Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base adjacent to Wichita Falls in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is home of the 82d Training Wing and the 80th Flying Training Wing , home of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) Program. The ENJJPT Wing is a uniquely manned multinational organization with a USAF wing commander and a German Air Force operations group commander in the top two leadership positions. Command and operations officers' positions in the flying training squadrons rotate among the participating nations, while the commander of the 80th Operations Support Squadron is always from the USAF. Additionally, officers from all 13 participating nations fill subordinate leadership positions throughout the wing. Eight nations--Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United States--provide instructor pilots based on their number of student pilots. Canada, Greece, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom do not have student pilots in training, but do provide one instructor pilot. As an example of this totally integrated structure, an American student pilot may have a Belgian instructor pilot, a Dutch flight commander, a Turkish section commander, an Italian operations office, and a German squadron commander. Sheppard AFB shares its runway with Wichita Falls Municipal Airport.
History
Sheppard Air Force Base officially opened as an Army Air Corps training center in October, 1941. It was established on 300 acres (1.2 km²) just south of Kell Field. The land was sold to the military for one dollar by a Texas cattleman The base was named Sheppard Field, in honor of the late Senator John Morris Sheppard of Texas who had been the former chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Within six months after VJ day at the end of World War II, orders were issued to deactivate the field. Over the next two years the National Guard used the base. In April 1948 the Air Force asked that the name Sheppard Field be disposed of, because in December 21,000 servicemembers arrived to reactivate the base, which was renamed Sheppard Air Force Base. Over the next three decades three training schools were stationed at the base training students in aircraft maintenance, transportation, communication, civil engineering, Aircrew Life Support and field training. During the Korean War (1950-1953) several airmen from such places as Greece and Turkey were trained as mechanics. The base conducted two Undergraduate Pilot Training programs from 1961-1971, one for West Germany and the other for South Vietnamese helicopter pilots. Between 1960 and 1965 the Strategic Air Command had units stationed at the base that conducted aerospace rescue schools and weather instruction. The Air Force School of Health Care Sciences offered training in Avionics (Fighters and Heavies), dentistry, medicine, nursing, and health-services administration. The population of the base had declined to 3,825 in 1990. The Department of Defense has proposed a major realignment of the base, with a projected loss of over 2,600 military personnel, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program announced on May 13, 2005.
External links
| Military of the United States Portal |
- Official website
- Sheppard AFB, Texas from the ad-supported GlobalSecurity.org
- The Handbook of Texas - Sheppard Air Force Base (source of History)
- BRAC 2005: Closings, Realignments to Reshape Infrastructure
- Base list leaves Texas cities relieved or rethinking plans, a May 2005 Houston Chronicle article
 |
|
|---|---|
| BASES: | Altus Air Force Base • Columbus Air Force Base • Goodfellow Air Force Base • Keesler Air Force Base • Lackland Air Force Base • Laughlin Air Force Base • Little Rock Air Force Base • Luke Air Force Base • Maxwell Air Force Base • Randolph Air Force Base • Sheppard Air Force Base • Tyndall Air Force Base • Vance Air Force Base |
| NUMBERED AIR FORCE LEVEL ORGANIZATIONS: | 2d Air Force • 19th Air Force • Air University |
| WINGS: | 12th Flying Training Wing • 14th Flying Training Wing • 17th Training Wing • 37th Training Wing • 42d Air Base Wing • 47th Flying Training Wing • 56th Fighter Wing • 58th Special Operations Wing • 59th Medical Wing • 71st Flying Training Wing • 80th Flying Training Wing • 81st Training Wing • 82d Training Wing • 97th Air Mobility Wing • 314th Airlift Wing • 325th Fighter Wing |
