Watch: Cool Old Footage Of Dow Air Force Base In Bangor [VIDEO]

When I was in high school, history seemed like a pretty boring subject. But as I got older, I became a lot more fascinated by the stories that people, towns, cultures had to tell. Especially the history of where we live, right here in Maine. The Bangor area also has many of it's own stories to tell.

I was cruising through YouTube, and I found a series of old videos about the old days of Bangor's Dow Air Force Base. It started off as Godfrey Army Airfield in 1941, and changed to Dow Army Airfield the next year, and settling on Dow Air Force Base in 1947.

It remained as such til 1968, when a large portion of the base was turned over to the City and became Bangor International Airport, according to Wikipedia. The portion that was not turned over to the city became the home of what is currently the Air National Guard Base and the Maine Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility.

Judging from the footage, I'd say most of it was shot in the early 60's, shortly before the base closed for military purposes. It's also the second installment of a series of three videos, which can certainly all be watched together, but it's just raw footage, so it's mostly just accompanied by some background music. But it's still so cool to check out all the planes, and the folks in the video itself. It could be our parents or grandparents...so cool!

Don't take my word for it though, check it out yourself, and maybe look at the other two videos as well. there's a lot of rich history that Bangor has to offer, so why not dive in and learn something you may not have known before!