‘Secret city’ rumors connect to nuclear weapons

It’s nickname was “secret city.”

Many knew the 3083rd Aviation Group was there, but few knew what it did behind closely patrolled perimeter fences.

The sign over the front gate of the Fairfield Air Force Station declared the unit as “Best Damned Outfit in the USAF,” but gave no fu rther clue.

Today, many of the people who knew of the 3083rd believe the unit handled atomic weapons, maintaining them and loading them onto the base’s bombers. But no one who served in the unit, even decades after it closed, will confirm it.

“It’s still a fairly sensitive subject,” said retired Chief Master Sgt. Floyd Park, a nuclear weapons technician with the unit, in a 1990s Daily Republic interview.