Hanscom Air Force Base

Base Background

The Massachusetts Legislature authorized the purchase of farmland spanning Bedford, Lincoln, Concord, and Lexington, Massachusetts, in May 1941 for a Boston-area auxiliary airport, and the Commonwealth leased the field to the War Department for Army Air Forces use in mid-1942. Fighter squadrons trained there through 1943, and the field was renamed Laurence G. Hanscom Field in February 1943. After World War II the base became a center for Air Force electronic-systems development, formalized with the Electronic Systems Division’s establishment in 1961. Regular military flying operations ended in September 1973, and the Air Force gave up its lease on the airfield itself in 1974, though it retained the surrounding acreage, renamed Hanscom Air Force Base in 1977. Today the base is home to the 66th Air Base Group and the program offices of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio).

Toxic Exposure at Hanscom Air Force Base

The Environmental Protection Agency placed Hanscom on its National Priorities List in 1994, covering roughly 1,120 acres across the four towns the base spans. Decades of solvent use, waste disposal, and firefighting-foam use left documented contamination in groundwater, soil, sediment, and surface water, and cleanup and monitoring continue at multiple locations today.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene, are documented in base groundwater, with related compounds also found in soil and surface water.  Arsenic, lead and heavy metals were also documented at various points on base.

Aroclor 1248, a specific PCB formulation, was documented in sediment on base, as were Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) like benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene, and related compounds.

PFAS Contamination

The Air Force identified per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with a chemical fingerprint indicative of legacy PFOS-based aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) in groundwater near the headwaters of the Shawsheen River on base, and suspended an existing groundwater remediation system after PFAS turned up in the water it discharged to the river. In December 2022, the Air Force and EPA proposed new investigation areas covering a Taxiway Echo release, Fire Training Area II, and a motor pool release site specifically to address AFFF-related PFAS. That investigation is ongoing, and per the Department of Defense’s most current figures, released in June 2026, the projected completion date is now 2038.

Anyone who worked at, trained at, or lived near Hanscom while these chemicals were in use could have been exposed without realizing it, since illnesses tied to toxic exposure often don’t appear for years or even decades. If you developed a medical condition related to toxic exposure after living or working at or near Hanscom Air Force Base, our VA disability lawyers may be able to help you obtain compensation. Get a free case evaluation to explore your legal options.