Hill Air Force Base is named in honor of Major
Ployer Peter Hill (1894–1935), the Chief of the Flying Branch of the
U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) Material Division of
Wright Field,
Dayton, Ohio. Major Hill had died as a result of injuries he received from the crash of the
Boeing Aircraft Company's experimental aircraft
Boeing Model 299 at Wright Field, the prototype airplane for what became the famous
B-17 Flying Fortress. Hill Air Force Base traces its origins back to the ill-fated
U.S. Army's
Air Mail "experiment" of 1934 when the idea originated for a permanent air depot in the
Salt Lake City area. In the following years, the USAAC surveyed the region for a suitable location for the permanent western terminus of the air mail. Several sites in Utah were considered, and the present site near Ogden emerged as the clear favorite. In July 1939, Congress appropriated $8.0 million for the establishment and construction of the Ogden Air Depot. Hill Field officially opened on 7 November 1940. Following
American entry into World War II in December 1941, Hill Field quickly became an important maintenance and supply base, with round-the-clock operations geared to supporting the war effort. Battle-worn warplanes like the
A-26,
B-17,
B-24,
B-29,
P-40,
P-47,
P-61, were sent to Hill Field for structural repairs, engine overhauls, and spare parts. The peak wartime employment at Hill Field was reached in 1943 with just over 22,000 military and civilian personnel. Men and women at the depot rehabilitated and returned thousands of warplanes to combat. Starting in 1944, Hill Field was utilized for the long-term storage of surplus airplanes and their support equipment, including outmoded
P-40 Tomahawks and
P-40 Warhawks which had been removed from combat service and replaced by newer and better warplanes.
P-47 Thunderbolts,
B-24 Liberators,
B-29 Superfortresses, and many other types of aircraft were also prepared for and placed in storage at Hill throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Hill Field became Hill Air Force Base on 5 February 1948, following the creation of the
United States Air Force. During the
Korean War, Hill AFB was assigned a major share of the
Air Materiel Command's logistical effort to support the combat in
Korea. Hill AFB personnel quickly removed needed warplanes from storage, renovated them, and added them to active-service USAF flying
squadrons. at Hill Air Force Base. Then during the 1960s, Hill AFB began to perform maintenance support for various kinds of jet warplanes, mainly the
F-4 Phantom II during the
Vietnam War, and then afterward, the more modern
F-16 Fighting Falcon,
A-10 Thunderbolt II and
C-130 Hercules, and also
air combat missile systems and
air-to-ground rockets. Hill AFB continues to carry out these tasks to the present day. Renovation of Hangar 225, a historic barrel-vaulted hangar, began in late 2018.
Major commands assigned • Materiel Div, Office of Chief of the Air Corps, 1 December 1939 – 11 December 1941 •
Air Service Command, 11 December 1941 – 17 July 1944 • Army Air Forces Materiel and Services, 17 July 1944 – 31 August 1944 •
Army Air Forces Technical Service Command, 31 August 1944 – 1 July 1945 •
Air Technical Service Command, 1 July 1945 – 9 March 1946 •
Air Materiel Command, 9 March 1946 – 1 April 1961 •
Air Force Logistics Command, 1 April 1961 – 1 June 1992 •
Air Force Materiel Command 1 June 1992 – present
Base operating units • Ogden Air Depot, 7 November 1940 – 8 April 1942 • 9th Station Complement, 8 April 1942 – 2 January 1943 • 482d Base HQ and Air Base Sq, 2 January 1943 – 1 April 1944 • 4135th AAF Base Unit, 1 April 1944 – 26 September 1947 • 4135th AF Base Unit, 26 September 1947 – 27 August 1948 • HQ and HQ Sq, Ogden AMA, 27 August 1948 – 4 May 1950 • 25th Air Base Gp, 4 May 1950 – 1 May 1953 • 2849th Air Base Wg, 1 May 1953 – 8 July 1964 • 2849th Air Base Gp, 8 July 1964 – 1994 •
75th Air Base Wing 1994 – present == Role and operations ==