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95-701: Eglin Air Force Base ( IATA : VPS , ICAO : KVPS , FAA LID : VPS ) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle , located about three miles (5 km) southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County . The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing ). The 96 TW is the test and evaluation center for Air Force air-delivered weapons, navigation and guidance systems, command and control systems, and Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) systems. Eglin AFB

190-456: A location for a bombing and gunnery range. They saw the potential of the sparsely populated forested areas surrounding Valparaiso and the vast expanse of the adjacent Gulf of Mexico . From October 1941 to October 1945, a USAAF Fixed Gunnery School operated at the base, supervised by the 75th Flying Training Wing . At its peak during World War II, the base employed more than 1,000 officers, 10,000 enlisted personnel and 4,000 civilians. After

285-550: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

380-535: A reenactment of the training sessions by three civilian-owned B-25 Mitchells at Duke Field on 31 May. Navy personnel from NAS Pensacola , as flight deck "shirt" crew, represented that service's contribution to the Tokyo mission. Gulf-facing launch sites for drones beginning with Republic-Ford JB-2 Loons, American copies of the V-1 "buzz bombs", were operated on Santa Rosa Island , from Site A-15, directly south of Field 9 from

475-656: A small training field for the much larger Eglin Field . It was initially designated Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 9, and later as Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field 9/Hurlburt Field when the U.S. Air Force became an independent service, before being administratively separated from the rest of the Eglin AFB complex in the 1950s. However, once separated, the facility retained its history and kept all building numbers

570-516: A surface-to-air missile. The 6555th Guided Missile Wing operated CGM-13/TGM-13 Mace cruise missiles from the island. On January 5, 1967 an international incident was narrowly avoided when a TGM-13 Mace, launched from Santa Rosa Island, which was supposed to circle over the Gulf on a racetrack course for shoot-down by a pair of Eglin F-4 Phantoms , instead, headed south for Cuba . A third F-4 overtook

665-408: A training curriculum in support of USAF and international partner pilot training requirements. The F-35A is a conventional take-off and landing , low-observable , multi-role fighter aircraft, designed with 5th-generation sensors and weapons, and is able to perform air superiority , air interdiction and close air support missions. The F-35A made its first flight on 15 December 2006. The 53 WG

760-733: A training wing for the new F-35. The final F-15s assigned to the 33d departed the base in September 2009. As the first of its kind in the Department of Defense , the joint wing is responsible for F-35 pilot and maintainer training for the Air Force, Marine Corps and the Navy. The first of 59 F-35s arrived from Lockheed Martin Fort Worth , Texas on 14 July 2011. The 58th FS "Mighty Gorillas" are authorized to operate 24 assigned F-35A aircraft, planning and executing

855-719: A variety of courses, including courses in Dynamics of International Terrorism, and the Middle East Orientation Course. The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) was previously located at Hurlburt Field until its relocation to MacDill AFB in 2011. JSOU's lecturers include specialists from all branches of the US military, the US Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, civilian universities, and nongovernmental organizations. The Florida Air National Guard activated

950-499: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1045-572: Is a United States Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County, Florida , immediately west of the town of Mary Esther . It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation and is home to Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the 1st Special Operations Wing (1 SOW), the USAF Special Operations School (USAFSOS) and the Air Combat Command 's (ACC) 505th Command and Control Wing . It

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1140-524: Is a Navy-managed command, jointly staffed by Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps personnel. NAVSCOLEOD opened its new consolidated training facility in April 1999. Directorate of the Joint Staff , JAD conducts field analysis of CJADC2 C2 information systems and procedures producing decision-quality data to improve Joint C2 integration and interoperability. Eglin is also one of the few military air bases in

1235-600: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

1330-525: Is conducted at different geographical and environmental locations. The mission of the 20 SPCS is to detect, track, identify, and report near Earth and deep space objects in Earth's orbit, and provide space object identification data in support of United States Space Command 's space control mission. A unit of the United States Space Force (USSF), the men and women of the 20th SPCS operate and maintain

