Maxwell Air Force Base and the Air University

Maxwell Air Force Base and the Air University. . The Air Force presence in Montgomery, Alabama began in April 1918 with the establishment of the U.S. Army Air Service's Aircraft and Engine Repair Depot #3 at the same site as the earlier Wright Brothers' flying school. On November 8, 1922, the Air Service renamed the installation after Second Lieutenant William C. Maxwell, a native of Atmore, Alabama, who died when his aircraft crashed in the Philippines on August 12, 1920. In the 1920's, Maxwell Field continued to expand through the efforts of successive post commanders and U.S. Representative J. Lister Hill. In 1929, the Air Corps relocated the Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS), which developed the concepts of daylight precision strategic bombing in the 1930's used during World War II, from Langley Field, Virginia to Maxwell Field. During the war, Maxwell Field and nearby Gunter Field trained tens of thousands of American and Allied air crew and technicians. In November 1946, the United States Army Air Forces (AAF) relocated the AAF School from Orlando, Florida to Maxwell Field and renamed it the Air University. Since its first class in August 1947, the Air University has graduated hundreds of thousands of Air Force officers, enlisted personnel and civilians, personnel from other U.S. military services and federal government agencies, and international military personnel. Its many professional military, continuing, and specialized education programs have made the Air University the "Intellectual and Leadership Center" of the U.S. Air Force.