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Hunter Army Airfield.svg)  .png) | |||||||
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| Part ofFort Stewart | |||||||
| Savannah,Georgia in USA | |||||||
 2006 USGS airphoto | |||||||
| Site information | |||||||
| Owner | Department of Defense | ||||||
| Operator | United States Army | ||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
  KSVN Shown within Georgia Show map of the United States KSVN KSVN (Georgia) Show map of Georgia | |||||||
| Coordinates | 32°00′36″N081°08′44″W / 32.01000°N 81.14556°W /32.01000; -81.14556 | ||||||
| Site history | |||||||
| Built | 1929; 96 years ago (1929) | ||||||
| In use | 1929 - present | ||||||
| Garrison information | |||||||
| Current commander | Lt. Col. Bob Cuthbertson[1] | ||||||
| Occupants | 3rd Infantry Division United States Coast Guard 1st Battalion,75th Ranger Regiment 3rd Battalion,160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) | ||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: SVN,ICAO: KSVN,FAA LID: SVN | ||||||
| Elevation | 12 metres (39 ft)AMSL | ||||||
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| Source:Federal Aviation Administration[2] | |||||||
Hunter Army Airfield (IATA:SVN,ICAO:KSVN,FAALID:SVN), located inSavannah, Georgia, United States, is a military airfield and subordinate installation toFort Stewart located inHinesville, Georgia.
Hunter features a runway that is 11,375 feet (3,467 m) long and anaircraft parking area that is more than 350 acres (1.4 km2). The runway and apron, combined with the 72,000 sq ft (6,700 m2) Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group (A/DACG) Facility and nearby railhead, allow the3rd Infantry Division from nearby Fort Stewart to efficiently deploy soldiers and cargo worldwide.NASA identified Hunter as an alternate landing site for theSpace Shuttle orbiters.[3]
Currently, Hunter Army Airfield has approximately 5,500 soldiers, airmen, coast guardsmen and Marines on station. It is home of the aviation units of the3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) headquartered atFort Stewart. There are also a number of non-divisional units assigned to Hunter as well.
1st Battalion,75th Ranger Regiment
3rd Battalion,160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)
3rd Infantry Division
CAB's HHC "Talons" 2nd Battalion (General Support),3rd Aviation Regiment (UH-60A/UH-60L/CH-47) "Knighthawk" 4th Battalion (Assault),3rd Aviation Regiment (UH-60M) "Brawler"
3rd Squadron,17th Cavalry Regiment (AH-64D/AH-64DW) "Lighthorse"
603rd Aviation Support Battalion (ASB) "Work Horse"
224th Military Intelligence Battalion (Aerial Exploitation)
3rd MP Group (CID),United States Army Criminal Investigation Division
Savannah Field Office (Counterintelligence),308th Military Intelligence Battalion
Operating Location-A, Detachment 3, 18th Weather Squadron (USAF)
15th Air Support Operations Squadron (USAF)[5]
117th Air Control Squadron (USAF /Georgia Air National Guard)
Coast Guard Air Station Savannah is also located on Hunter Army Airfield. Equipped withEurocopter MH-65 Dolphin helicopters, Air Station Savannah provides the Savannah area, Coastal Georgia and South Carolina with round-the-clock search and rescue coverage of the area, to include both inland waters and off shore areas. They also provide security to the shores and borders with specialized Coast Guard sniper units.
In 1929, the General Aviation Committee of the Savannah City Council recommended that the 730 acres (3.0 km2) Belmont Tract, belonging to J. C. Lewis, be accepted by the council as the future site of the Savannah Municipal Airport. The cost of the land was $35,000. By September 1929, the runway and several buildings were ready and the city officially opened the new facility, known as Savannah Municipal Airport.
The airport became a part ofEastern Air Transport Incorporated air route on 2 December 1931, when Ida Hoynes, daughter of the Mayor, Thomas M. Hoynes, broke a bottle ofSavannah River water on a propeller blade of an 18-passengerCurtiss Condor II during the christening ceremony.