1425-518: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

1520-606: Is headquartered at Eglin and serves as the USAF's focal point for operational test and evaluation of armament and avionics, aircrew training devices, chemical defense, aerial reconnaissance improvements, electronic warfare systems, and is responsible for the QF-4 Phantom II Full Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) program and subscale drone programs (located at Tyndall AFB , Florida). The wing tests every fighter, bomber, unmanned aerial vehicle, and associated weapon system in

1615-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

1710-415: Is located across from the main base divided by U.S. 98 along the beachfront of Santa Rosa Sound. The Reef is the main dining facility on base and has won the title of best dining facility in the Air Force nine times. A grade-separated intersection at the main gate with a fly-over on U.S. 98 was completed in the summer of 2015, greatly relieving a long-time traffic bottleneck. Starting in 1970s there

1805-532: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

1900-530: Is the only special operations wing in the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). In wartime or a contingency, the 919 SOW reports to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) at Hurlburt Field , Florida, its gaining major command. The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center stood up Detachment 2 at Eglin to provide realistic operational testing for new and modified weapon systems. The Naval School of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD)

1995-476: Is the test and evaluation wing for Air Force air-delivered weapons, navigation and guidance systems, command and control (C2) systems, and Air Force Special Operations Command systems. The Eglin Gulf Test Range provides approximately 340,000 square kilometres (130,000 sq mi) of over water airspace. The 96 TW supports other tenant units on the installation with traditional military services as well as all

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2090-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2185-406: The 306th Bomb Wing at MacDill AFB , Florida. Most facilities were located west of the runway, including hangars, through the 1980s. With the growth and importance of special operation capabilities, Lockheed AC-130 Spectre/Spooky gunship and MC-130 Combat Talon/Combat Spear operations have remained on the western flight line, while additional hangars and ramps have been constructed northeast of

2280-484: The 319th Air Commando Squadron departed on April 10. The 20th Special Operations Squadron reactivated in 1976 at Hurlburt Field, the unit mission remaining unconventional warfare and special operations using UH-1N gunships and CH-3Es . The HH-53H Pave Low replaced the CH-3E in 1980, providing a long range, heavier lift helicopter capability. "The Air Force's newly operational fleet of nine HH-53H Pave Low CSAR helicopters

2375-542: The 34th , 37th , and 95th Bomb Squadrons assigned under the 17th Bomb Group . "Officers and airmen of the 17th crossed the Pacific in three echelons. Some flew their B-26's [ sic ] from Miho Air Base , Japan, to Florida. The main body made the trip on the troop ship General Gaffney , while another group, comprising airmen from other Fifth Air Force units, arrived in San Francisco in early April 1955, aboard

2470-533: The Air Armament Center (AAC) was deactivated. The center had planned, directed and conducted test and evaluation of U.S. and allied air armament, navigation and guidance systems, and command and controlled systems. It operated two Air Force installations, providing host support not only to Eglin AFB, but also Kirtland AFB , New Mexico . It had included the Armament Product Directorate (Eglin),

2565-561: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

2660-606: The United States Army 's 7th Special Forces Group relocated to a newly constructed cantonment on the Eglin Air Force Base reservation from Fort Bragg , as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round realigning Fort Bragg. It is tasked with conducting special operations in Latin America. Tenant units at an Air Force installation are units which have a mission that is significantly different from that of

2755-468: The field . Its subordinate 4751st Air Defense Missile Squadron continued operations as a tenant until November 30, 1979. It operated IM-99/CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missiles from this site. On August 18, 1960, a Bomarc missile from the Santa Rosa launch facility made a direct hit on its target, a QB-47 E drone of the 3205th Drone Group, marking the first shoot-down of a multi-jet medium bomber by

2850-457: The 17th Bombardment Wing, Tactical, and received B-66 aircraft in early 1956. The first jet aircraft to land at Hurlburt was a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star which arrived from Ninth Air Force Headquarters, Shaw AFB , South Carolina, on July 28, 1955, piloted by Maj. J. H. Murrow and Maj. L. F. Collins. "Pilots of the 17th Bomb Wing will in the near future be flying T-33's [ sic ] for instrument and transitional training to prepare for

