Dover Air Force Base

Dover AFB is an Air Force operated military base located only 3 km away from Dover, in the western side of Delaware. It spreads over 1.7 square km and a small part of it is a census designated spot. In 2000, it hosted over 3300 individuals, from military and civilian fields. Other than that, the place is more famous among civilians for the 1301-th hangar that hosts the museum of the Air Mobility Command. It includes a huge collection of restored aircrafts. Most tours are taken by volunteer people. They are usually retired pilots who can present more than just the basic history of each aircraft.

History

The history of this Air Force military base starts in 1941, when the place represented the Municipal Airport. It was opened in the winter of 1941 with the precise purpose to deal with civilian and commercial flights only. After the Japanese attacks over Pearl Harbor and a few other strategic bases in the area, the airfield was taken over by the Army Air Corps. The first anti submarine operations began in 1942, at the same time with the first units joining the new base. During the war, the US figured out their needs for a testing area for new rockets, therefore the airfield was also turned into a testing ranch. As the war ended, the army had basically no other uses for the area, so it was inactivated. All the units were dispatched somewhere else, except for the 4404-th Base Standby Squadron, a small tenant unit responsible with the maintenance and care operations.

Dover AFB was brought back to life in the summer of 1950 as a response to the Korean War and the Cold War. Plenty of new and advanced aircrafts were brought at the base, although it was not really capable to store and maintain all of them. During the war, the authorities took the airfield through a quick, yet effective restoration process. In the upcoming years, the base played a role in the Yom Kippur War, the conflict between Israel, Syria and Egypt. At the same time, the Islamic revolution from Iran at the end of the ’80s forced the military base to join and evacuate the Americans from the country.

Other than that, Dover AFB was also intensively used in the conflicts from Yugoslavia and Somalia, not to mention about the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. One of the most dramatic operations implies the Guyana murders and suicides from Jonestown. Most of the bodies were stored at this base.

Units

Some of the most popular units hosted at Dover AFB include the 436-th Maintenance Operations Squadron, the 736-th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, the 3-rd and the 9-th Airlift Squadrons and the 436-th Communications Squadron. Other than that, you can count the 512-th Airlift Wing and the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center among the few tenant units hosted on site.

Housing

The newcomers should get in touch with the Eagle Heights, a private company run in a tight collaboration with the Air Force to provide every newcomer with a nice experience. The sponsors will help you accommodate and provide you with a perfect home for your needs and requirements.