Property Record
6024 S. Jasper Ave
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | General Mitchell Airport, Air Reserve Station - Building 217 |
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| Other Name: | Maintenance Hanger |
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| Reference Number: | 144786 |
| Location (Address): | 6024 S. Jasper Ave |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1956 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20072024 |
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| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | Steel Frame |
| Wall Material: | Concrete Block |
| Architect: | Gates Weiss & Kramer, Milwaukee / US Army Corps of Engineers |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 2007- Building 217 is located at 6036 South B Street on the east side of the street General Mitchell IAP ARS in the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It is a two-and-a-half story square-plan hangar that sits atop a concrete base. It is capped by gable roof sheathed in corrugated metal. A rectangular lawn with rounded corners is located east of the hangar, bisected by concrete sidewalks. The lawn provides a buffer between the hangar and Structure 7101 (Apron). A mounted propeller from a Hercules C-130A aircraft is mounted as a display on the lawn. The hangar is located on the west side of the apron. The north and south facades are dominated by massive bi-parting steel rolling doors that facilitate aircraft access. The doors, which were replaced in-kind in 1992, are set within corrugated-metal clad gable-front door frames. Metal panel-clad tail doors pierce the gable-front portion of the frame and facilitate aircraft tail access. The doors are identical in terms of appearance and mechanical opening systems to the original 1950s-era doors. On both facades, each half-door slides east or west respectively, and folds into pockets located at the northeast and southeast, and northwest and southwest corners of the door frame. The lower portion of the rolling doors is sheathed in metal panels. The upper portion of the rolling doors is sheathed in translucent panels to allow for daylighting of the hangar space. Each half-door unit is pierced by a pedestrian door, resulting in two pedestrian doors per facade. The east and west facades of the hangar are dominated by shop lean-to structures. The shops are constructed of concrete block, sheathed in ribbed metal siding. The east façade is pierced by modern windows with fixed upper units and lower movable units. Access is provided by both modern roll-up and metal manway doors. The west façade has similar details to the east façade, but has no roll-up doors. The interior of the hangar has several architectural features. The floor is concrete, buffed to a high shine. The gable roof is supported by a series of metal trusses. The 440th Airlift Wing (AW) Maintenance Squadron maintains a concrete block square-plan tool room at the eastern side of the interior space. The roof of the tool room accommodates storage shelves. Building 217 was constructed in 1956 as the Maintenance Hangar for the US Air Force Reserve (AFRES) installation at General Billy Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Designed by the Milwaukee-based architecture and engineering Gates Weiss & Kramer, the firm was hired by the US Army, Office of the District Engineer, Milwaukee District, the branch of the military that typically oversaw design and construction for military installations. Building 217 was initially built as the aircraft maintenance headquarters of the 2473rd Air Force Reserve Training Center (AFRTC), a fighter-bomber unit. One year after its completion in 1957, the unit was deactivated and eventually replaced by the 440th Troop Carrier Wing (TCW), and its mission shifted to airlift endeavors. As described in the Historic Building Inventory and Evaluation, General Mitchell International Airport Air Reserve Station prepared for the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) in 2007, Building 217 has played a key role in the history of the installation. From 1956 to the present, Building 217 has functioned as the primary maintenance hangar of the 440th TCW and its successor, the 440th Airlift Wing (AW). The 440th AW has assisted AFRES in fulfilling its airlift mission by providing air transport and airlift for deploying troops, cargo, and humanitarian aid in support of national policy. Between the late 1950s and early 1970s, the 440th AW flew and maintained the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar from within Building 217. The aircraft was developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet which was designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. During the 1960s, historic photographs and plans indicate that a second floor was built atop the lean-to structures on the west façade, augmenting the space of various squadrons that occupied the hangar. By 1975, a second hangar, Building 302 (Fuel Systems Maintenance Dock) was constructed to provide additional aircraft maintenance options for members of the 440th AW. In addition, during this period, the 440th AW#25;s ability to achieve its mission was vastly improved when it was assigned a new, more powerful aircraft, the Lockheed C-130A Hercules to replace the C-119 Flying Boxcar which the unit had flown since its inception in 1957. The unit flew the C-130A until 1989, when it received factory-fresh C-130H aircraft which it continues to maintain within Building 217. During the Cold War (1946-89) and later, multiple missions were launched from Building 217. These include a month-long deployment of the 440th TCW during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and from the 1970s-80s, multiple training missions within the US, including Alaska. Missions were also carried out abroad during this period in regions as varied as Central America, Europe, India, and Russia, to name a few. Multiple humanitarian missions were also initiated, including responses to natural disasters such as snowstorms and hurricanes. In the 1990s, deployment of the 440th AW to Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm set forth from Building 217. In the 2000s, deployments to Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in support of the war on terror have also taken place, and recently, deployments to Iraq have also originated from this location. |
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| Bibliographic References: | AFCEE. Historic Building Inventory and Evaluation, General Mitchell International Airport Air Reserve Station. 2007. Foth & VanDyke. "Replacement of Maintenance Hangar Doors-Building 217." Drawing No. 217-165. 1992. On file at Building 106 (Civil Engineering), General Mitchell IAP ARS, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Gates Weiss & Kramer/USACE Milwaukee District. "Maintenance Hangar, Building 217." Drawing 217-001. 1955b. On file at Building 106 (Civil Engineering), General Mitchell IAP ARS, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Schutte Phillips Mochon, Inc./USACE Chicago District. "Maintenance Hangar Addition-Building 217." Drawing No. 217-080. 1962. On file at Building 106 (Civil Engineering), General Mitchell IAP ARS, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |