Air University Educational Digest - 2010 (pdf ... - The Air University

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 Air
Force Base (AFB). Orville Wright recorded the first
powered flight in Montgomery on March 26, 1910.
The 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. The government purchased
the site in 1920 for $34,327.
The field went through five name changes during the
next four years. The installation's first official name
was the Engine and Repair Depot (April 1918). In
September, the name changed to the Engine and
The young Lt William C. Maxwell
Plane Repair Depot #3. The depot became the
Aviation Repair Depot in March 1919. In January
1921, the depot became the Montgomery Air
Intermediate Depot. Further, the War Department re-
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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 Air 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 Air Forces
(AAF) general officers who served on V-J Day,