; three trailers. The Army had housed hundreds of families at the subpost since 1973, and began to move them to new facilities at the US Military Academy at West Point.
About sixty-one percent of DoD’s housing inventory in the continental United States is substandard, totaling over 163,000 units. Fixing this problem using only traditional military construction would take over 18 years and cost as much as $16 billion. The pace of new and replacement construction and improvements would not let the military eliminate the backlog of repairs and shortage of homes. DOD worked with the Congress to establish ground breaking new authorities in FY-1995 and FY-1996 to use public/private ventures (PPVs) as a housing tool. Under a 5-year pilot program, DOD can provide cash, direct loans and loan guarantees, and differential lease payments (DLPs). DOD can also convey or lease land, housing and facilities to a developer in exchange for renovation or construction of homes for our military members and their families. The objective was to use these tools to solve the housing problem in 10 years. Congressional notification was given in June 2000 to issue a solicitation at Stewart Army SubPost in Newburgh, NY.
The fate of the Stewart Buffer Lands -- 8,000 acres of open space in rapidly developing Orange County -- remained uncertain in Fall 1998.
In December 1997 the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY privatized the Natural Gas System at Stewart Army Subpost, New Windsor, NY. Privatization is defined as the transfer of ownership and responsibility for operation, maintenance, repair, upgrade, and plant replacement to the non-federal sector. As a result of this solicitation, a company was selected to assume ownership, with the actual transfer accomplished after the award of this indefinite term utility service contract. Reduced consumption due to downsizing prior to the divestiture of Stewart Army Subpost was expected.
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