Chicopee

On September 19, 1939, Chicopee mayor Anthony J. Stonina was sitting at his desk wiping away tears. The three-term mayor had just finished reading a brief letter from the US War Department. The seven square miles of Chicopee s tobacco plains had been selected as the site for the Northeast base of the Army Air Corps. The city was destined to permanently be a City with Wings. In 1942, the facility, already the largest air base in the country, was named to honor the memory of military aviation pioneer Maj. Gen. Oscar Westover. Chicopee: 1950 1975 tells the story of a three-decade Cold War relationship between the Strategic Air Command of the US Air Force and its considerable impact on a small New England city. It is the story of a community s initial misgivings growing into a beneficial symbiotic relationship, which continues to this day."