Page Contents for Mountain Home AFB, Idaho

Statistics & Facts

History & History-related items

City Attractions

Historical Events

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Statistics & Facts

The Idaho state capital is Boise.
The population of Mountain Home AFB is approximately 5,936 (1990).
The approximate number of families is 1,528 (1990).
The amount of land area in Mountain Home AFB is 25.721 sq. kilometers.
The amount of surface water is 0 sq kilometers.
The distance from Mountain Home AFB to Washington DC is 2151 miles.
The distance to the Idaho state capital is 42 miles. (as the crow flies)
Mountain Home AFB is positioned 43.04 degrees north of the equator and 115.86 degrees west of the prime meridian.

History & History Related Items

In the 70's and 80's, Mtn Home AFB was one of three bases in the nation that supported the F-111A Aardvark multi-role fighter bomber. Previous to that MHAFB was home to the B-58 Hustler, high altitude bomber. At that time MHAFB (B-58 era) was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base and in the mountains behind the city of Mountain Home near the quarry was the site of several minuteman missle silos. They have since been filled with cement and are no longer in service.
People stationed at MHAFB weren't aware of the fact that the guard shack that sits at the main entrance of Airbase road was moved a few hundred feet up the roadway so the base would not be considered a remote duty assignment! For those who have lived in the city of Mtn Home or on the base 10-miles away, can you remember the phrase, "Where in the hell is Bennett, Idaho?" MHAFB also was homebase for the EF-111A Raven. These were converted F-111A aircraft from the AGS Yellow Squadron's group. Yellow Squadron had the most "hanger queens" (most aircraft on downtime) so it was appropriate to convert that squadron. Incidentally, when the RAF from Australia purchased a few F-111A's, we sold them the yellow squadron's. The EF-111A incorporated a modified ALQ-99 jamming pod and sat atop the rudder of the plane, hence the bulge.
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Attractions

Mountain Home AFB - Home of the Gunfighters
"America's Air Expeditionary Wing"
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Mountain Home AFB Historical Events

1970's-80's
I was up in Idaho for almost four years, stationed at Mtn. Home AFB. I remember seeing a few trucks going up the mountainside on the outskirts of the town. I used to take my bicycle (pre-mountain bike days), up to the quarry site and challenge the hills. One day as I made it up on steep hill, I saw several earthmovers filling in what looked like bunkers.
A friend of mine who was stationed at Mtn. Home AFB when it was a SAC base many years before I got there told me there were a few missile silos back there and they were inactive. I told them I saw several large earthmovers filling in what looked like bunkers. My friend told me they were silos.
As for the town of Mtn Home, my landlord up there said the town was originally up in the mountain range and the house I rented from her (on Daniels Rd) was relocated from the original site of Mtn. Home. The town for some reason sits on virtually flat land.
Here's an amazing story, linking Idaho and Hawaii. The Owahee Mountain range in Idaho apparently got its name from the name Hawaii. The story I heard was that a few explorers that knew of Hawaii or were from Hawaii asked their Indian guides what that mountain range was ahead of them. They indicated that that range was in the direction of Hawaii. Apparently the Indians repeated the name Hawaii but in their tongue they said Owahee as they pointed to the mountain range. The explorers then thought the indians were telling them the mountain range was the Owahee Mountain range and the name stuck.
Well 15-years later when visiting the Ellison Onizuka Center near the summit of Mauna Kea (the site of the Keck Observatory) some 11,000 feet up I noticed what looked like SilverSword plants. Now the silversword only grows in one place on earth and that's on the neighboring island of Maui on the summit of Haleakala (House of the Sun)a dormant volcano at 10,000 ft above sea level.
This close relative of the silversword also grows in another place on the earth too! It turns out to be the Owahee Mountains in Idaho. According to the Onizuka guide, he said these plants growing on Mauna Kea came from seedlings from Idaho. I told him the story of how Owahee got its name, and then he recalled a story regarding explorers in Idaho remarking the similarities between the names of Owahee and Hawaii.
Ellison Onizuka was one of the astronauts killed in the Shuttle Challenger explosion. He was from Hawaii.
It still amazes me how unlinked histories when pieced together really tells a much bigger story and how certain things seems to make sense once stories become linked.
Submitted by Craig Watanabe