Wing's legacy continues

  • Published
  • By History Office
  • 509th Bomb Wing
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. (AFPN) --  The 509th Bomb Wing makes its home here, and operates the Air Force's premier weapon system, the B-2 Spirit bomber. 

The mission of the wing is to bring the full spectrum of expeditionary global power of the B-2 for combat support capabilities to combatant commanders.  With the B-2, the wing can bring massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses. 

The B-2's forward presence also has proved that it can deliver combat airpower, any time and any place. The aircraft began to deploy to Andersen AFB, Guam, in February 2005. This deployment provides a continuous bomber presence in the Asia-Pacific region and augmented Pacific Command's establishment of a deterrent force.

Whiteman is also the home of the 442nd Fighter Wing, an Air Force Reserve Command unit that flies the A-10 Thunderbolt II, as well as the Missouri Army National Guard's 1-135th Aviation Battalion, which flies the AH-64 Apache helicopter. The Navy Reserve Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 114 also operates from Whiteman. Their mission is to provide surveillance, intelligence and force protection measures for naval assets.

The bustling community of Whiteman AFB is nestled among the wooded, rolling hills of west-central Missouri, and two miles south of Knob Noster and 60 miles southeast of Kansas City.