2945-640: The 1st Combat Applications Group (CAG) organized as a combat systems development and test agency under the SAWC. The 1st CAG concentrated on testing and evaluation of primarily short-term projects which might improve Air Force counter-insurgency (COIN) operations. The Special Air Warfare Center, located at Hurlburt Field , undertook to develop tactical air doctrine while training crews for special air warfare in places like Southeast Asia . By mid-1963, SAW groups were in Vietnam and Panama . The USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center

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3040-593: The 1st and 2nd Guided Missile Squadrons, had replaced the 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group. The 2nd Guided Missile Squadron, SSM, had 62 pilots manning 14 B-17s , three B-29s , and four F-80 Shooting Stars , yellow-tailed drone aircraft used in the role of testing guided missiles. In December 1955, the Air Munitions Development Laboratory was reassigned from the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson AFB , Ohio, to

3135-475: The 249th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field on 28 August 2020. The squadron, part of the 125th Fighter Wing , operates the CV-22B Osprey and is assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command . Hurlburt Field has a 9,600 by 150 feet (2,926 m × 46 m) runway designated 18/36 and a 1,608 by 90 feet (490 m × 27 m) helipad , both with concrete surfaces. Base housing

3230-593: The 3246th Test Wing in October 1992. On 10 August 1994 construction began on the All Conflicts' Veterans War Memorial on the site of the old POW / MIA memorial on the western end of Eglin Boulevard. The memorial was dedicated on 15 August 1995. As part of the military drawdown in the 1990s, the Air Force inactivated the 33d Fighter Wing 's 59th Fighter Squadron on 15 April 1999. The wing lost six aircraft and consolidated

3325-475: The 33d Pursuit Group, the wing's contribution to tactical airpower during its 50-year history has been significant with participation in campaigns around the world, while flying various fighter aircraft. Reactivated at Eglin on 1 April 1965 with F-4C Phantom IIs , the wing operated, successively, F-4D and E models into the 1970s before transitioning to the F-15 Eagle . As of 1 October 2009, the 33d FW transitioned to

3420-462: The 4408th CCTS training C-123 crews and the 4409th training A-1E and T-28 pilots, including Vietnamese students. The 4410th CCTS at Holley Field primarily trained O-1 Forward Air Controllers and students flying the U-10 and O-2 . In December the 4407th CCTS would be activated to assume the mission of the 4410th while that unit began training crews in the new OV-10 Bronco FAC aircraft. The fourth squadron,

3515-453: The 4412th CCTS was at England AFB, training C-47D and AC-47D pilots. On 1 April the 4532nd CCTS was activated to fly A-37Bs and assigned to the Wing. Later in the year both the 4412th and 4532nd were reassigned to the 1st ACW at England AFB." The first jet-augmented Fairchild C-123K Provider arrived at Hurlburt Field on January 5, 1968, and the first of 76 of the type to be ferried to Vietnam by

3610-528: The 46th Test Wing (Eglin), the 96th Air Base Wing (Eglin), and the 377th Air Base Wing (Kirtland). The US Navy's VFA-101 "Grim Reapers" deactivated on 23 May 2019 after seven years of F-35C training at Eglin. Initial construction of a railroad line into the region had been discussed as early as 1927 as part of the Choctawhatchee and Northern Railroad , though military-use proposals didn't come forward until 1941. German POWs were used in clearing and grading

3705-802: The AN/FPS-85 radar, the Space Force's only phased-array radar dedicated to tracking Earth-orbiting objects. Royal Netherlands Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation squadron, operates 2 F-35A This unit, which is apparently not a test squadron at all, operates Boeing C-32 Bs in discrete missions for the United States Department of State 's Foreign Emergency Support Team . The 919 SOW, located about five miles (8.0 kilometers) south of Crestview and 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Eglin main at Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field No. 3 ( Duke Field ) and

