You Can't Go Back (to an old base)

[TSgtRet]

I drove down to Kokomo yesterday on company business and was passing Grissom on my way back so I thought I would stop and look around. It's called the Grissom Aeroplex. The museum was closed but took a few pics over the fence. I was stationed there early 76 to Jun 77; back when it was SAC. Base housing is now "Villages at Eagles Point" or something like that. They put siding over the stucco and closed most of the carports into garages and sold old Capehart housing as condos! Found my old house, didn't look too bad, but in general the place is a slum....cars parked in yards, doors hanging off, trashcans in front of the houses and just generally unkept. The Air Reserve "base" is basically the old maintenance/DCM area. I remember living there and the guy in the pickup measuring your grass and turning it in to your squadron commander if it was too tall! Now it's all just dingy and run down... You really can't go back again.:(

[Fräulein]

"You Can't Go Back (to an old base)"

This is a true statement.

Clark is a sad state.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Fräulein

[airnav]

Roger that! The museum is nice, but a joke in itself regarding their operations. They advertise the hours of operation, but if a volunteer doesn't show up then everyone is S.O.L., and you get to look at planes from outside the fence. Grissom is also a fine example of how the local govt. did not care, nor want a military presence in their locality.

Kurt

[TSgtRet]

Grissom is also a fine example of how the local govt. did not care, nor want a military presence in their locality.

Kurt

I have to concur on that. I'm a Navy brat and we were stationed at NAS Glenview, Ill from 59 to 67. Well the only thing that still exists today is the control tower and the front of Base Ops and the corners of the attached hangars (Ops is a bookstore and one of the hangars is a Von Maur, I think). The whole area is now an "upper" shopping and residential area. In fact, when BRAC approached the mayor of Glenview in the late 90s and asked if she had any input on the closing she said "Go ahead and close it, I don't care". Since I lived there from age 5 to 13 this is like having your childhood hometown erased from the map.

If you go to this site: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/index.htm , there is an excellent write up on Glenview, in fact there are writeups on over 1,000 airfields that have "gone away"; excellent site.

[airnav]

Yeah.......(sigh!!!!!), some localities/state's saw, and still see to this day the opportunity for "industrial park's!" Think about it.........utilities (to include water/sewage treatment plants), plenty of concrete, hangar's, administrative building's, expensive fencing, and space for a lot of semi trailer's. They also make terrific minimum-security prison's due to the dormitory space.

Yes, "you can't go back"; but the memory's and photograph's shall prevail! As well as my gray hair........

Kurt

[EClark]

Yea! I go by Sewart,AFB three are four times a year.Stopped once it is a shame what civilians can do to a beautiful Air Base so sad.

[Dan Wilson]

Tell me about it, here's a really nice shot of my old house in Biloxi following Katrina

I think the roof probably leaks a bit:rolleyes:

Dan

[davis]

Look like the lawn is coming in good Dan!:rolleyes:

[INS/Dopplertroop]

Actually I'm just surprised there's not a FEMA trailer home sitting there. That was the natural landscape after Camille in 69.

There was a website sometime back that had pictures of the horrible delapidated state the former Chanute AFB, IL fell into under Local community development (NOT).

[Blackmac_Project]

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/chanute_afb.htm

http://www.davejordanophotography.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1π=10000&s=21&p=5&a=0&at=0

Its sad..... KI Sawyer is the same way I was up there attending orientation for American Eagle ERJ maintenance. Other than a few hangars and the new terminal its rotting away too.

Engine Mike

Edited January 21, 2010 by Blackmac_Project

[jetcal1]

I have to concur on that. I'm a Navy brat and we were stationed at NAS Glenview, Ill from 59 to 67. Well the only thing that still exists today is the control tower and the front of Base Ops and the corners of the attached hangars (Ops is a bookstore and one of the hangars is a Von Maur, I think). The whole area is now an "upper" shopping and residential area. In fact, when BRAC approached the mayor of Glenview in the late 90s and asked if she had any input on the closing she said "Go ahead and close it, I don't care". Since I lived there from age 5 to 13 this is like having your childhood hometown erased from the map.

If you go to this site: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/index.htm , there is an excellent write up on Glenview, in fact there are writeups on over 1,000 airfields that have "gone away"; excellent site.

Glenview is populated by affluent folks who have a condescending attitude towards the military. I understand that the attitudes changed a bit in Glenview after they were told that low-income housing was going in.