Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Tinker Air Force Base has been serving the U.S. Air Force as well as the Navy and other programs operated by the Department of Defense ever since it was first established as the Midwest Air Depot in 1941. With a main mission of supplying military materials worldwide and a history of manufacturing aircraft, the site has been integral to America’s defense. Unfortunately, its activities through the years have put those who served and worked on the base in proximity to asbestos, putting them at significant risk of being diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease like asbestosis, malignant mesothelioma, or lung cancer.
The History of Tinker Air Force Base
Like many other U.S. Air Force bases, Tinker Air Force Base was first established shortly before America entered World War II. As Oklahoma City businessmen found out that the War Department was looking for a site in the American Midwest for an aircraft maintenance depot, they acted quickly, forming the Oklahoma Industries Foundation and purchasing 960 acres, which they subsequently offered to the government at no cost and with promises to create whatever utilities, roadways, and railroad spurs that would be needed to bring the depot to their town.[1]
Based on this offer, the government selected the Oklahoma site, and construction began, funded by a $928,000 bond. Additional acreage was added, and by January 1942, the Midwest Air Depot was established. It began operating in downtown Oklahoma City before the site was completed. The air repair center was named the Oklahoma City Air Depot, and thousands of workers were hired to work alongside military personnel at the site, which was renamed Tinker Field in 1942 in honor of Major General Clarence L. Tinker, a one-eighth Osage from Oklahoma who lost his life in the Pacific in June of that year.[1]
During World War II, 13,500 people worked at the air depot, while just outside of the base, another 23,000 worked for the newly erected Douglas Aircraft plant. Many of the workers were women, the famed “Rose the Riveter” generation that kept factories running while the men served in combat. While the Douglas plant built more than five thousand C-47s for the war effort, the mechanics working at Tinker Air Force Base repaired, modified, and maintained B-17, B-24, and B-29 bombers, facilitating the use of the Superfortresses in the Pacific.[1]
After the war, the Douglas Plant stopped all manufacturing operations, and while other Air Force bases were being shut down, Tinker Field was kept open and took over operations of the Douglas Plant. The depot employees almost immediately began the significant project of modifying B-29s for atomic testing, including the Enola Gay. The depot was renamed the Oklahoma City Air Material Area, and in 1947, its employees began working on jet engines. Once the Air Force was officially established, the airfield’s name officially switched to Tinker Air Force Base. Shortly after being renamed, it was struck by a tornado that caused more than $10 million in damage to both aircraft and base facilities.[1]
In the 1950s, Tinker Air Force Base played a significant role in the Korean Conflict, as B-29s, B-50s, and B-36s were sent there for modifications. Tinker hired more staff and began repairing B-47, B-52, and KC-135s. The base began providing logistics support during the Suez Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and in 1964, it began working on the C-141 Starlifter. With the war in Vietnam brewing, Tinker took on the mammoth job of repairing and modifying more than two thousand A-7 Corsair IIs, F-4 Phantoms, and B-52 Stratofortresses. Many of these military aircraft were heavily contaminated with asbestos.[1]
After the war, Oklahoma City purchased and removed private residences in Tinker Air Force’s runway approach zone to make way for the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, and soon it became home to the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing, as well as its maintenance and repair center. By the 1980s, the base’s workforce had expanded to full capacity as it worked on the Space Shuttle, the B-1B bomber, and the B-2 stealth bomber. Many of its units deployed to the Near East as part of Operation Desert Shield in 1990 and 1991, the base began moving cargo and troops to the areas of operations for the Gulf War.[1]
In 1992, the Navy relocated its Strategic Communications Wing to Tinker so that its E-6 aircraft could be maintained there. This made Tinker the first interservice Air Force base, which helped the base survive the closures that affected other sites. In 1999, the Oklahoma Air Logistics Center entered a $10 billion contract with Lockheed-Martin Corporation for engine work. The site supported relief efforts after the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Murrah Federal Building in 1995, after it was the object of a domestic terror attack.[1]
How Was Asbestos Used at the Tinker Air Force Base?
Between the 1930s and 1980s, asbestos was widely used at U.S. Air Force bases. The material was prized for its heat resistance, durability, and insulating properties and was used in both construction and infrastructure and military aircraft construction, repairs, and maintenance. With the War Department requiring that the mineral be used in everything from ceiling and floor tiles to pipe insulation and paint, veterans in all branches of the military were exposed to asbestos in the barracks where they slept, the mess halls where they ate, and the medical centers where they received. In Air Force bases, and particularly in a base like Tinker, whose specific mission was keeping America’s planes in fighting condition, there was also significant exposure from aircraft components, including brake pads and linings, engine parts including gaskets and seals, cockpit and engine insulation, and the equipment and tools used to maintain the aircraft.
