| Gunter Annex Gunter Air Force Base Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base |
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| Part of Air Education and Training Command (AETC) | |
| Located in Montgomery, Alabama | |
USGS Airporhto of Gunter AFB, 2006 |
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| Type | Air Force Base |
| Built | 1940 |
| In use | 1940-1973, 1988-1992 (As Gunter Air Force Base) Gunter Air Force Station (1973-1988) Gunter Annex (1992--present) |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
| Garrison | Air Training Command (1940-1993) Air Education and Training Command (1993--present) |
| Occupants | 754th Electronic Systems Group |
Gunter Annex is a United States Air Force installation located in the North-northeast suburbs of Montgomery, Alabama. The base is named after former Montgomery mayor William Adams Gunter. Until 1992 it was known as Gunter Air Force Base or Gunter Air Force Station. It has been a military training base since its opening in 1940.
Gunter Annex now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base.
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Gunter Annex is the home of the Headquarters 754th Electronic Systems Group (HQ 754th ELSG). The 754th Electronic Systems Group provides and supports secure combat information systems and networks that increase the capabilities of our commanders and leaders of the United States Air Force (USAF), the Department of Defense and other Federal Government Agencies.
The 754 ELSG is a part of the 554th Electronic Systems Wing, which is headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. The Group directly supports the Wing’s mission of providing the USAF with a wide array of horizontally integrated IT products and services and ensures timely, decision-ready information that delivers high quality solutions to support mission requirements.
The host unit of Gunter Annex is the 42d Air Base Wing, headquartered at Maxwell. The former 42d Bombardment Wing took over host duties at the complex on 1 October 1994 when the wing was redesignated and reassigned from the closing of Loring Air Force Base, Maine.
The facility is named after William Adams Gunter (1871–1940), a long-time mayor of Montgomery Alabama. Mayor Gunter was an aviation advocate who championed aviation and was a major force behind the construction of the original Montgomery Municipal Airport at this site in 1929. There were several efforts to have the airport officially named in his honor while he was still living. Although he successfully resisted these efforts, the site is still commonly referred to by residents as 'Gunter Field'.
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. Runways were constructed and quarters were built and in November the first class of two hundred arrived.
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.
During World War II, the field served as a flying school for not just Army pilots, but for British, French and Canadians as well. By 1944, there were nearly four hundred aircraft assigned to Gunter Field; primarily trainers of the North American BT-14 and AT-6, Vultee BT-13 types. At this time, Gunter Army Airfield had a 3,500 ft. hard-surface runway, as well as seven satellite airfields in the area.
After World War II ended, flight training was transferred to Spence Army Air Field (Georgia) and, other than some contingents of French and Chinese flight students, training ended there. 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 the Extension Course Institute there. In October of that year a branch of the School of Aviation Medicine was established.
In 1957 a Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Data Center (DC-09) was established at Gunter AFB. The SAGE system was a network linking Air Force (and later FAA) General Surveillance Radar stations into a centralized center for 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 on 8 September 1957. On 16 December 1960, the SAGE facility at Gunter controlled two BOMARC-B missiles launched from Eglin AFB, Florida, and directed their interception of a QB-47E Stratojet drone flying at 500 mph at 30,000 feet.[1] MoADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966, and re designated as the 32d Air Division. DC-09 with its AN/FSQ-7 computer remained under the 32d AD until it, and the Air Division was inactivated on 31 December 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers.
In 1971, nearly 800 acres (3.2 km2) of Gunter were returned to the city of Montgomery. In that year the Air Force Data Systems Design Center moved there and in 1972 the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy came to Gunter. In early 1973, Gunter was redesignated an 'Air Force Station'.
Major construction was undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to the advocacy of Congressman William Dickinson and in 1988 Gunter was redesignated an 'Air Force Base'. The primary tenants being, still, the Extension Course Institute, the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy and the Air Force Data Systems Design Center.
In March 1992, Gunter was again redesignated, this time as Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex and now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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