Gunter Annex

Infobox Military Structure
name=Gunter Annex
Gunter Air Force Base
Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base
partof=Air Education and Training Command (AETC)
location=Located in Montgomery, Alabama
coordinates= Coord|32|24|38.6|N|86|15|07.49|W|type:airport


caption= Gunter AFB, 20 January 1988
Location of Gunter Annex
type=Air Force Base
code=
built=1940
builder=
materials=
height=
used= 1940-1973, 1988-1992 (As Gunter Air Force Base)
Gunter Air Force Station (1973-1988)
Gunter Annex (1992-Present)
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=United States Air Force
garrison=Air Training Command (1940-1993)
Air Education and Training Command (1993-Present)
commanders=
occupants=754th Electronic Systems Group
battles=
events=

Gunter Annex is a United States Air Force installation located in the North-northeast suburbs of Montgomery, Alabama. Until 1992 it was known as Gunter Air Force Base or Gunter Air Force Station. It has been a military training base since its opening in 1940.

Gunter Annex now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base and the complex is known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base,

Units

The host unit of Gunter Annex is the 42d Air Base Wing, headquartered at Maxwell. The former 42d Bombardment Wing took over host duties at the complex on 1 October 1994 when it was redesignated and reassigned from the closing Loring Air Force Base, Maine.

Gunter Annex is the home of the Headquarters 754th Electronic Systems Group (HQ 754th ELSG). It was initially called the Headquarters Standard Systems Group (HQ SSG), and was briefly renamed to Operational Systems Sustainment Group (OSSG) from 2004 to 2006.

History

The facility is named after William Adams Gunter (1871-1940), a longtime mayor of Montgomery Alabama. Mayor Gunter was an aviation advocate who championed the airport and there were several effort to have the airport officially named in his honor while he was still living. Although he successfully resisted these efforts, the airport was still commonly referred to by residents as 'Gunter Field'.

In 1940, the 'Plan for the Expansion of the Air Corps Training Program' was published and indicated a need for a preliminary flying school in the Montgomery area. The Commandant of the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Colonel Walter Weaver, picked the Montgomery Municipal Airport and the surrounding area as the location for the flying school. This included a newly-built, but as yet unoccupied state hospital for tuberculosis patients. In June 1940 the War Department approved the recommendation to lease the land.

In August 1940 the first military personnel arrived and construction began. The hospital was used as a headquarters building and Colonel Aubrey Hornsby was the project officer and later the first commanding officer. Runways were constructed and quarters were built and in November the first class of two hundred arrived.

In late 1940, Mayor Gunter died and, on the recommendation of Colonel Hornsby, the flying field was officially named 'Gunter Field' in early 1941. By July 1941, construction of the field was largely complete.

During World War II, the field served as a flying school for not just Army pilots, but for British, French and Canadians as well. By 1944, there were nearly four hundred aircraft assigned to Gunter Field; primarily trainers of the North American BT-14 and AT-6, Vultee BT-13 types. At this time, Gunter Army Airfield had a 3,500 ft. hard-surface runway, as well as seven satellite airfields in the area.

After World War II ended, flight training was transferred to Spence Army Air Field (Georgia) and, other than some contingents of French and Chinese flight students, training ended there. By February 1946 Gunter's remaining aircraft were transferred to Maxwell Army Air Base and the field went to 'stand by' status.

In January 1948 Gunter Field was redesignated Gunter Air Force Base. In May 1950 the Air University located the Extension Course Institute there. In October of that year a branch of the School of Aviation Medicine was established.

In 1957 the Air Force created the 'Montgomery Air Defense Sector' at Gunter and constructed a four-story, reinforced concrete blockhouse housing the computers and personnel who manned this portion of the 'Semi Automatic Ground Environment' (SAGE) system, which was intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack. This was manned continually until 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE blockhouses.

In 1971, nearly convert|800|acre|km2|1 of Gunter were returned to the city of Montgomery. In that year the Air Force Data Systems Design Center moved there and in 1972 the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy came to Gunter. In early 1973, Gunter was redesignated an 'Air Force Station'.

Major construction was undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to the advocacy of Congressman William Dickinson and in 1988 Gunter was redesignated an 'Air Force Base'. The primary tenants being, still, the Extension Course Institute, the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy and the Air Force Data Systems Design Center.

In March 1992, Gunter was again redesignated, this time as Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex and now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base.

ee also

* Air Training Command
* Maxwell Air Force Base
* Alabama World War II Army Airfields

References

External links