Little Rock Air Force Base
The Little Rock Air Force Base was established on August 1, 1955, near Jacksonville, Arkansas, on six thousand acres of land formerly occupied by the Arkansas Ordnance Plant. The base home to the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing, 463rd Airlift Group, 189th Airlift Wing, and is a training facility for Department of Defense C-130 Hercules flight crews. The base also houses the Air Force Mobility Weapons School.
The effort to bring the base to Jacksonville in the 1950s was spearheaded by Everett Tucker of the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and Raymond Rebsamen of the Pulaski County Citizens Council. A half million dollar fundraising effort to purchase land for the air base was headed by Arthur Phillips, president of the M. M. Cohn Company.
Construction of the base began on November 6, 1953. The base was originally home to the 384th Bombardment Wing and 70th Reconnaissance Wing of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The Little Rock Air Force Base began managing eighteen Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in 1960. The missiles themselves were scattered around the state of Arkansas. In 1962 the Titan II missile program came under the administration of the 308th Strategic Missile Wing stationed at the base.
The airbase received its first C-130s in 1970. Administration of the Little Rock Air Force Base moved from SAC to the Tactical Air Command (TAC), and with the change the base acquired the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing. The Military Airlift Command took over responsibility for the base in 1974. The 314th Tactical Airlift Wing was renamed the 314th Airlift Wing in 1991. The base was moved to the administration of the Air Mobility Command in 1992, and then the Air Combat Command in 1993. Four years later the base was returned to the administration of the Air Mobility Command. The 314th Airlift Wing was moved under the Air Education and Training Command. C-130 Hercules squadrons are organized under the 463rd Airlift Group.
The Little Rock Air Force Base currently supports troops fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operational Iraqi Freedom.
