Overview
Columbus AFB has been training Air Force pilots since World War II, and that mission continues today. The base closed after the war and remained inactive until 1951 when it was reopened as a contract flying school to train pilots during the Korean War. Four years later, the base was transferred from Air Training Command to Strategic Air Command. Columbus became home to a KC-135 tanker squadron, and a B-52 bomber squadron in the late 1950s. In 1969, Columbus resumed the mission for which it originally activated - training pilots, and has continued to do so for the past 40 years.
About half the pilots in the Air Force today went through basic and primary flight training at Columbus AFB. Columbus AFB is home to the busiest military air traffic control facility in the world.
Read more about this topic: Columbus Air Force Base