Eglin AFB

Eglin Air Force Base had a long history with Invaders, receiving some of the first A-26s built during World War II, acting as a testing base for special research projects during their service life, and being the base of operations for some of the last operational Invaders in US Air Force service.

History and Creation

Eglin Air Force Base is located approximately 50 miles east of the famous Pensacola Naval Air Station, and roughly 3 miles southwest of the city of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County on the gulf coast of Florida.

In 1931 the Air Corps Tactical School operating out of Maxwell AFB was looking for a bombing and gunnery range. In 1933 the Valparaiso Airport was created in sparsely populated woodland on 137 acres. This location caught the eye of the Tactical School due to its location and surroundings. The base was established in 1935 as an expansion of the Valparaiso Airport and was called the Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Base. In 1938 the base's name was changed to Elgin Air Force Base in honor of Lt. Col. Frederick I. Eglin (1891-1937) who was killed when his Northrop A-17 crashed on a flight from Maxwell AFB, LA to Langley, VA.

Initially the base was rather small, just 137 acres, but on 18 Oct 1940 the US Forest Service ceded 340,000 acres of land from the Choctawhatchee National Forest and gave it to the War Department for use in expanding the base. From Oct 1941 to Oct 1945 the base operated a Fixed Gunnery School and was home to the 75th Flying Training Wing. The base was home to more than 1,000 officers, 10,000 enlisted personnel, and 4,000 civilians.

Weapons Testing

Since 1940 Eglin AFB, then called Eglin Field, has been home to numerous weapons testing programs, thanks in part to the base being declared a proving grounds. In 1942 the base was designated Proving Ground Command. On 28 Oct 1943 the US Army created the Army Air Forces Tactical Center.

On 1 Jul 1945 the Eglin Proving Ground Command was merged with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics which had operated out of Orland AFB. The new command became known as the Army Air Forces Center.

On 8 Mar 1946 the Army Air Forces Center merged with Proving Ground Command and became known as Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command (AAF PGC). On 10 Jul 1946 this new command was elevated to a Major Command status and on 1 Jul 1948 Eglin Field was renamed to Eglin AFB, which would house the new command.

During all of WWII and up to the 1970s Eglin was tasked with Operational Testing & Evaluation (OT&E) of new weapons systems and platforms. As a result, many special research projects were carried out there. The A-26's 75mm cannon was tested at Eglin Proving Grounds, as was the experimental 105mm cannon. Eglin was also home to the testing of Project Speedee.

Postwar

After WWII ended Eglin continued to be a proving grounds base, but also expanded their operations to include guided missile research. The Air Munitions Development Laboratory was moved from Wright-Patterson AFB to Eglin during 1955.

Special Operations

On 27 Apr 1962 the USAF Special Warfare Center was activated at Hurlburt Field. The first unit organized under this new command was the 1st Combat Applications Group. Its mission was to test and evaluate weapons systems used in Special Warfare cases, specifically Counter-Insurgency (COIN) operations. The SAWC also developed tactical air doctrine that would be employed in COIN battlegrounds, like Southeast Asia. By 1 Nov 1963 the Tactical Air Warfare Center was activated and worked alongside SAWC.