The base has specialized in ground trade training since its opening in 1941 during World War II. It has had high-quality technical schools and absorbed units moved from other bases under the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC).
History
In early January 1941, Biloxi city officials assembled a formal offer to invite the United States Army to build a base to support the World War II training buildup. The War Department activated Army Air Corps Station No. 8, Aviation Mechanics School, Biloxi, Mississippi, on 12 June 1941. On August 25, 1941, the base was dedicated as Keesler Army Airfield, in honor of 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi native and distinguished aerial observer, killed in action in France during the First World War.
Congress initially appropriated $6 million for construction at Biloxi and an additional $2 million for equipment. By the time the War Department allocated the funds in April 1941, the projected cost had risen to $9.6 million. On 14 June 1941, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded contracts totaling $10 million to build Biloxi's technical training school. At the time, it was the most expensive government project to have been undertaken in the State of Mississippi.
Keesler Field 1943 Classbook
When the War Department activated Keesler Field in June 1941, not only was Keesler getting a technical training center, but it would be getting one of the Army's newest replacement, or basic training centers. The first shipment of recruits arrived at Keesler Field on 21 August 1941. Many stayed at Keesler to become airplane and engine mechanics, while others transferred to aerial gunnery or aviation cadet schools. Development of the base stimulated businesses and residential construction in Biloxi.
The Tuskegee Airmen were trained at Keesler. More than 7,000 Black soldiers were stationed at Keesler Field by the autumn of 1943. These soldiers included pre-aviation cadets, radio operators, aviation technicians, bombardiers, and aviation mechanics.
Officers' Club at Keesler Field as it appeared during World War II. "Partial view of the Dining Room, Officers' Club, Keesler Field, Mississippi. The mural scene, painted by Cpl. Claude Marks, shows the harvesting and processing of cane sugar in Louisiana around 1859." Source: U. S. Government postcard. Date of postcard unknown, probably about 1944.August 31, 2005: C-17 Globemasters unload supplies at Keesler following Hurricane Katrina.A Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is cleaned up in the new wash system at Keesler.
Keesler continued to focus upon specialized training in Consolidated B-24 Liberator maintenance until mid-1944. Thereafter, the base expanded its curricula to train mechanics for other aircraft. By September 1944, the number of recruits had dropped, but the workload remained constant. Keesler personnel began processing veteran ground troops and combat crews who had returned from duty overseas for additional training and follow-on assignments. The number of men who went through basic training wound down markedly after the end of World War II, and it was discontinued at Keesler on 30 June 1946.
Cold War
In late May 1947, the Radar School was established at Keesler (transferred from Boca Raton Army Air Field), making it responsible for operating the two largest military technical schools in the United States. Thereafter, shrinking budgets forced the base to reduce its operating costs: the Airplane and Engine Mechanics School and the Radar School were consolidated on 1 April 1948.
In early 1949, the Radio Operations School transferred to Keesler from Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. In addition to training radio operators, Keesler was to begin teaching air traffic service technicians; aircraft approach controllers, ground radar mechanics, and radar repairman/ground controlled approach specialists. The last mechanics training courses had moved to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, by November.
In early 1956, Keesler entered the missile age by opening a ground support training program for the Atlas missile. In 1958, all control tower operator, radio maintenance, and general radio operator courses were put under Keesler's already broad technical training roof.
"Since August 1948, the 3380th Technical Training Wing had controlled all base activities. Under it were four [groups]: the 3380th Technical Training Group, which operated the school; the 3380th Maintenance and Supply Group; the 3380th Air Base Group; and the 3380th Medical Group. In 1955, a fifth group was added—the 3380th Installations Group. That arrangement continued until 1 January 1959, when Air Training Command redesignated the wing as Headquarters, Keesler Technical Training Center (KTTC). At the same time, the training group was redesignated the 3380th Technical School, USAF, and all of its subodinate student squadrons were renamed school squadrons."(81 TRW Brief History 2011)
During the early 1960s, Keesler lost many of its airborne training courses, but it remained the largest training base throughout the 1970s. This included limited flight training operations in the T-28 Trojan for Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) student pilots.