The airport was named Hunter Municipal Airfield during Savannah Aviation Week in May 1940, in honor ofLieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.)Frank O'Driscoll Hunter, a native of Savannah and aWorld War I flying ace.[6] Lt. Col. Hunter was not scheduled to appear in Savannah that week; However, he paid a surprise visit to the field on the first day of Aviation Week while en route to France to serve as a United States Military Air Attaché.
On 30 August 1940, theUnited States Army Air Corps received approval to build a base at Hunter Municipal Airfield. Official dedication of the airfield as Savannah Army Air Base took place 19 February 1941. The Army Air Corps assigned Savannah AAB initially to theSoutheast Air District (later Third Air Force), III Air Support Command.[7]
The27th Bombardment Group, equipped withDouglas B-18 Bolo medium bombers was the first assigned unit to the new airfield. The 27th was reassigned to the field fromBarksdale Field,Louisiana. The group consisted of the 15th, 16th and 17th Bombardment Squadrons. In 1941, the group was reequipped withDouglas A-24 Banshee Dive Bombers, and on 21 October 1941 the group was ordered to thePhilippine Islands in response to the growing crisis in the Pacific. The 27th returned to Hunter, without personnel or equipment on 4 May 1942 after being severely depleted in strength during theBattle of the Philippines (1942), and subsequent combat in the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea Campaigns (1942). The unit was reequipped withA-20 Havocs, remanned and retrained at Hunter. It was then deployed for combat withTwelfth Air Force in North Africa in July 1942.
During early 1942 after thePearl Harbor Attack, Savannah AAB became a base for several Antisubmarine groups and squadrons ofI Bomber Command and laterArmy Air Forces Antisubmarine Command with a mission to patrol the Atlantic coast, locate and attack GermanU-boats.
Throughout 1942, light bomber and dive bomber groups received combat training at Savannah AAB before being deployed to the combat zones overseas. These groups included the:
With the U-boat mission taken over by theNavy after mid-1943, Savannah AAB became a training base forMartin B-26 Marauder medium bomber crews. Marauder groups which received final combat training were:
At the end of the war, Savannah AAB was used as a Separation Center for the discharge and furlough of service members returning from Europe. In June 1946, the airfield was returned to the City of Savannah.
From 1946 to 1949, many of its buildings were leased to industrial plants. Some of the buildings were used as apartment houses, and anorphanage was located in the former commanding officer's quarters. TheUniversity of Georgia established an extension campus on part of the old base, as well.
On 1 March 1949,Chatham Air Force Base, located eight miles (13 km) northwest of Savannah, was reopened by theUnited States Air ForceStrategic Air Command. The2d Bombardment Group was reassigned fromDavis-Monthan AFB,Arizona to Chatham, with theB-50 Superfortress. The limited facilities at Chatham made the base unfit for permanent use. Plans were made to close the base and move the B-50s to more suitable facilities. Rather than see the Air Force move elsewhere, Savannah offered to exchange airfields with thefederal government along with 3,500 acres (14 km2) of additional land around Hunter for future base expansions. This arrangement was agreed upon and on 29 September 1950, the 2d Bomb Group moved to the base, reopened asHunter Air Force Base and Chatham was turned over to the City of Savannah. At the time, Hunter AFB became the only U.S. military installation named for a living American, Major General (Retired) Frank Hunter.
Hunter AFB was assigned to theStrategic Air Command's (SAC)Second Air Force. Two major SAC medium bombardment wings were assigned to Hunter during the 1950s. Both came under the38th Air Division which was also headquartered at Hunter.
On 11 March 1958, a B-47E which departed Hunter on a simulated combat missionaccidentally dropped a Mark 6 fission bomb minus its nuclear component nearFlorence, South Carolina.[8] A home was destroyed and several people were injured.[9] The aircraft was taking part inOperation Snow Flurry at the time of the incident.[10]
The phaseout of SAC Medium Bomber (B-47 Wings) in the early 1960s resulted in SAC leaving Hunter in 1963. The base was reassigned to theMilitary Air Transport Service (MATS). The MATS Eastern Transport Air Force63d Troop Carrier Wing, Heavy was assigned to Hunter fromDonaldson AFB,South Carolina which was closing. From Hunter, the 63d flew theC-124 Globemaster II intercontinental cargo aircraft to points around the world.
