Columbus Air Force Base

Mission 

Columbus Air Force Base is home of the 14th Flying Training Wing of Air Education and Training Command's 19th Air Force. The 14th FTW mission statement is "Train World Class Pilots." The wing's mission focuses on specialized undergraduate pilot training in the T-6 Texan II, T-38C Talon and T-1A Jayhawk aircraft. Each day the wing flies an average of 260 sorties on its three parallel runways. In addition to the flying training mission, Columbus AFB maintains more than 900 highly trained individuals capable of deploying at a moment's notice to support worldwide taskings and contingencies.

History 

Columbus Air Force Base began as an advanced twin-engine flying school during the rearming of America before World War II. Efforts by local civic leaders in the 1930s to secure an airport shifted to obtaining a military flying field as U.S. forces geared up for war. On June 26, 1941, the War Department announced Columbus' selection as the site for an Army Air Corps pilot training school. Construction got under way in 1941. Pilot training began in 1942.

With an unparalleled safety record, this is where both instrument training and flying standardization boards got their start, earning the Columbus Army Flying School national recognition in Time magazine and the New York Times. More than 8,000 students came to Columbus for pilot training during World War II to become flying officers in the Army Air Corps. AT-6s, AT-8s, AT-9s, AT-10s, A-29s and TB-25s were used at Columbus during this time. By war's end the air base, then known as Columbus Army Air Field, had become one of the largest in the Southeast, with four runways and seven auxiliary fields.

The base was closed in 1945 and remained inactive until the nation again faced the prospect of war, this time to defend South Korea.

Columbus Air Force Base reopened in 1951 as a contract flying school. Air Training Command's 3301st Pilot Training Squadron oversaw the contract flight instruction of about 3,000 pilots in PA-18 Piper Cubs and T-6s. With the Korean War at an end and pilot production needs dropping, the decision was made to close the contract flying school at Columbus.

Columbus became part of the Strategic Air Command in April 1955. After a rebuilding program, the base became home to a B-52 bomber squadron and a KC-135 tanker squadron in 1958. Beginning in 1965, Columbus' 454th Bombardment Wing deployed to the western Pacific, completing more than 100 missions to South Vietnam without losing a single bomber to enemy aircraft fire.

After 14 years as a Strategic Air Command base, Columbus rejoined Air Training Command on July 1, 1969, and resumed its original mission of training pilots. 

Demographics
Population: 2,697
Military: 1,624; Civil Service: 512; Contractors: 944, Other: 222
Average number of students trained annually: 475
Economic impact in FY 18: $315 million
Payroll: $158 million; Expenditures: $116 million; Estimated dollar value of indirect jobs: $41 million. Aircraft: 243