Asbestos was woven into protective gear worn by those working on hot engines. Gloves, aprons, and welding blankets were contaminated with the carcinogenic material, and there were asbestos components in the working parts of tools used for grinding and cutting. Even the materials used to prevent fires and to protect firefighters included asbestos.
Asbestos-containing materials and parts used at Tinker Air Force Base included:
- Adhesives
- Aircraft
- Aircraft Brakes
- Automobile and truck brakes
- Cargo bay insulation Adhesives
- Caulking
- Ceiling tiles
- Cement foundations
- Drywall
- Electrical wiring
- Epoxies
- Fireproofing materials
- Floor tiles
- Gaskets
- Heat shields for aircraft engines
- Heating systems in the cockpit
- HVAC systems
- Insulation materials
- Paint
- Pipes
- Plumbing
- Roofing
- Roofing adhesives
- Sealants
- Siding
- Soundproofing
- Valves
- Vinyl floor tiles
- Wallboard
Who Was at Risk of Asbestos Exposure at Tinker Air Force Base?
When the military ordered asbestos to be used in almost all applications, it was unaware that the material was carcinogenic, and the same is true of the service members and civilian employees who worked with it. Asbestos was everywhere, and exposure was part of day-to-day life by virtue of living around asbestos-contaminated structures and from exposure while doing repairs and maintenance on the base and on aircraft. Those who were at the greatest risk were the personnel who worked directly with the material, including aircraft maintenance and repair mechanics and technicians, sheet metal workers who handled asbestos insulation and whose welding equipment was contaminated with asbestos, and electricians who installed asbestos-insulated wiring in the aircraft. Also at risk were those involved in construction and maintenance on the base, installing or removing asbestos-containing building materials, including insulation, tiles, and roofing. Plumbers, pipefitters, and HVAC technicians worked with items that were insulated with asbestos, and firefighters wore fireproof gear, including gloves and fire suits that contained asbestos to protect them from heat and flame.
Because Tinker Air Force Base was responsible for providing aircraft parts and logistics, many of its personnel handled, stored and shipped asbestos-containing products. Even custodial staff tasked with cleaning facilities where asbestos insulation had been used were at significant risk.
Those who were most at risk of asbestos exposure at Tinker Air Force Base included:
- Sheet Metal Workers
- Welders
- Electricians
- Contractors
- Construction Workers
- Airmen
- Boiler Workers
- Pipefitters
- Machinists
- Aircraft mechanics
- Pilots
- Carpenters
In addition to service members and civilian employees who were exposed to asbestos on the base, today we know that their family members were also endangered by asbestos carried into their homes at the end of each day on their loved one’s hair, skin, or clothing. Many wives who laundered their husbands’ dusty work clothes at the end of each day have been sickened by this secondary exposure to asbestos.
Legacy Asbestos at Tinker Air Force Base
Though the military discontinued its use of asbestos after it became known that the material was carcinogenic, it took decades for asbestos abatement projects that removed friable asbestos from buildings and aircraft to be completed, and in some cases, the work was never done. Structures that had legacy asbestos hidden behind their walls have been cause for concern at Tinker. In 1984, a lawsuit was filed by the Tinker employees’ union against the base, alleging that asbestos fibers ripped from insulation around huge boilers at the base were being transmitted through the air conditioning system and into the food supply in the base’s dining hall,[2] and in 2020, federal investigators searched the office of a military housing landlord there while investigating violations that put base personnel at risk. According to the military, Balfour Beatty was negligent in its management of military housing, exposing personnel to asbestos and putting families at risk of illness.[3]
Work to remove asbestos on the base continues today, and as recently as June 2024, the military was putting out bids for the removal of an industrial furnace that contains asbestos on the base.[4]
Help for Tinker Air Force Base Asbestos Victims
Like other personnel who served on military installations and in combat, Air Force veterans, civilian employees, and contractors who worked at Tinker Air Force Base provided valuable service and sacrifices on behalf of the United States. Tragically, so many were put at additional risk by exposure to asbestos, particularly because so many of the asbestos companies that provided parts and material to the military were aware of the dangers but chose to stay quiet so that they could continue earning profits from selling the inexpensive material. Today, many of those diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases have taken legal action against those companies and have won millions of dollars in compensation to help pay for their care and secure their families’ financial futures.
If you have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease after having been exposed to asbestos at Tinker Air Force Base, an experienced asbestos attorney can provide you with information and guidance about your options. If you are an Air Force veteran, you may be eligible for special disability benefits based on your service-related exposure, and this includes high-quality care at VA treatment centers that specialize in asbestos-related diseases. You may also be eligible to file claims against asbestos trust funds that companies have been forced to establish as part of their bankruptcy reorganizations or to file personal injury lawsuits against the asbestos companies that remain solvent.
Whatever path you choose, you must act quickly, as each state has established deadlines known as a statute of limitations that controls how much time you have to file a claim. A mesothelioma lawyer will be able to explain this, as well as what you can expect from the legal process as you move forward.
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