(Duplicate - Use WMDNXT) Keesler AFB, MS, United StatesPosted by: 
vulture1957
N 30° 23.944 W 088° 54.664
16R E 316406 N 3364557
Air Force Training Command base. Many electronic career fields get their training here. Also home to the Hurricane Hunters who fly C-130 aircraft into hurricanes to do atmospheric tests.
Waymark Code: WMR49B
Location: Mississippi, United States
Date Posted: 05/11/2016
Views: 1
Keesler Air Force Base is located within the city limits of Biloxi, Miss., on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The host unit, the 81st Training Wing, is the electronics training Center of Excellence for the U. S. Air Force. Keesler is also home to 2nd Air Force, 403rd Wing (Hurricane Hunters), Mathies NCO Academy and the 85th Engineering Installation Squadron. Keesler's training center handles more than 28,000 students annually, in 400 courses covering 37 different career fields. In its status as a lead joint training installation, Keesler trains not only Air Force, but Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and other military and civilian federal agency personnel.
In early January 1941, Biloxi city officials assembled a formal offer to invite the U.S. Army Corps to build a base to support the WWII training buildup. The package included an early airport, the old Naval Reserve Park, and parts of Oak Park sufficient to support a technical training school with a population of 5,200 people.
On 6 March 1941, the War Department officially notified Mayor Braun that Biloxi had been selected. The War Department activated Army Air Corps Station No. 8, Aviation Mechanics School, Biloxi, Mississippi, on 12 June 1941. City officials wanted the base named after a notable figure in the local area's history, but it was War Department policy to name installations after service members killed in action. In late June, Mayor Braun received word that the new school would be named in honor of 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler, Jr., of Greenwood, Mississippi. Lieutenant Keesler had died of wounds during World War I while serving in France as an aerial observer assigned to the 24th Aero Squadron, U.S. Army Air Service. On 25 August 1941, Army Air Corps Station No. 8 was officially designated as Keesler Army Airfield.
Era: WW II
Related web site: [Web Link]
General Comments: Not listed
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