Luke Air Force Base
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
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Luke Air Force Base, Arizona is a large air force base west of Phoenix, Arizona next to Litchfield Park, Arizona.
It has squadrons of F-15 Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons and it is used to train pilots flying Sorties at Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range where they drop practice bombs. It is home to the 56th Fighter Wing.
History
Luke Air Force Base is named for the first aviator to receive the Medal of Honor– Lt. Frank Luke Jr.
On 29 March, 1941, construction was begun on what was know then as Litchfield Park Air Base. Another base known as Luke Field, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, released its name so the Arizona base could be called Luke Field. Advanced flight training in the AT-6 began at Luke in June that same year. During World War II, Luke was the largest fighter training base in the Army Air Corps. By 1946, however, the number of pilots trained dropped and the base was deactivated 30 November that year.
Soon after the Korean War started, Luke Field was reactivated as Luke Air Force Base as part of the Air Training Command. On 1 July, 1958, the base was transferred from Air Training Command to Tactical Air Command.
By 1971, the base was the main provider of fighter pilots for Tactical Air Command, and continued to do so through the 1970s and 1980s.It was during this period that the F-16 was introduced at Luke.
The base continues to be home to squadrons of F-16s.
External links
- Luke Air Force Base (http://www.luke.af.mil/public.htm)
- GlobalSecurity.org (Source of History) (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/luke.htm)