3800-541: The Air Force Armament Center at Eglin by Headquarters Air Research and Development Command. The responsibility for development of guns, bombs, rockets, fuses, guided missile warheads and other related equipment in the armament field was transferred from the Dayton, Ohio facility at this time. Work on nuclear weapons was not included in this mission. The USAF Special Air Warfare Center was activated 27 April 1962, with

3895-1054: The Air Force inventory. The wing reports to the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada , a Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) to Headquarters, Air Combat Command (ACC). The 49 TES is attached to the 53d Wing but located at Barksdale Air Force Base , Louisiana. The squadron plans, executes and reports ACC's weapon system evaluation programs for bombers ( B-52 , B-1 and B-2 ) and nuclear-capable fighters ( F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 ). These evaluations include operational effectiveness and suitability, command and control, performance of aircraft hardware and software systems, employment tactics, and accuracy and reliability of associated precision weapons. These weapons include air-launched cruise missiles , standoff missiles , and gravity bombs . Results and conclusions support acquisition decisions and development of war plans. The unit also performs operational testing on new systems and tactics development for

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3990-595: The Air Force. On 1 October 1979, the center was given division status. The Armament Division, redesignated Munitions Systems Division on 15 March 1989, placed into production the precision-guided munitions for the laser , television , and infrared guided bombs; two anti-armor weapon systems; and an improved hard target weapon, the GBU-28 , used in Operation Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War . The Division

4085-1110: The B-52. The Armament Directorate located at Eglin is responsible for management of air and ground dominance weapon system programs. Led by the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Weapons, the directorate concurrently reports to the Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Washington, D.C., and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center , Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. AFRL/RW develops, demonstrates, and transitions science and technology for air-launched munitions for defeating ground fixed, mobile/relocatable, air and space targets to assure pre-eminence of U.S. air and space forces. The directorate conducts basic research, exploratory development, and advanced development and demonstrations. It also participates in programs focused on technology transfer, dual-use technology and small business development. In 2011,

4180-716: The Interagency Task Force for Indochina Refugees, where base personnel housed and processed more than 10,000 Southeast Asian refugees, the first 374 of which arrived on board a Northwest Orient Boeing 747 on 4 May 1975. In 1978, the USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center assumed responsibility for the USAF Air Ground Operations School. In the same year, the Electronic Warfare Evaluation Program became another one of

4275-477: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Hurlburt Field Hurlburt Field ( ICAO : KHRT , FAA LID : HRT )

4370-490: The U.S. to have scheduled passenger airline service as the Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS) is co-located on the base property. Flying and notable non-flying units based at Eglin Air Force Base. Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Eglin, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location. For units permanently based at Eglin's auxiliary airfields, see

4465-577: The USAFTAWC's weapons system evaluation programs, and resulted in the activation of the 4487th Electronic Warfare Aggressor Squadron in 1990. Construction began in 1984 on the Bob Hope Village , the only retirement facility that caters to enlisted military, opening in February 1985. Residents pay below market value for the 256 independent apartments. Col. Bob Gates, Bob Hope 's USO pilot, was key in getting

4560-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

4655-835: The airfield's respective page ( Biancur Field , Duke Field and Hurlburt Field ). Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) IATA airport code The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

4750-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

4845-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

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4940-416: The alignment during World War II. There was one commercial customer served by the line, a lumber pulp yard at Niceville which is now community athletic fields. The line was later abandoned in the late 1970s and the southern end, west of State Road 285, lifted by the mid-1980s. Eglin is an Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) base serving as the focal point for all Air Force armaments. Eglin is responsible for

5035-562: The base is a census-designated place ; its population was 8,082 at the 2000 census . Eglin Air Force Base had 2,359 military family housing units. Unmarried junior enlisted members generally live in one of Eglin's seven dormitories located near the dining hall, chapel, base gym, enlisted club, and bus lines on base. Each individual unit generally handles dormitory assignments. Bachelor Officer Quarters are not available. Several units and one dormitory were being renovated in 2011. The base covers 463,128 acres (1,874.2 km / 723.6 sqm). The 96 TW

