Since then, the base off the 215 Freeway just south of Riverside has housed World War II bombers, nuclear-armed B-52s and tanker planes. The newest tenants — next generation KC-46A Pegasus tankers — are expected to keep March open for decades to come.

Before the first of 12 Pegasuses touches down at March in the next few years, major work is needed to prepare for their arrival. That’s happening now thanks to at least $250 million in funding allocated by Congress.

When finished, the upgrades will add a new hangar, flight simulator and other facilities to help the new tankers support the United States’ military prowess by extending the range of warplanes through mid-air refueling.

“This is really great news for March,” said Jamil Dada, the base’s civic leader and board president of the March Field Air Museum.

The combined cost of the tankers and renovations represent a more than $2 billion investment into March, Dada added.

The third oldest U.S. Air Force base in the country — it started as March Field in 1918 — March had to beat out bases nationwide for the right to host the KC-46As.

The Air Force’s 2024 announcement that March will be the tankers’ new home brings stability to an installation that employs almost 10,000 people and injects hundreds of millions of dollars annually into the Inland Empire economy.

Thousands of jobs evaporated when March Air Force Base downsized to an air reserve base in the 1990s. Today, more than 4,000 acres of ex-Air Force base land have been turned into dozens of businesses, parks, trails, senior and veteran housing, a Metrolink station and infrastructure improvements.

While March is technically a reserve base, Dada said it has more activity than a lot of Air Force bases, including F-16 Fighting Falcon jets on around-the-clock alert and MQ-9 Reaper drones.

The KC-46As will replace the base’s KC-135 Stratotankers, an airplane first developed in the 1950s. The new tankers, which can refuel multiple aircraft — the KC-135s can only fill up one at a time — can also carry cargo and passengers and serve as flying ambulances.

The KC-46As need upgraded facilities at March because “the new aircraft requires a lot more space than the old one,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Thomas Smith, who is involved with planning the new buildings and renovations.

One of the first upgrades involved replacing three antennas that are key takeoff and landing aids for pilots. Two new, taller antennas replaced the old ones, which would have been blocked by the upgrades, Smith said.

About $133 million is being spent on a new, two-bay maintenance hangar that will be bigger than its predecessor.

The new hangar will be built slightly higher above the ground to accommodate the KC-46As, according to Smith. Concrete pavement at March is also being ripped up and replaced “so that it ramps up into the new hangar at the proper elevation,” Smith said.

Another upgrade involves renovating a “fuselage trainer” building where aircrews practice procedures like loading cargo into a KC-46A. The existing trainer building “is physically big enough, but it needs new stuff inside of it,” Smith said.

Other projects include a new flight simulator to train on the KC-46As instead of the KC-135s, Smith said. The new tankers will require 144 new military personnel to be assigned to March, he added.

Dada said the KC-46As are due at March in 2028, a timeline delayed by issues at Boeing, the new tankers’ manufacturer.

Because of the delay, “the Pentagon was saying ‘OK, we’re going to use this $250 million for other bases that are already doing stuff now and we’ll have to get you guys more money later,’” Dada said.

That potentially jeopardized the funding because “you don’t know when you’re going to get it back and you may not get it back if there’s a new (presidential) administration,” he said. “Then you lose the airplanes and then you get back in the back of the line to get the airplanes.”

Dada said he joined other civic leaders and lawmakers in a fight to save March’s $250 million allocation. The fact that Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, chairs the House of Representatives’ defense appropriation subcommittee “was a big advantage we had,” Dada added.

“Now that we’ve broken ground, the money is in the bank for March.”

Bringing the KC-46As to March required a collaborative effort involving the government, community leaders like Dada and people at various levels of the Air Force, Smith said.

“It took hundreds of people to make this happen,” he said.

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The “Flag for Every Hero” event is slated for 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, beginning with a brief ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater in the middle of the cemetery.

“Accomplishing this large feat takes a lot of participation by many people, doing many different things,” Brennan Leininger with nonprofit Honoring Our Fallen said. “Everyone’s involvement is critical to the success of accomplishing this task. The emotional experience that results from participating in this event is what it is all about.”

The flag walks, first organized in 2012, are conducted not only on Memorial Day weekend, but also on Veterans Day. Both were nixed in 2020 because of the COVID lockdowns but returned in 2021 with some restrictions, all of which have since been nullified.

Boy Scouts, police Explorers, Civil Air Patrol cadets, unions and other interested parties from throughout the Inland Empire take part in the walks, which have drawn upwards of 1,500 volunteers in the past.

When the events began in 2012, participants were able to reach only 21,000 graves. In 2014, organizers were able to procure enough flags and enlist a sufficient number of people to plant the Stars and Stripes next to just about all of the roughly 250,000 final resting places of those interred at the cemetery.

Since then, flags have been placed at every grave within about three hours, Leininger said.

The honorably discharged U.S. Air Force serviceman, now a police officer, visited the cemetery in 2011 and was dismayed by how few flags were flying, prompting him to start the placements, with the help of Garden Grove- based Honoring Our Fallen.

Eventually, Leininger’s group combined with Riverside resident Mary Ellen Gruendyke to ensure all graves receive a flag. Gruendyke had contributed money and time to the effort long before 2012.

The 900-acre national cemetery is the fourth-largest of its kind in the nation — and running out of space.

Additional information is available at www.honoringourfallen.org.

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