11/06/2026
In the next chapter of our continuing Thursday series called, The Streets of Peterson Space Force Base, we explore Paine Street, named for the former Paine Air Force Base in Snohomish County, Washington State. Today, Paine Field is known as Seattle Paine Field International Airport.
Snohomish County Airport was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration and began commercial service in 1939. It was named for U.S. Army Air Service Lieutenant Topliff Olin Paine, a pursuit and later an airmail pilot. in 1941, Paine Field was taken over by the U.S. Army Air Corps prior to entry into World War II as a patrol, air defense, and fighter training base and was later controlled by the U.S. Army Air Forces. With the end of the war in 1945, the airfield began to be returned to the civilian control of Snohomish County.
In 1947, as transition activities were still underway, military control of the then-Paine Army Airfield was transferred to the newly established U.S. Air Force, with the facility renamed Paine Field. Transfer of the property to the Snohomish County government was completed in 1948, however, the Air Force continued to maintain a presence at the airport as the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union began to rise.
Paine Field was returned to USAF control in 1951, renamed Paine Air Force Base, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Air Defense Command (ADC). While the county relinquished most of its commercial facilities to house USAF personnel, units, and assets, the site did not have an exclusive military presence. The airfield remained a joint civil-military airport with the Air Force operating the control tower and other air traffic control facilities, while the county, in a shared-use agreement, rented commercial leasehold areas to businesses.
In 1951, additional land surrounding the Paine AFB site was appropriated for military facilities and extended runways. A 9,000-foot jet runway was constructed along with accompanying taxiways, permanent concrete buildings, and other support facilities replacing the World War II-era wooden structures. The 529th Air Defense Group was activated on February 16, 1953, and became the permanent host unit at Paine AFB until 1955 when ADC transferred its mission, equipment, and personnel to the 326th Fighter Group (Air Defense). The 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron, equipped with F-86D Sabers, was assigned to the group as its operational component.
Various regular Air Force fighter-interceptor units and Air Force Reserve troop carrier units operated at Paine AFB from 1951 until the mid-1960s. In 1966, USAF identified Paine AFB for closure due to budgetary constraints caused by the cost of the Vietnam War. The by-then host unit, the 57th Fighter Group, phased down operations with the departure of the interceptors and was inactivated in place on September 30, 1968. Paine AFB was inactivated the same day and the facility was returned to full civilian control as Paine Field / Snohomish County Airport.
Paine AFB / Paine Field had also been under consideration in the 1960s by Army Air Defense Command as one of several sites for the Sentinel Anti-Ballistic Missile System due to its central location to several other major military bases and defense industries in the Puget Sound Region. Sentinel was eventually dropped in favor of the limited Safeguard system.
