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HISTORY OF MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE & GUNTER ANNEX In early 1910, a group of influential businessmen in Montgomery, Alabama, offered Wilbur Wright use of an old cotton plantation for establishing a flying school in the city. Shortly thereafter, the Wrights opened one of the world's earliest flying schools at the site that would subsequently become Maxwell <strong>Air</strong> Force Base (AFB). Orville Wright recorded the first powered flight in Montgomery on March 26, 1910. <strong>The</strong> first recorded heavier-than-air night flights in aviation history also occurred at the Alabama field on May 25, 1910. However, the school closed just two days later and nearly eight years passed before flying activities resumed in Montgomery. During World War I, the US Army established numerous military flying training fields and aviation repair depots around the country. In April 1918, Mr. Frank D. Kohn, a local businessman, leased 302 acres of his land to the US Government for use as an aviation repair depot. Affectionately known as "Wright Field," this was the same site used by the Wright brothers in 1910. <strong>The</strong> government purchased the site in 1920 for $34,327. <strong>The</strong> field went through five name changes during the next four years. <strong>The</strong> installation's first official name was the Engine and Repair Depot (April 1918). In September, the name changed to the Engine and <strong>The</strong> young Lt William C. Maxwell Plane Repair Depot #3. <strong>The</strong> depot became the Aviation Repair Depot in March 1919. In January 1921, the depot became the Montgomery <strong>Air</strong> Intermediate Depot. Further, the War Department re- 97 designated the depot as Maxwell Field in November 1922, in honor of 2d Lieutenant William C. Maxwell. Lieutenant Maxwell, a native of Atmore, Alabama, died on August 12, 1920, in the Philippines when his DH-4 aircraft struck a flagpole after he had swerved to avoid striking a group of children at play. In the summer of 1931, the <strong>Air</strong> Corps Tactical School moved from Langley Field, Virginia, to Maxwell Field. Though its basic mission was to Monument to the Wright brothers’ biplane shed in Montgomery, AL in 1910 educate air officers in the strategy, tactics, and techniques of air power, the school also became involved in the development of air doctrine. In fact, brilliant young officers such as Claire Chennault, Muir S. Fairchild, Harold L. George, Haywood Hansell, Lawrence Kuter, Kenneth Walker, Robert Webster, and Donald Wilson developed aerial warfare doctrines, strategies, and tactics used against the enemy during World War II. In addition, the school produced 261 of the 320 Army <strong>Air</strong> Forces (AAF) general officers who served on V-J Day,