In 1938, the City of Denver donated more than 65,000 acres southeast of the city to the War Department for use as a bombing range. Preparing for the looming threat of war, by 1941 the site was named Buckley Field to honor Longmont, Colorado, native First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley, a World War I pilot who was tragically killed during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918.Buckley Field became home to the Army Air Forces Technical School, where aircraft armorers were trained, as well as a site for basic training for enlistees and aviation cadets during World War II. After the war, Buckley Field transitioned into a Naval Air Station and later became the first installation administered solely by the Air National Guard.During the Cold War, Buckley Air National Guard Base became the home to space-based missile warning, controlling the Defense Support Program satellites. The base was reassigned to the newest military service—the United States Space Force—and renamed Buckley Space Force Base in 2021.
In 1938, the City of Denver donated more than 65,000 acres southeast of the city to the War Department for use as a bombing range.
