a mystery that

Most of the former members are reluctant to talk about what the facility did. Some admit that from 1953 to 1962, it stored, handled, loaded and unloaded what they referred to as “special weapons” at Travis.

All training had to be approved by the Atomic Energy Commission, Park said. To say anything further could have ruffled some feathers, Park added.

The Fairfield Air Force Station covered 512 acres, where the 60th Security Forces headquarters now stands. It was its own separate, self-contained base, which was established on Sept. 8, 1952. It was one of five such groups established between 1951 a nd 1954 to handle nuclear weapons.

“It was part of a plan to have depots at all the different bases,” said retired Chief Master Sgt. Delane Kelly.

The 3083rd’s airmen loaded bombs carried on the Strategic Air Command’s 5th Bombardment Wing’s B-36 Peacemaker and then the B-52 Stratofortresses.

“Whatever SAC wanted, we would go and give it to them,” Park said.

Six hundred military and civilian men and women organized in four squadrons made up the unit. Passing through just the first gate alone required secret clearance. Passing through the four other interior gates required higher clearances.

“There were many people who served at our installation who never got past the first gate,” said retired Lt. Col. Ed Craig.

“We were formed to receive, ship and repair all kinds of munitions,” said retired Lt. Col. Curt Burgan in a 1990s interview. “We had some of the highest trained men in the Air Force.”

“Some of the weapons were so sensitive that you couldn’t open them up unless you had two people in the room who knew what they were doing,” Park said.

Relations with Travis, which was a Strategic Air Command base at the time, were rough at first because during the 1950s, “SAC was looked upon as a God and we weren’t SAC,” Parks said.

“But once they (Travis) got used to it (the station’s existence), we fit like a glove,” Park said.

The 3083rd’s commander had the final word on who got to enter his facility. Burgan remembers refusing one high-ranking base officer access.

“He was not yet briefed on our status and he was mad,” Burgan said.

Another Travis commander, offended by the sign saying the 3083rd was the “Best Damned Outfit in the USAF,” demanded the sign be removed. The 3083rd’s commander refused and the sign stayed up.

Five fences surrounded the base and the third of the five was electrified.

“Security got tired of constantly picking up dead rabbits,” Burgan said.

Three migrant workers whose car broke down on Highway 12 a lmost became victims, too. The three saw the facility’s lights and mistook it for a small town. Security police caught them as they finished scaling the second fence and were about to scale the third.

The unit had its own sports teams and clubs. It had good community relations, because of the sports activities. Its members turned out in strength for community projects, such as building a Little League park where the Chick-fil-A restaurant now stands.

One of the unit’s more resourceful scroungers convinced the Navy to supply them with boats, which were moored at Bran nan Island.

“We were the only Air Force unit around with its own Navy,” Park said.

The small fleet included a 10,000gallon fuel barge, a 99-foot maintenance barge, a gig, a runabout and a capt ain’s boat.

The 3083rd received at least two E-for-Excellence banners for good work, Burgan said.

Advances in weapon technology and the advent of the missile age made the depots obsolete by the early 1960s.

“Weapons developed to the point that we were no longer needed,” Burgan said. “It was to a point that you could plug in a component and if the light was red, you sent it back, and if the light was green, it was good.”

Burgan commanded the facility when it closed in July 1962. Everything had to be accounted for, down to the pillows, he said.

The only thing left of the base after it closed was a radioactive burial site, which was a backfilled trench that contained cleaning materials from the maintenance of nuclear components at the facility.

Base namesake was tough, beloved

Gen. Travis

Brig. Gen. Robert Falligant Travis was a leader who didn’t like coming in second in anything, according to one officer who served under him in the skies over Europe during World War II.

Like other exacting commanders, Travis’ ire could take on a form akin to the wrath of God, but his ability to push men to do their best distinguished him and helped get hi m his star.

It made him one of the more successful bomber wing commanders in Europe and brought him to command of what was then the Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base.

Travis was born Dec. 26, 1904, in Savannah, Ga., with military roots that included 19th century lawyer and soldier William Barrett Travis, who commanded the regulars at the Alamo and died with his men when Mexican leader Santa Ana stormed the mission in 1836.

Travis graduated from West Point in 1928 a nd received a commission as a second lieutenant in the field artillery. His flying career started not long after, when he entered Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas. A year later, he graduated as a pilot from the Air Corps Advanced School at Kelly Field, Texas.

After graduating from the Air Corps engineering school at Wright Field, Ohio, Travis was sent to Seattle to supervise construction at the Boeing Airplane Co. plant for the fledgling B-17 F lying Fortress, according to a fami ly history.

The performance of the first two prototype B-17s did not bode well for the heavy bomber’s production when both crashed in flight tests. Travis was asked to fly a third one from Seattle to the Presidio in San Francisco and he completed the flight.

A procession of commands led him to take command of the 72nd Bombardment Squadron at Hickam Field in Hawaii in July 1939, where he stayed for a year before moving on to serve as material officer for the 5th Bombardment Group. In July 1943, he assumed command of the First Bomber Command at El Paso, Texas.

Travis soon joined the 8th Air Force, head ing up the 41st Combat Bombardment Wing, personally leading his air crews in 35 m issions over Nazi-occupied Europe.

“Gen. Travis distinguished himself by personally choosing to lead bombardment elements on combat missions in which it was known that heavy and extremely hazardous opposition would be met,” his Distinguished Service Cross citation stated. “This officer exhibited great courage, coolness and determination in carrying out operations as planned.”

In England, Travis was considered a hard driver who felt the nature of combat command was to achieve victory. He sacked any squadron commander who didn’t live up to his standards.

Retired Maj. Gen. Dame Smith, a B-17 g roup commander under Travis who later wrote the memoir “Screaming Eagle,” described Travis as a man “who never liked to finish second at anything.”

Few subordinates wanted to cross their exacting commander, but Smith had to do so on an April 1944 m ission over Germany.

Travis made it a point to take the lead formation on missions he flew. Inadequate planning, reinforced by several turns the multi-group formation took to the target, forced Smith’s bomber to cut off Travis’ lead formation as it closed on target, Smith wrote.

Turning off the radio saved Smith from Travis’ irate airborne tirade, which was loud enough to cut through German radio jamming but it could not save Smith from the inevitable showdown after both landed back in England.

“Gen. Travis was steaming with anger when I reported and saluted, but he was compassionate enough to direct me toward a chair,” Smith wrote.

Smith silently endured Travis’ verbal barrage and then took advantage of the silence that followed to explain the reason for his insubordination.

“Bob Travis listened to it all,” Smith wrote. “I have to hand it to him; he was fair and reasonable and didn’t hold a grudge. He evidently decided it wasn’t my fault and I took the only reasonable action.”

Travis’ expression softened “and for a long moment, he regarded the pencil with which he was taking notes,” Smith wrote.

Travis then told Smith to put himself in for a Silver Star.