Historic Photo of the day: Ramey Air Base

I remember “Ramey Base” …. It’s in beautiful Aguadilla!
“Throughout the Cold War era, and especially after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Ramey was the staging ground for numerous clandestine military interdictions throughout Latin America.” ….. deactivated now!

WAR AGAINST ALL PUERTO RICANS

The Ramey Air Force Base covered 3,796 acres in the northwest corner of Puerto Rico, near the town of Aguadilla. Construction started in 1937-38, and the base was finally closed in 1973.

For 35 years it was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber base. It housed the 55^th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing with a two-mile runway, seventeen airplane hangars, and servicemen’s barracks.

July 4^th, 1940 celebration at the Ramey Air Base

The base had its own elementary and high schools, hospital, officer’s club, swimming pool, and golf course.

The base was rumored to contain several underground missile silos for the “Truman atomic bomb.”

Ramey also housed a number of B-36 Peacemaker intercontinental bombers and KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft. Due to the size and weight of the B-36, the runway was large: 11,702 feet long and 200 feet wide, with an 870-foot “blast pad” at each end.