Robins Air Force Base

Robins Air Force Base, Georgia is located in the Houston County, close to Warner Robins, right in the middle of the state. The military base is about 160 km far from Atlanta. It is named in the memory of Augustine Warner Robins, also referred to as the father of logistics techniques in the US Air Force. Robins represented the starting point for plenty of logistics technologies. At the same time, he played a major role for the US Army. For instance, he was sent to China as an eccentric millionaire tourist, but his actual purpose was to collect data for the US government. He also served in Mexico against the more famous Pancho Villa. The general tricked death for a few times. In 1921, he survived a harsh plane crash. He passed away in 1940, on the Father’s Day, due to a heart attack. The place is operated by the US Air Force.

History

The silent and calm place was chosen for the base after many months of searching in 1941. By the end of the year, the new construction was approved. Col. Thomas was the one responsible with the name, since Robbins was his mentor in his first years around the army. The place was picked because of the flat fields and the proximity to a popular and large rail line in the area. The land was also pretty cheap. The new base spread over more than 3000 acres, but was soon expanded with 2700 more acres.

As World War II began, the United States of America started the preparations for it. The attacks on Pearl Harbor outraged the US government, which decided to pump even more money in the training operations. It took less than 3 weeks for Robins Air Force Base to get to 2200 workers. Six months later, the government expanded the base once again and tripled the number of workers. Over World War II, the base counted almost 25000 workers. They were trained to repair almost any type of AAF aircraft. More than 60000 mechanics and technicians were trained for every theater of the war. As it ended, the base lost its importance and a few years later, it could barely count 4000 workers.

This Air Force military installation played very important roles during the upcoming wars too – the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Yugoslavian conflict and the recent invasions in the Middle East, of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Units

Robins AFB is the home for the Air Logistics Center, responsible with the maintenance of multiple planes the Air Force troops deal with. The 78-th Air Base Wing with its 5 different groups and the 330-th Aircraft Sustainment Wing are also hosted at the base. Some other units include the 402-nd Maintenance Wing and the 542-nd Combat Sustainment Wing. There are also 10 associate and tenant units hosted. The most important ones are the 689-th Combat Communications Wing and the 116-th Air Control Wing.