Eglin Air Force Base
From Free net encyclopedia
Eglin Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force that belongs to the Air Force Materiel Command; the Air Armament Center is the host unit. More than 45 associate units call Eglin home. Eglin is one of the largest Air Force bases in the world, covering 724 square miles (1,875 km²) of reservation and 97,963 square miles (253,723 km²) of water ranges in the Gulf of Mexico. Eglin employs more than 8,500 military and approximately 4,500 civilians, with an additional 2,200 jobs due to move to Eglin under the 2005 BRAC.
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Geography
Eglin AFB is located at 30°27'26" North, 86°33'3" West (30.457156, -86.550815)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the base has a total area of 8.3 km² (3.2 mi²). 7.9 km² (3.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 4.38% water.
History
In 1933 an airport was established near the City of Valparaiso, Florida. In 1935 this airport became the Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Base. On 4 August,1937 the base was redesignated Eglin Field in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Frederick I. Eglin of the United States Army Air Corps, who was killed in 1937 in an aircraft crash.
With the outbreak of war in Europe, a proving ground for aircraft armament was established at Eglin. The U.S. Forestry ceded to the War Department the Choctawhatchee National Forest. In 1941, the Air Corps Proving Ground was activated, and Eglin became the site for gunnery training for Army Air Forces fighter pilots, as well as a major testing center for aircraft, equipment, and tactics. In March 1942, the base served as one of the sites for Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle to prepare his B-25 crews for their raid against Tokyo.
After the war, Eglin became a pioneer in developing the techniques for missile launching and handling; and the development of drone or pilotless aircraft. In 1947, a successful drone flight from Eglin to Washington, D.C. was conducted.
In 1950 the Air Force Armament Center was established at Eglin. After the start of the Korean War, test teams moved to the combat theater for testing in actual combat. In 1957, the Air Force combined the Air Proving Ground Command and the Air Force Armament Center to form the Air Proving Ground Center. In 1968, the Air Proving Ground Center was redesignated the Armament Development and Test Center to centralize responsibility for research, development, test and evaluation, and initial acquisition of nonnuclear munitions for the Air Force.
In 1975, the installation served as one of four main U.S. Vietnamese Refugee Processing Centers, where base personnel housed and processed more than 10,000 Southeast Asian refugees. Eglin again became an Air Force refugee resettlement center processing over 10,000 Cubans who fled to the U.S. between April and May of 1980.
In 1998, as part of the Air Forces' strategic plan to guide the service into the 21st Century, the Air Force Development Test Center became the Air Force Materiel Command's Air Armament Center (AAC), responsible for development, acquisition, testing, and fielding all air-delivered weapons.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 8,082 people, 2,302 households, and 2,262 families residing on the base. The population density is 1,019.8/km² (2,640.1/mi²). There are 2,320 housing units at an average density of 292.7/km² (757.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the base is 71.79% White, 14.82% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American, 2.96% Asian, 0.38% Pacific Islander, 4.23% from other races, and 5.33% from two or more races. 11.19% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 2,302 households out of which 79.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 89.8% are married couples living together, 5.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 1.7% are non-families. 1.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 0.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.50 and the average family size is 3.51.
On the base the population is spread out with 43.5% under the age of 18, 15.2% from 18 to 24, 39.6% from 25 to 44, 1.6% from 45 to 64, and 0.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 22 years. For every 100 females there are 100.6 males.
The median income for a household on the base is $31,951, and the median income for a family is $31,859. Males have a median income of $25,409 versus $19,176 for females. The per capita income for the base is $10,670. 4.5% of the population and 4.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 4.5% of those under the age of 18 and 0.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Climate
Warm, subtropical weather lasts almost nine months out of the year. The annual precipitation ranges from 25 to 60 inches. Year-round, the average temperatures run:
Jan - Mar: 60-69 High and 42-51 Low
Apr - Jun: 76-88 High and 58-72 Low
Jul - Sep: 86-89 High and 70-77 Low
Oct - Dec: 63-79 High and 44-69 Low
The area gets only 50 to 60 days of annual precipitation or more rainfall. There are few days without sunshine which allows year-round outdoor activities.
Civil rocketry
Eglin Air Force Base is also a launch site for civil rockets of NASA. There are three launch pads: one at 29.6700 N, 85.3700 W at Cape San Blas; and two on Santa Rosa Island at 30.3800 N, 86.7400 W and 30.3800 N, 86.8170 W. Rockets launched here have included Arcas, Nike Cajun, Nike Apaches, Nike Iroquois, etc. [1]