Beginning in 1955Air Defense Command designated Hunter AFB as part of a planned deployment of forty-four Phase I Mobile Radar stations. It was one of twenty-nine stations which were sited around the perimeter of the country to support the permanent ADC network of seventy-five stations. The ADC radar site at Hunter was given designationM-112.
On 1 March 1955 the 702d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron began operatingAN/MPS-7,AN/TPS-10D, andAN/MPS-14 radars at Hunter, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. From 1956 to 1958, anAN/GPS-3 also saw service. By 1959 onlyAN/FPS-20A andAN/MPS-14 sets were operating. Circa 1961 Hunter received anAN/FPS-26 height-finder radar.
During late 1961 Hunter AFB joined theSemi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-09 atGunter AFB, Alabama. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the702d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 February 1962. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. Later that year, the AN/FPS-20A was upgraded to become anAN/FPS-67, and on 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-112. The AN/FPS-67 was upgraded to anAN/FPS-67B in 1966, and the AN/MPS-14 was removed in 1968.
In addition to the main facility, Air Defense Command at Hunter operated three unmannedAN/FPS-18 Gap Filler sites:
When Hunter AFB was transferred to the US Army in 1967 becoming Hunter Army Airfield, the radar site was renamedSavannah Air Force Station (AFS) . The 702nd Radar Squadron continued routine operations for many years, and, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars.
The station was deactivated on 5 June 1979.
In 1964, theDepartment of Defense announced that the base would be closed, along with 94 other military installations. The Air Force was given a period of three years to phase out operations.
In December 1966, at the height of theVietnam War, theDepartment of the Army announced that theSecretary of Defense had approved an increase in the number of Army helicopter pilots to be trained. At the time, theUnited States Army Aviation School atFort Rucker, Alabama was operating at capacity and additional facilities were needed. Hunter Air Force Base was turned over to the Army and operated in conjunction with Fort Stewart, located 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Hunter.
Brigadier GeneralFrank Meszar, Commanding General of Fort Stewart, formally accepted the base fromColonelJames A. Evans Jr., Commander of Hunter AFB, in a formal change of command and service ceremony on 1 April 1967, at which point the facility was renamed Hunter Army Air Field (Hunter AAF). The headquarters of the Army Aviation School Element moved to Hunter from Fort Stewart, where it had been established during the summer of 1966. The element's mission was to coordinate the training of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aviators as an extension of the Army's training programs at Fort Rucker andFort Wolters,Texas.
On 28 July 1967, the combined facilities of Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield were re-designated theUnited States Army Flight Training Center. Included was the Attack Helicopter Training Department ("Cobra Hall"), the Army's first attack helicopter school whose purpose was to train pilots in theAH-1G Cobra, the world's first purpose-built attack helicopter. The first class ofRepublic of Vietnam Air Force students began Advanced helicopter training at Hunter on 13 March 1969. As the number of Vietnamese flight students increased, flight training for U.S. Army officers and warrant officers at Hunter was gradually phased out, ending on 16 June 1970.
In 1973, Hunter AAF was deactivated, but it was later reopened in 1975, serving as a support facility for the24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), at Fort Stewart. The 24th Infantry Division, or Victory Division, became part of the nation's Rapid Deployment Force on 1 October 1980. The Victory Division's ability to deploy on short notice was enhanced by its large runway (the Army's longest runway east of theMississippi River), Savannah's deep-water port facility and excellent rail and road networks.
Military jet and turboprop aircraft based atMoody AFB,Robins AFB,Dobbins ARB andSavannah ANGB in Georgia;NAS Jacksonville andJacksonville ANGB in Florida; andMCAS Beaufort,Charleston AFB andShaw AFB in South Carolina also continue to make regular use of Hunter AAF's long runway for local training, to include practice approaches and landings.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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