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The history of Mountain Home AFB

The history of Mountain Home AFB

Zack Wilson Zack Wilson

Mountain Home Air Force Base, located in Elmore County, Idaho, is a United States Air Force installation that, since 1972, has been home to the 366th Fighter Wing, nicknamed the 'Gunfighters'. Their job is to offer combat support capabilities to respond to and sustain worldwide contingency operations, as well as providing powerful combat air power.

World War Two

Overview
Construction of the base began in 1942 and it officially opened in August 1943. The first unit to be assigned to the base were the 470th Bombardment Group (Heavy), whose job was to train crew for B-24 Liberators. After they were transferred to the United Kingdom, the 494th Bombardment Group took over their duties, and some P-38 Lightning and P-63 Kingcobra fighter planes joined the base to add greater realism to combat training. The 301st Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) were briefly stationed at Mountain Home AFB for training on B-29 Superfortresses, but the Japanese surrender brought an end to their activities, and the base itself was placed in inactive status in October 1945.

Post war

The basics
The base was re-opened by the newly independent United States Air Force in December 1948.
A series of units with impressive combat records in different theatres of conflict found mountain homes at the Idaho base. The 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Group was the first unit to operate from the base. It then passed to the jurisdiction of Military Air Transport Service (MATS), which assigned it to the Air Resupply And Communications Service in 1951. The 9th Bombardment Wing, the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing and the 347th Tactical Fighter Wing have also operated from Mountain Home AFB. The 366th Fighter Wing has had its home at Mountain Home AFB since returning from duty in the Vietnam War in 1972. A serious accident occured inSeptember 14, 2003, when a Thunderbird flown by Captain Chris Stricklin crashed.
Although the aircraft was completely destroyed, there were no fatalities, with the pilot ejecting from his cockpit a second or so before the impact.
This happened after he had guided the aircraft down a runway away from spectators. Final word
Part of the base is a census-designated place (CDP), with the population at the 2010 Census being recorded at 3,238.

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