5130-491: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

5225-652: The comedian's support for the undertaking, as well as lending his name to the project. He was named an honorary board member of the foundation in 1978 and held benefit concerts for nearly two decades. During a 1992 reorganization, the Air Force disestablished Eglin's parent major command, Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) and merged its functions with the former Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC). The newly created major command from this merger, Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), remains Eglin's parent command to this day. The Development Test Center, Eglin's host unit, became part of AFMC on 30 June 1992. The 46th Test Wing replaced

5320-515: The conclusion of the war in Southeast Asia, most reciprocating engine types were retired by the USAF. UH-1s and CH-3s were operated, the latter by the 20th Special Operations Squadron . The 4410th Combat Crew Training Wing was activated at Hurlburt Field on December 1, 1965, later moving to England AFB , Louisiana, in July 1969. "In early 1967 the wing comprised four squadrons; two were at Hurlburt,

5415-629: The construction of 151 buildings of concrete block with brick facing. Residences would be single and duplex quarters with two, three, and four bedrooms. Construction began on the first 48 buildings (72 units) in mid-April, with initial completion expected by February 1957. On April 14, 1961 the Air Force Tactical Air Command (TAC) activated the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron at Hurlburt, to fly operations against guerrillas , either as an overt Air Force operation or in an undefined covert capacity. Known by its nickname "Jungle Jim",

5510-882: The current name official on January 13, 1948. The base commander of Eglin Main was also responsible for Hurlburt, 1942–1946, but when the base reactivated on February 1, 1955, it gained a separate commander. After flying combat missions from Great Britain in B-17s and receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) , Lieutenant Hurlburt was assigned in mid-1943 to the First Proving Ground Electronics Test Unit at Eglin Field. He died on October 1, 1943, when his Lockheed AT-18 Hudson gunnery trainer, 42-55591 , crashed during take-off at Eglin. An official history of Eglin AFB's early years cites October 2, 1943, as

5605-520: The date for this accident, and also notes that Capt. Barclay H. Dillon, test pilot of the Fighter Section of the 1st Proving Ground Group, died in another accident the same date. Auxiliary Field No. 10 was later named Eglin Dillon Airdrome, now known primarily as Naval Outlying Landing Field Choctaw , a Navy auxiliary field to Naval Air Station Pensacola and NAS Whiting Field . Hurlburt's nephew

5700-483: The development, acquisition, testing, deployment and sustainment of all air-delivered non-nuclear weapons. The base plans, directs, and conducts test and evaluation of U.S. and allied air armament, navigation and guidance systems, and command and control systems. Severe-weather testing of aircraft and other equipment is carried out here at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory . The residential portion of

5795-581: The drone, firing two test AAMs with no effect, and damaged it with cannon fire, but the unarmed Mace actually overflew the western tip of Cuba before crashing in open water some 100 miles (160 km) further south. The final Mace launches from Hurlburt Site A-15 took place in June 1974. Other launches in the 1960s included six high-altitude releases of vaporized barium from 2-stage Nike Iroquois sounding rockets in January 1967 to measure wind speeds and directions in

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5890-730: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

5985-460: The fall of 1944 in anticipation of Operation Olympic against Japan from captured Pacific island bases. The atomic missions put paid to this operation. This launch site is now on the National Register of Historic Places . The 4751st Air Defense Wing (Missile) was organized at Hurlburt on October 1, 1957. It was redesignated the 4751st Air Defense Missile Wing on January 15, 1958 and discontinued on July 1, 1962 when Tactical Air Command took over

6080-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

6175-425: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

6270-545: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

6365-456: The general public. Flying and notable non-flying units based at Hurlburt Field. Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Hurlburt, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) Air Combat Command (ACC) Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) Air National Guard (ANG) Hurlburt Field

6460-417: The host unit, and rely heavily upon the host unit for day-to-day operations (sewer, power, security, recreation). Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field No. 6 ( Biancur Field ) is the site of Camp James E. Rudder and the home of the U.S. Army's 6th Ranger Training Battalion. The 6th RTB conducts the final phase of the U.S. Army Ranger Course . The entire course is 61 days long and is divided into three phases. Each phase

