TULSA, Okla. - The Tulsa District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was birthed as powers in Europe and Asia increased the volume to the drumbeat of war in 1939.
Just 108 days before the district opened its offices in downtown Tulsa, German troops marched into Czechoslovakia in violation of the Munich Agreement. In the Pacific, Japanese troops occupied portions of China.
Tulsa District opened its doors on July 1, 1939 and 62 days later Germany invaded Poland resulting in a formal declaration of war by England and France; World War II had begun in Europe.
Early in 1940, the U.S. Congress voted for the construction of 30 military aircraft plants and President Franklin Roosevelt called on manufacturers to produce 50,000 warplanes each year.
On Jan. 4, 1941, Tulsa District received its first major military construction project, Tulsa Aircraft Assembly Plant Number Three, which was named the Tulsa Bomber Plant. The City of Tulsa provided land and the Corps built a 320-foot wide, hangar that was nearly one-mile in length. At its zenith, the plant rolled out a new B-24 Liberator every 19.5 hours and modified or built 6,000 other planes including the B-17 Flying Fortress.
In March 1942 construction was authorized on Oklahoma Aircraft Assembly Plan Number Five in Oklahoma City. The plant produced 208 C-47 transport planes every month.
The government's demand for warplanes was so great that aircraft were manufactured at both the Tulsa and Oklahoma City plants before the walls of the hangars were built. In the case of the Tulsa plant, the first aircraft was completed Aug. 15, 1942, just 45 days before completion.
In April 1941, the War Department awarded Oklahoma City with the Midwest Air Depot. One month after authorization, construction began at an initial cost of $29 million. In 1948, the Air Force renamed the depot after Oklahoma native Maj. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker who died leading a bomber strike on the Japanese at Wake Island in 1942.
During World War II the Tulsa District built:
Camp Gruber in Muskogee, which housed as many as 50,000 men at its peak for training.
Oklahoma Ordnance Works between Chouteau and Pryor to manufacture military explosives. At a cost of $60 million, it was the largest single military construction project undertaken by the Tulsa District.
By the end of the war Tulsa District had built flying schools, municipal airports, airfields bombing ranges, hospitals and prisoner-of-war camps.
Following World War II, the nation redirected its focus to civil works construction. For every $1 million spent on military construction within the district in 1950, $17 million was spent on civil works.
During the Korean War military construction ramped up again. From 1950-1954 the Corps awarded military construction contracts totaling about $100 million.
In 1961, the Corps realigned military responsibilities and boundaries which resulted in the transfer of major military construction duties to only 17 districts. With the change of duties nearly 160 Tulsa District employees were transferred.
The 1980s brought a return of military-related missions to the district.
In November 1984, a fire at Building 3001 at Tinker Air Force Base destroyed 17 acres of roofing and destroyed 12 major aircraft engine repair stations. The fire burned for 40 hours and ruined the structure.
The replacement project, a $63.5 million undertaking, was the largest and most expensive reconstruction effort the Air Force and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had ever essayed.
Construction began in March 1985 and the contractor worked around-the-clock to meet the September completion deadline. The project was completed in August of the same year, on-time and within budget.
Today, the Tulsa District is responsible for military construction projects at Army and Air Force installations in Oklahoma and Texas:
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma
Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma
Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma
Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas
Fort Sill, Oklahoma
McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, Oklahoma
The future of military construction is bright in the Tulsa District as Tinker Air Force Base and Altus Air Force Base were selected as depot and training sites for the Air Force's new KC-46 Pegasus. The Pegasus is an aerial refueler that will eventually replace the Air Force's ageing KC-135 Stratotanker fleet built between 1954 and 1965.
The Tulsa District will oversee construction and contracting of about $200 million in Pegasus-related projects at Tinker Air Force Base and Altus Air Force Base over the next several years.
As new projects are approved, and the Corps' expertise is sought by customers
After 75 years, the military mission within the Tulsa District is alive and well.
This article is comprised of information published in Fifty Years Remembered, the First 50 Years of the Tulsa District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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