Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

training center, located at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Mississippi. It is located north-northeast of

Gulfport, Mississippi Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolit ...

Overview

The Air National Guard Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) at Gulfport, Mississippi hosts regular deployments of Air National Guard units, and offers convenient offshore airspace that is fully instrumented (ACMI) for recording air-to-air engagements. Nearby

Camp Shelby Camp Shelby is a military post whose North Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on United States Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to s ...

, MS features an air-to-ground range and sufficient low-altitude MOA airspace to provide realistic ground attack scenarios. All Airspace and ranges/drop zones are instrumented on the $26 million Air Combat Training System (ACTS). This system provides training and debriefing capability and combines electronic threat and scoring systems as well. The CRTC has two tenant Mississippi Air National Guard units on base. * The 255th Air Control Squadron (ACS), activated in 1971 as a Combat Communications Squadron (CCS), was converted to a Control and Reporting Center (CRC) in 1987. They were the first Air National Guard unit to receive datalink capabilities for all joint forces. In 1998, the 255th was converted to their role of Air Control. ACTS provides Ground Control Intercept (GCI) capability to the total force, as well as other very vital activities. The 255th ACS has 255 personnel and is combat ready in all areas. Their mission is to organize, train and equip personnel to provide an operational ready Control and Reporting Center in support of worldwide theater air operations and statewide emergency contingencies. * The 209th Civil Engineer Squadron (CES). The 209th CES was formed as the 173rd Civil Engineering Flight in 1969, and has grown over the years at its present manning of 90 personnel. The function of the 209th CES is to provide a mobile emergency engineering force for base damage recovery after attack. This unit constantly trains and maintains a state of readiness to allow short notice deployment capability. This is accomplished through management of the Rapid Runway Repair (RRR) site and the fire training facility. Within the first year of opening, the new RRR site had trained 1,600 personnel, and over 1,400 personnel were scheduled for training in the year 2000. The 209th CES began augmenting the United States Air Force (USAF) "Silver Flag" Training Program at Tyndall AFB, FL in FY00. When activated for active-duty service, the 209th falls under the jurisdiction of the Air Force Special Operations Command. While not considered a tenant of the CRTC, 1108 Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group (formerly known as the 1108th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot, or AVCRAD),

Mississippi Army National Guard The Mississippi Army National Guard is the Army National Guard component of the Mississippi National Guard. It was originally formed in 1798. It is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. It is managed by the ...

, is co-located at the Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport. They are a full Army aviation maintenance depot facility.

History

World War II

The facility was originally constructed in 1942 by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a training base for Air Corps Flying Training Command. Gulfport Army Airfield opened on 7 July, and the Eastern Technical Training Command conducted technical training and basic training until transferred to

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in ...

on 31 March 1944 with joint use by Technical Training Command for marine training of Emergency Rescue School (3d Air Rescue Group) located at Keesler Army Airbase. The airfield had many several landing fields to support pilot training: * Gulfport Auxiliary Field * Hancock County Airport Under

, the 328th Army Air Force Base Unit conducted replacement training for heavy bomber ( B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator) units. In addition

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 F ...

aircrew transition training was performed. With the end of the war and the drawdown of the military, Gulfport AAF was placed into reserve status on 31 January 1946. Gulfport Field was declared excess by the Air Force and conveyed by the

War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Ord ...

to the City of Gulfport in 1949 for use as a civil airport. The City negotiated airline service contracts with

Southern Airways Southern Airways was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local-service air carrier" as designated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with ...

and later National Airlines to provide passenger and cargo service beginning in the early 1950s.

Gulfport Air Force Base

Due to the large expansion of the

as a result of the Cold War, a new lease was obtained for military use of the airport and Gulfport Air Force Base was opened as a joint-use civil/military facility. Improvements were made by the Air Force to the field to bring the wartime facilities up to permanent Air Force standards, so that on 16 July 1951, when Gulfport AFB was activated and assigned to the Air Training Command (ATC), it was able to become the headquarters of the new Technical Training Air Force (TTAF), which controlled technical and basic training of Air Force personnel. The TTAF controlled 10 Air Force wings from Gulfport: 7 Technical Training wings: * 3310th,

Scott AFB Scott Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville and O'Fallon, east-southeast of downtown St. Louis. Scott Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the Un ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

* 3320th, Amarillo AFB,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

* 3345th,

Chanute AFB Chanute Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force facility, located in Champaign County, Illinois, south of and adjacent to Rantoul, Illinois, about south of Chicago. Its primary mission throughout its existence was Air Force t ...

* 3380th,

Keesler AFB Keesler Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city along the Gulf Coast in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi nat ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

* 3415th,

Lowry AFB Lowry Air Force Base (Lowry Field in 1938–1948) is a former United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) training base during World War II and a United States Air Force (USAF) training base during the Cold War, serving as the initial 1955–1958 si ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

* 3450th, Francis E. Warren AFB,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

* 3750th, Sheppard AFB,

1 USAF Recruiting Wing: 3500th, Wright-Patterson AFB,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

1 USAF Military Basic Training Wing: 3700th,

Lackland AFB Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Bexar County, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and an enclave of the city of Sa ...

1 USAF Mobile Training Wing: 3499th,

In addition, contract basic flying training for prospective pilots was also conducted at Gulfport AFB. In 1957, ATC decided to assign all flying and crew training responsibilities under a single headquarters. In addition, effective 1 July 1958, the command discontinued the Technical Training Air Force and moved all training headquarters to their controlling major commands or to ATC, depending on its mission. Recruiting and Basic Training were also reassigned to HQ ATC. Gulfport AFB was closed as an active Air Force installation and its military facilities were transferred to the Mississippi Air National Guard, with the airport remaining a joint-use airport and Air National Guard base.

Mississippi Air National Guard

Beginning in 1953, the Mississippi Air National Guard developed a training activity which has grown into a facility renamed Combat Readiness Training Center Gulfport, one of four such CRTCs in the nation. Military traffic has expanded each year, and now more than 20,000 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command flight personnel are trained at the base annually. Within 10 minutes, supersonic fighters, in-flight refueling aircraft and airlift aircraft can simulate a combat environment over the Gulf of Mexico or at

in Hattiesburg, MS. Additionally, the Army National Guard established the Aviation Classification Repair Depot operation which repairs several types of combat and transport helicopters for military activities throughout the Southeast and Puerto Rico.

References