Hill Air Force Base

March 1983

With orders in hand, we drove from Washington to Utah and arrived at Hill Air Force Base, located 29 miles (46 km) north of Salt Lake City.

The base was Named Hill Field in December 1939 for Major
Ployer P. Hill, who lost his life in 1935 while piloting the
famous B-17 Flying Fortress at Wright-Patterson AFB (Ohio).
[scanned from an air force magazine]

Hill Field was officially activated in November 1940.
In February 1948, following the 1947 change from
Army Air Corps to USAF, the name was changed to Hill AFB.
[scanned from an air force magazine]

The news that there was no vacancy at the inn was not what we were expecting to hear at the end of a long day’s drive.  But fear not, there was temporary lodging available in the flight line bunker where pilots were housed.  And a bunker it was.  No windows; thick, concrete walls — all designed to minimize any effects from aircraft operations!

Under the circumstances, is it any wonder we had no idea that a blizzard had raged overnight until we stepped out the door the next morning to start our search for off-base housing?