Maxwell AFB, Gunter Annex, AL

09/24/2021

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
From Wikipedia:

Gunter and Air Defense Command

Air Defense Command
In 1957 a Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Data Center (DC-09) was established at Gunter AFB. The SAGE system was an early generation computer network linking Air Force (and later FAA) general air surveillance radar stations into a centralized center for continental air defense, intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack. It was initially under the Montgomery Air Defense Sector (MoADS), established on 8 September 1957. MoADS was synonymous with 32nd NORAD Region, which encompassed an area from the Cuban landmass north to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. MoADS was a blockhouse with 18 inch thick steel-reinforced concrete walls designed to withstand anything but a direct nuclear hit. There were 4 floors, with the bottom floor for inputs, the second floor for computer systems, and the fourth floor for operations.

SAGE sites had twin AN/FSQ-7 computers that encompassed an area the size of a football field. These IBM-built systems were tube-based with wire and washer memory banks. IBM also built in excellent diagnostics and redundancy, so the system should always be operational. The memory was 64K, with the incoming radar information storage was on magnetic drums and the maximum response overload before collapse was around 45 seconds.

In the 1960s, MoADS also assisted in hosting William Tell, a then-annual competition of Air Defense Command (ADC), later Aerospace Defense Command (ADC), and Royal Canadian Air Force fighter-interceptor squadrons that was held at Tyndall AFB, Florida. In the 1960s, this competition included live shoot-downs of Firebee aerial target drones launched from Tyndall AFB, and obsolescent QB-47E Stratojet bombers and BOMARC missiles launched from nearby Eglin AFB, Florida.

On 16 December 1960, the SAGE facility at Gunter controlled two BOMARC-B missiles launched from Eglin AFB and directed their interception of a QB-47E Stratojet drone flying at 500 mph at 30,000 feet.[3]

William Tell also showcased various air defense development programs. One was the Mach 3+ YF-12 interceptor that later became the basis for the SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. In the early 1960s, a YF-12 would launch from Edwards AFB, California, climb to around 70,000 feet and intercept a drone over the Gulf of Mexico that was launched Eglin AFB, shoot it down, and then return to Edwards AFB. This was a spectacular show of advanced technology of that time.

MoADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966 and redesignated as the 32d Air Division. DC-09 with its AN/FSQ-7 computer remained under the 32d Air Division until it and the Air Division were inactivated on 31 December 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers.

The official site of the Air Force Historical Research Agency

07/12/2021

More Gunter Field history: 1942 Classbook

This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.

07/08/2021

More Gunter History:

MAXWELL, FRENCH, AND ROYAL AIR FORCE HONOR FALLEN HEROES
Rebecca Burylo
Montgomery Advertiser
November 13, 2015

A light rain, a gray sky and a chilly wind set the tone for dozens of guests as they huddled under umbrellas wearing bright red poppy pins. They gathered to give homage to 98 Royal Air Force and French flight cadets who died at Maxwell and Gunter Air Force Base during World War II and who are now buried side-by-side atop Oakwood Cemetery.

Every year, British Royal Air Force, French and Canadian officers studying at Air University at Maxwell take the Sunday before Veterans Day to honor their fallen comrades who died in Montgomery during flight training between 1941 and 1943.

Senior British officer, Group Captain Shaun Harvey, RAF, before opening up the ceremony, good-naturally quipped he and his fellow officers had brought the British weather with them to Alabama.

Harvey and a representative of the French air force, Lt. Col. Arnaud Bouilland stood in front of the Cross of Sacrifice, which is situated among the grave stones of 78 RAF airmen and 20 French airmen. There is only one other such monument in the United States located at Arlington Cemetery.

The area also marks the largest commonwealth war grave in the country.

"This is an honor and tradition that is being observed on this day, across the world as a service of remembered to commemorate those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom," Harvey said.

"Each year the service of remembrance is held here to remember these young airmen who were killed while training here in the United States and to remember all those who have died in the wars before and since that shaped the world we live in today," Harvey said.

Between 1940 and 1941, the RAF lacked the facilities, airfields, and flight instructors to train new pilots because of ongoing combat operations against Germany. In March 1941, Lt. Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces, offered to train up to 4,000 RAF flight cadets annually in flight schools of the Southeast Air Corps Training Center, headquartered at Maxwell Field.

The United States Army Air Corps leased one-third of its training capacity to the British and the French in March 1941 and that summer, pilots began to arrive for three phases of training at Gunter and Maxwell.

On Sunday, the small crowd fell silent to commemorate the lost cadets and the lasting friendship between the countries.

"This has been solid friendship since World War II that has kept the flame of liberty burning," Bouilland said. "This we will not forget."

Representative of the Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, the United States Air Force and the Montgomery Garden Club, which maintains the grave site seasonal flowers, each placed a wreath at the foot of the Cross of Sacrifice.

United States Air Force Maj. Matthew Strickler sounded the "Last Post" and concluded the ceremony by playing, "Rouse."

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06/10/2021

Some Gunter history: (From Wikipedia) This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

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. The Army leased the 187 acre municipal airport and purchased an additional 300 acres for the cantonment area. Complicated leasing agreements delayed construction and the Army facilities were not completed in time, so the first two classes, Class 41-A with 107 students and Class 41-B, trained at Maxwell Field on the other side of town. The first class to train at Gunter was 41-C which began instruction on November 28, 1940.
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.
In 1943, 3,500 foot long hard surfaced runways were added.
Gunter was the first base established by the Southeastern Training Center exclusively for Basic Flight Training. As such, it also trained instructors and other personnel for the other Basic Training bases opened in the Southeast that included Cochran AAF in Macon, Georgia; Bainbridge AB, Georgia; Greenville AAF, Mississippi; Shaw AAF in Sumter, South Carolina; and at Augusta, Georgia's civilian-run Bush Field. Students would come to Basic Flight Training after completing Primary Training. In 1941, the Basic course was 10 weeks in length in which the student received 70 flying hours. After completion of the course, students would be chosen for advanced single or multi-engine training.
During World War II, the field served as a flying school for not just Army pilots, but for British (under the Arnold Scheme), French and Canadians as well.[2] By 1944, there were nearly four hundred aircraft assigned to Gunter Field. The primary aircraft used for Basic Training, by both the Army and the Navy, during most of the war was the fixed gear Vultee BT-13 and BT-15 Valiant. By later 1944, the BT-13s and 15s were worn out and they began to be replaced by the North American AT-6 Texan.
After World War II ended, flight training was transferred to Spence AAF (Georgia) and, other than some contingents of French and Chinese flight students, aviation training ended at Gunter. 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 its Extension Course Institute there. In October of that year, a branch of the School of Aviation Medicine was also established.

The official site of the Air Force Historical Research Agency

07/25/2020

Some more history:

12/13/2019

Gunter Field ramp - 1942 and BT-13s in flight.

12/13/2019

My Dad - John N. Gillespie - Control Tower Operator (Air Traffic Controller) - Gunter Field 1942.

12/13/2019

My Dad - John N. Gillespie, Control Tower Operator (Air Traffic Controller) - Gunter Field, 1942