6555-430: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

6650-529: The intersection of the main runway and the Doolittle runway. These newer facilities are home to CV-22 Osprey operations of the 413th Flight Test Squadron of the 96th Test Wing, and the recently retired MH-53J Pave Low III and MH-53M Pave Low IV helicopter. The Air Force Special Operations Command continues to fly sensitive operations missions from Hurlburt Field worldwide. The USAF Special Operations School (USAFSOS) trains US Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and US government civilian personnel in

6745-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

6840-645: The never executed Operation Northwoods called for decoy aircraft to land at this base. From the 1960s into the early 1970s, the base hosted a wide variety of aircraft types, including A-1E Skyraiders , AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stinger gunships, AC-47 Spooky gunships, AC-130 A Spectre gunships, B-26K Counter-Invaders (including those deployed to the Congo), U C-123Ks with underwing jet pods, OV-10A Forward Air Control Broncos, Cessna O-2A Skymaster FAC and O-2B PSYOPS aircraft, QU-22B recon drones, and other long-serving C-47s in various support roles. Following

6935-518: The new B-66 bomber which is slated for delivery to the wing..." The first B-66 arrived at Hurlburt on March 16, 1956, after a flight from Norton AFB , California, piloted by 17th Bomb Wing commander Col. Howard F. Bronson, with Col. Norton W. Sanders, commanding officer of the 17th Bomb Group, as observer. The 17th Bomb Wing was equipped with the Douglas B-66B Destroyer and operated the jet light bomber at Hurlburt from 1956 until 1958, then

7030-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

7125-624: The pocket aircraft carrier, the Cape Esperance ." The 17th Bomb Wing was stationed at Eglin AFB, Florida, operating from Hurlburt Field, where it was programmed to receive the Martin B-57 Canberra , the replacement for the B-26 Invader . However, the B-57 proved to be troublesome and unreliable and only three or four were ever delivered to Hurlburt. On October 1, 1955, Hurlburt was redesignated

7220-464: The remaining aircraft into the 58th and 60th Fighter Squadrons . Originally selected for inactivation in 1997, Air Force officials delayed the decision in recognition of the Nomads' connection with Khobar Towers . The 59th reactivated as the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron on 3 December 2004, at Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada. The 59th falls under the 53rd Test Management Group at Eglin. In July 2012

7315-501: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

7410-507: The same; i.e., all start with a "9". The installation was named by then-Eglin Field base commander Brigadier General Grandison Gardner for First Lieutenant Donald Wilson Hurlburt (1919–1943), who was killed in an aircraft crash at the main base, then known as Eglin Field, in 1943. The facility had previously been named the Eglin-Hurlburt Airdrome until 1943; Hurlburt Field, March 1944; Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 9, October 1944; with

7505-560: The services of a small city, to include civil engineering, personnel, logistics, communications, computer, medical, security. The 96 TW reports to the Air Force Test Center at Edwards AFB . The 33d FW "Nomads" is the largest tenant unit at Eglin. The 33 FW is a joint graduate flying and maintenance training wing for the F-35 Lightning II , organized under Air Education and Training Command's 19th Air Force. First established as

7600-542: The short cross-field former runway, near the southern end of Hurlburt Field's main runway, is now named the Doolittle Taxiway. Other Eglin fields, including Wagner Field /Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 1, and Duke Field /Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 3, were used during this training. For the 2008 gathering of Doolittle mission survivors, six crew were present for recognition in Fort Walton Beach, Florida , culminating in

7695-497: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

7790-553: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

7885-474: The unit was commanded by Colonel Benjamin H. King. The squadron was authorized 16 C-47s , eight B-26s and eight T-28 Trojans , plus the same number of aircraft in temporary storage. The T-28s were armed with caliber .50 machine guns, 2.75-in. rockets and a small quantity of bombs. These specialists flew missions in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America and other places throughout the world. In early 1962, plans for

7980-677: The upper atmosphere, conducted under the auspices of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories in conjunction with the Space Systems Branch of the Aircraft and Missile Test Division, Air Proving Ground Center, Eglin AFB. Hurlburt Field fell into disrepair following World War II but was reactivated in 1955. The 17th Bombardment Wing was reactivated on April 1, 1955 and assigned to the Ninth Air Force, with

