Sumpter Smith Joint National Guard Base is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

(USAF) installation located at a

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It hosts the 117th Air Refueling Wing, part of the

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia (United States), militia of each U.S. ...

, which operates the

KC-135R Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave ...

. The base was previously known as Alabama Air National Guard Base.

History

The base is named after

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Walter Sumpter Smith who was born on 12 February 1896 in Belle Ellen, Alabama and became an electrical engineer and a pilot. In 1921, Smith was appointed to the

106th Observation Squadron The 106th Air Refueling Squadron (106 ARS) is a unit of the Alabama Air National Guard 117th Air Refueling Wing. It is assigned to Birmingham Air National Guard Base, Alabama and is equipped with the KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft. The squadr ...

of the

Alabama National Guard The Alabama National Guard is the National Guard of the U.S State of Alabama, and consists of the Alabama Army National Guard and the Alabama Air National Guard. (The Alabama State Defense Force is the third military unit of the Alabama Mil ...

and commissioned as a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

at Roberts Field in Birmingham, Alabama. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel on 12 August 1932 and colonel in 1942. In 1934, the facilities at Roberts Field became less adequate and the local government decided to build a new facility which became Birmingham Municipal Airport. In 1938, after four years of construction, the 106th Observation Squadron moved to the new base. As a testimony to Smith’s role in the development and construction, the base was eventually named Sumpter Smith Joint National Guard Base. It remained that way until sometime during the early 1990s when the name evolved to the Alabama Air National Guard Base, Birmingham, Alabama. It’s not really clear why the name changed and no official documents have been found. A push was made to restore the name of the base to Sumpter Smith Air National Guard Base and was made official during the summer of 2017.

Based units

Flying and notable non-flying units based at Sumpter Smith Joint National Guard Base. Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Sumpter Smith, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location.

United States Air Force

Alabama Air National Guard The Alabama Air National Guard (AL ANG) is the aerial militia of the Alabama, State of Alabama, United States, United States of America. It is, along with the Alabama Army National Guard, an element of the Alabama National Guard. As state milit ...

** 117th Air Refueling Wing (Host Wing) *** 117th Operations Group **** 106th Air Refueling Squadron –

*** 117th Maintenance Group *** 117th Medical Group *** 117th Mission Support Group

Air Mobility Command The Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri, ...

Eighteenth Air Force Eighteenth Air Force (18 AF) is the only Numbered Air Force (NAF) in Air Mobility Command (AMC) and one of the largest NAFs in the United States Air Force. Eighteenth Air Force was activated on 28 March 1951, inactivated on 1 January 1958, and ...

** 6th Air Refueling Wing ***

6th Operations Group The 6th Operations Group (6 OG) is the operational flying component of the 6th Air Refueling Wing, stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. The mission of the 6th OG is the planning and executing global aerial refueling, combatant command ...

****

99th Air Refueling Squadron The 99th Air Refueling Squadron is part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, but is stationed at Birmingham Air National Guard Base, Alabama. It is an Active Associate Unit, an active duty component attached to the A ...

(GSU) – KC-135R Stratotanker

References

{{US Air Force, article=A Return to Sumpter Smith, url=https://www.117arw.ang.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/1369874/a-return-to-sumpter-smith/, accessdate=22 February 2020, author=Senior Master Sgt. Ken Johnson Installations of the United States Air Force in Alabama Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Alabama Installations of the United States Air National Guard Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport

History

Based units

United States Air Force

See also

References