WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

The remains of the former Kincheloe Air Force Base sits in Chippewa County in the Upper Peninsula.

Constructed in 1943 during World War II as Kinross Auxiliary Airfield, it was intended as a protective unit for the Soo Locks, which were considered vital for the United States war effort. Its main function was to provide fuel for military aircraft heading for Alaska.

The base was known under a few different tiles: Kinross Army Air Field, Kinross Air Field, and Kinross Air Force Base among a few others. The field became inactive in 1945, and became an airport for Sault Ste. Marie. Its commercial air service lasted until 1952.

Iven Kincheloe was a Michigan native born in Detroit, but raised in Cassopolis. On September 7, 1956, Kincheloe flew a craft at more than 2,000 mph at a height of 126,200 feet, becoming the first person to fly above 100,000 feet. For this achievement, he was therefore called “America’s No. 1 Spaceman”.

At the age of 30, on July 26, 1958, he was killed in the crash of an F-104A at Edwards Air Force base and was buried with full honors in Arlington Cemetery.

Kinross Air Field was then re-named in his honor and was from then on known as Kincheloe Air Force Base.

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In December 1965, the Department of Defense decided to have the base closed by 1971. But the escalation of the Vietnam war was enough to leave the base open until 1977 when it finally closed for good.

In 1990 scenes for the Bruce Willis movie “Die Hard II” were filmed here.

In the 2000s, the area surrounding the former Kincheloe base is not idle: it contains American Kinross, Inc., the Chippewa Correctional Facility, Chippewa County International Airport, Kinross Correctional Facility, Kinross Manufacturing, and Rudyard Area Schools.

Take a look at the gallery below of this former base...

Remains of Kincheloe Air Force Base

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

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