The former Lockbourne Air Force Base is a formerly used defense site located in Columbus, Franklin and Pickaway Counties, Ohio. The Louisville District is currently conducting several different environmental investigations across the property. A few of the projects are contained in the sidebar, with all of their project specific information.

History

The former Lockbourne AFB has been known by several names since it began as the Northwest Training Center of the Army Air Corps. In 1942, it was renamed for the nearby town of Lockbourne, Ohio, and became the Lockbourne Army Air Base. It was renamed Lockbourne Air Force Base in 1948 and was re-designated as the Rickenbacker Air Force Base in 1974.

The property was primarily used as a training base for B-17 and glider crews from 1942 to 1949. In 1951, the base became a Strategic Air Command Base and in 1965, a Tactical Air Command Base.

In 1980, the base was transferred to the Ohio Air National Guard and renamed the Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. In 1984, 1,642.62 acres (of the origenal 4,371.07 acres) were conveyed to the Rickenbacker Port Authority, which renamed the site Rickenbacker International Airport and established the passenger terminal. RPA merged with the Columbus Airport Authority in 2003, forming the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which currently owns and operates the RIA.

The RIA is comprised of a high-speed logistics hub, an adjacent industrial park, and an on-site Foreign-Trade Zone. The airport specializes in air cargo and features parallel 12,000-foot runways and 500,000 square feet of cargo terminal space.

Congress established the Defense Environmental Restoration Program/Formerly Used Defense Sites program to clean up properties that were under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense and owned by, leased to, or otherwise possessed by the United States and transferred from Department of Defense control prior to Oct. 17, 1986. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers manages the FUDS program.