8075-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

8170-532: The war, Eglin became a pioneer in developing the techniques for missile launching and handling; and the development of drone or pilotless aircraft beginning with the Republic-Ford JB-2 Loon , an American copy of the V-1 . The 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group was activated at Eglin Field, Florida, on 6 February 1946, operating out of Auxiliary Field 3. By March 1950, the 550th Guided Missiles Wing, comprising

8265-557: The wing was moved to a base in England. The 17th was inactivated on June 25, 1958 due to budgetary cutbacks. With the reactivation of Hurlburt, housing was at a premium, and Lieutenant Colonel Robert S. Kramer, Assistant Army District Engineer at Mobile, Alabama , announced on April 5, 1956, that a contract had been awarded in the amount of $ 3,315,143.34 to the McDonough Construction Company of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia , for

8360-625: Was Captain Craig D. Button , USAF, noted for his mysterious flight and crash of an A-10 Thunderbolt on April 2, 1997. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his Raiders could not have practiced take offs with their B-25 Mitchell bombers at Auxiliary Field No. 9, as it, and the requisite hard-surfaced runway, did not exist in March 1942. "A former Hurlburt Field base commander in the 1950s may have started this story, and several official histories and raider interviews have perpetuated this belief." Nonetheless,

8455-407: Was abruptly transferred to the special operations forces in response to the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt and the lack of dedicated long-range vertical lift platforms." "The helicopters brought 200 new military jobs to Hurlburt, bringing the number of military positions at the base to 3,200." In the early 1960s, Hurlburt was utilized as a Strategic Air Command dispersal base for B-47s of

8550-725: Was activated on 1 November 1963. It would be re-designated as the USAF Air Warfare Center on 1 October 1991. With the increasing U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia in the 1960s, the need for increased emphasis on conventional weapons development made Eglin's mission even more important. On 1 August 1968, the Air Proving Ground Center was redesignated the Armament Development and Test Center to centralize responsibility for research, development, test and evaluation, and initial acquisition of non-nuclear munitions for

8645-519: Was also responsible for developing the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), an Air Force-led joint project with the U.S. Navy . The Air Force Armament Museum was founded on base in 1975. In 1981 the original building housing the museum was condemned and the facility closed until 1984. Selected on 27 April 1975, the installation served as one of four main U.S. Vietnamese Refugee Processing Centers operated by

8740-470: Was an effort to preserve the history of Air Commando operations and the Airmen involved. As part of this effort aircraft of significance were collected and memorials erected to significant operations and individuals dating back to World War II. The air park was open to the general public via special pass until the enhanced security of the post 9/11 era was enacted resulting in the park currently being inaccessible to

8835-532: Was established 89 years ago in 1935 as the Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Base . It is named in honor of Lt. Col. Frederick I. Eglin (1891–1937), who was killed in a crash of his Northrop A-17 attack aircraft on a flight from Langley to Maxwell Field , Alabama . Much of the base was part of a national forest until the outbreak of World War II in Europe when a proving ground for aircraft armament

8930-720: Was established at Eglin. The U.S. Forest Service ceded over 340,000 acres (1,400 km) of the Choctawhatchee National Forest to the War Department on 18 October 1940. Eglin Air Force Base evolved from the 1933 creation of the Valparaiso Airport, when an arrowhead-shaped parcel of 137 acres (55 ha) was cleared for use as an airdrome . In 1931, personnel of the Air Corps Tactical School , newly relocated to Maxwell Field , Alabama , sought

9025-595: Was named for First Lieutenant Donald Wilson Hurlburt, who died in a crash at Eglin . The installation is nearly 6,700 acres (27 km ) and employs nearly 8,000 military personnel. This facility is assigned a three-letter location identifier of HRT by the Federal Aviation Administration , but it does not have an International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code (the IATA assigned HRT to RAF Linton-on-Ouse in England). Hurlburt began as

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