Whiteman Air Force Base

Base Background

Whiteman AFB opened in 1942 as Sedalia Army Air Field, two miles south of Knob Noster, Missouri. This site was home to the C-46 and C-47 transport planes. After the military closed the site temporarily, they reopened the base in 1951 and renamed it Whiteman Air Force Base in 1955 in honor of 2nd Lt. George A. Whiteman, a Missouri native killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. For decades afterward it served as a Strategic Air Command base and, later, a Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile field before the missile silos were deactivated under arms-control treaties in the 1990s. Today, Whiteman is home to the 509th Bomb Wing, part of Air Force Global Strike Command and the only operational unit flying the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

Toxic Exposure at Whiteman Air Force Base

Decades of aircraft maintenance, fuel storage, and industrial operations across the base have left documented contamination in groundwater, soil, and sediment at multiple sites, addressed under a 2006 Air Force and EPA cleanup decision, alongside a separate, more recent PFAS investigation tied to firefighting-foam use.

PFAS Contamination

Whiteman Air Force Base is one of the Air Force installations undergoing the Department of Defense’s nationwide PFAS assessment, tied to decades of firefighting-foam use. A DoD progress report from June 30, 2026 shows the base has cleared its initial screening phase, and a full remedial investigation is on the schedule but has not yet begun.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

A 2006 Record of Decision covering 11 separate sites across the base documents a persistent trichloroethylene (TCE) plume in groundwater, along with its breakdown products cis-1,2-dichloroethene and vinyl chloride, at concentrations that at one site reached a historical high of 4,300 micrograms per liter, far above screening levels. Additional groundwater contamination includes carbon tetrachloride, dichloromethane, benzene, and 1,3,4-trimethylbenzene, while xylene has been confirmed in soil. Most of these plumes are slow-moving and have not been shown to reach off-base drinking water, but they remain part of the base’s ongoing groundwater monitoring and cleanup program.

Heavy Metals and PAHs

Soil and sediment sampling under the same 2006 decision identified lead in soil at multiple locations, along with arsenic and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(b)fluoranthene in creek sediment, plus the compound 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine in surface water and soil at one site.

Getting Compensation

Decades of work around Whiteman’s flight line, industrial buildings, and former missile support facilities could have exposed service members and civilian workers to these substances long before anyone understood the risk, and the resulting health conditions often take years to appear. A veteran who served at this base and later developed a condition tied to that exposure, or a survivor filing in their place, may still have a path to VA disability benefits today.

Check the chart below to see which conditions are associated with the toxins documented at Whiteman AFB. Hill & Ponton’s VA-accredited lawyers have represented veterans and their survivors in toxic exposure claims for years, working entirely on contingency. Find out where you stand with a free evaluation: there’s nothing to pay unless we win your case.