Hurricane Camille produced considerable damage as it passed over Biloxi in 1969. Most of the Back Bay housing area was under water.
"On 31 May 1972, Air Training Command redesignated the 3380th Technical School as the USAF School of Applied Aerospace Sciences. Soon after on 13 December, the school received institutional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. As a result, Airmen trained at Keesler received a Career Educational Certificate from the newly established Community College of the Air Force. This opportunity was further expanded in April 1977, when Keesler graduates became eligible to apply their technical training towards an Associate of Arts degree."(81 TRW Brief History 2011)
Keesler's student load dropped to an all-time low after the Vietnam War ended. As a result, Air Training Command inactivated the USAF School of Applied Aerospace Sciences on 1 April 1977 and replaced it with the 3300th Technical Training Wing, which activated the same day.
During the early 1980s Keesler's air traffic control program garnered publicity when the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization walked off the job in August 1981. When President Ronald Reagan fired the strikers, Keesler-trained military air traffic controllers were used to direct some of the nation's air traffic. As the air traffic control school it was also the logical location for the USAF Combat Controllers.
Keesler AFB was the primary training base for many avionics maintenance career fields, including Electronic Warfare, Navigational Aids, Computer Repair and Ground Radio Repair. It was also the primary training base for most USAF administrative career fields.
From the 1990s
Driven by defense budget cuts, base closures following the end of the Cold War forced an end to technical training at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois, and Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado, when those bases were closed by Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) actions. Keesler acquired Chanute's weather forecasting courses and Lowry's meteorology and precision measurement equipment laboratory training programs during 1992 and 1993.
Massive restructuring of the Air Force in the early 1990s also meant several changes for Keesler associate units. The first occurred when the 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron was inactivated in the active duty Air Force, transferred to the Air Force Reserve and reactivated on 30 June 1991.
On 29 August 2005 Keesler sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina, which made its third Gulf Coast landfall as a Category 3 storm approximately 30 miles (48km) to the west. Although non-essential personnel and Hurricane Hunter planes had been evacuated in advance, "drastic damage" was sustained by the base's industrial and housing areas. Due to storm surge about 50% of the base came under water; the commissary, base exchange, and some base housing units were flooded with more than six feet of water. By August 31, however, relief flights were landing at the base. On September 1 the first set of Airmen were evacuated to Sheppard AFB, TX. Other Airmen reached Sheppard AFB the next day, where they were welcomed and given basic items.
Units today
From 1993, the 81 TRW has provided technical training of airmen in select skill areas immediately following their completion of basic training, as well as providing additional or recurrent training. On average, Keesler has 3,100 students on base at a time. Much of the training they receive is in the field of electronics, such as wideband maintenance, ground radio, information technology, avionics, cryptography. The wing also trains meteorology personnel, radar operations, air traffic control, Aviation Resource Management (ARMS), and tropical cyclone forecasting. Keesler AFB is one of the largest technical training wings in AETC, with four training squadrons located in the training building complex known as "the triangle," the 334th, 335th, 336th, and the 338th. The 81st Medical Group is also located at the base and operates the second largest medical center in the Air Force.
Finally, Keesler is also home to CNATTU Keesler (Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit), a training unit for U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps enlisted personnel receiving training at Keesler, such as enlisted meteorology training, with their Air Force counterparts.
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The 78th Flying Training Wing was a wing of the United States Army Air Forces. It was last assigned to the Central Flying Training Command, and was disbanded on 30 June 1945 at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, Texas.
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The 337th Air Control Squadron is part of the 33d Fighter Wing, an Air Education and Training Command (AETC) unit, based at the United States Air Force's Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The squadron's present mission was activated at Tyndall in 1947, making it the base's oldest surviving mission. During the past decades, radar operations and maintenance has been taught to tens of thousands of personnel of all ranks.
Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas OCLC71006954, 29991467
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