Fairchild's historic "White House" headquarters retired Published March 19, 2014 By Staff Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- For nearly 75 years, the Fairchild headquarters, affectionately known as the "White House," has served the region providing numerous units throughout the years a place to call home. White House construction completed on Feb. 5, 1943, and the Army took ownership on June 14 of the same year. The building cost a total of $157, 338, equaling more than $2 million in today's standards with respect to the cumulative rate of inflation. "The wing headquarters really has not changed through the years," said Jim O'Connell, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing historian. "Within its walls, units and Airmen have come and gone and come again. Missions and airframes have changed. Troop formations stood on its steps thousands of times for changes of command, memorials, retreats and retirements." Since construction completion, the White House has served 10 units ranging from major commands, bomb wings and the current air refueling wings, as well as subordinate and tenant units. The existing building is a wood frame structure originally designed for the Army in 1942 serving the War Department during World War II as headquarters for the newly formed Spokane Army Air Depot. From 1942 to 1946, the base served as a repair depot for damaged aircraft returning from the Pacific theater. Since its creation, the White House led Airmen through conflicts and wars around the globe epitomizing the base's motto largely painted on the maintenance hangar, "Global reach for America!" Throughout the 1990s, the base was involved in virtually every major contingency operation around the world, including keeping Saddam Hussein in check and stopping aggression in Bosnia. Airmen at Fairchild also saw their fair share of action through the next millennium and to present day as well supporting Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn and the ongoing Operation Noble Eagle. "Despite it all, the White House has been a constant," O'Connell said. "It has been ever vigilant standing watch over our base over the course of these past 71 years. It will be hard to see the White House, a great icon from our base history, end its chapter." And while one chapter closes at Fairchild, another begins, for in 2011, Congress authorized the replacement of the historic White House. "With the ending of one chapter comes the realization and the knowledge that with the completion of the new wing headquarters, the future of this base is very bright indeed," O'Connell said. "What is past is prologue. Knowing the great legacy of the White House, we can anticipate many great things from our Airmen in Fairchild AFB's future while working out of the new headquarters." The new building was awarded for design and construction in April 2012 with a $12 million construction contract awarded to Jackson Construction Group in Missoula, Mont., and design contract awarded to Tetra Tech in Seattle, Wash. Fairchild's new headquarters is one of the first Building Information Modeling prototypes for the Air Force using associated attribute data software to produce an extremely accurate design and construction documents. The new building will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building for enhanced efficiency in design, construction and operation as a high performance green building. The 92nd Civil Engineer Squadron project management chief, Chris Corativo, said the new headquarters does provide economic savings as well. "The modern facility addresses energy efficiency, heating and cooling issues, power usage and capacity, water usage communication sufficiency," said Corativo. "These goals are submitted and evaluated by third party entities resulting in building certification and are also scrutinized by the Air Force Civil Engineer Center." The new headquarters ribbon cutting is slated for March 20 with a possible move in date this spring. [Editor's note: The 92nd ARW Historian Office contributed to this article.]
