Overview Base History Namesake Early Years WWII Era Postwar
years Cold War Modern Era Base Info Summary 3
Slide 4
Namesake 2 nd Lt. Samuel H. Davis Native Tusconian, Attended
UofA, then joined the Army Air Service in 1917 Was killed in an
aircraft accident while serving in Florida while on a training
mission in a JN-6 in 1921 4
Slide 5
Namesake 1 st Lt. Oscar Monthan Born in Dewsbury, England.
Moved to AZ in 1900 In 1917 Joined Army Air Corps. Graduated from
Boston School of Technology and became the Chief Engineer at
Rockwell Field, CA Was considered one of the foremost
aero-engineers Died in crash of B2-Bomber during a training mission
1924 5
Slide 6
Early Years In 1919 Tucson Chamber of commerce established the
nations first municipally-owned airfield at the present day rodeo
grounds Rapid growth in aviation meant a move to its present site
and a runway was built when the city acquired the land for it
Davis-Monthan Field was dedicated in 1927 by Charles Lindbergh and
it became the largest municipal airport in U.S. 6
Slide 7
Early Years Contd. Municipal Airport Standard Airlines (later
acquired by American Airlines) began flights to and from Tucson
Military Operations Began at the field when Sergeant Simpson
relocated his fuel and service operation to the site in October
1927 Civil and military operations worked well together until the
early 1940s when military requirements forced civilian aviation
activities to relocate 7
Slide 8
WWII Era As the United States prepared for WWII Davis-Monthan
Airport became Tucson Army Air Field in 1940. The U.S. Army Air
Corps first assigned the 1 st Bomber Wing, 41 st Bomb Group, and 31
st Air Base Group, activation on 30 April 1941. With its new
military role, on 3 Dec 1941 the name of the base was changed to
Davis-Monthan Army Air Field. Corps leaders started to increasingly
utilize the airfield, sending Boeing B-24 Liberator heavy bombers
and Douglas B-18 Bolo which were utilized for training and
observation missions. 8
Slide 9
Postwar Years On 13 January 1948 the name was changed to Davis-
Monthan Air Force Base The base became the storage site for
hundreds of decommissioned aircraft. Tucsons dry climate and alkali
soil made it an ideal location for aircraft storage and
preservation B-29s and C-47 Gooney Birds And Eventually most all
aircraft 9
Slide 10
The 43 rd Air Refueling Squadron activated there and became the
first unit dedicated to air refueling in history Cold War Strategic
Air Command (1949) established the 355 th FW Base was Transferred
to Tactical Air Command 30 years later A-10 became the main
aircraft for training and deployment 10
Slide 11
Currently Air Combat Command MAJCOM 93 rd Rescue and 214 th
Reconnaissance groups operate out of DM AFB Modern Era General
Atomics MQ-1B PredatorPararescue Jumpers 11
Slide 12
355 th Fighter Wing Info Col James P. Meger 355 th FW/CV Col
John A. Cherry 355 th FW/CC Chief Master Sgt. Vincent L. Howard 355
th FW/CCC 12
Slide 13
Namesake Early Years WWII Era Postwar years Cold War Modern Era
Base InfoSummary 13