Crews started building the base in November 1942 and the new field officially opened on 7 August 1943. Shortly thereafter, airmen at the field began training
U.S. Army Air Forces crews for
World War II. The
396th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was the first unit assigned and its planned mission was to train crews for the
B-17 Flying Fortress. However, before the first B-17s arrived, plans for the field changed and the 396th was transferred to
Moses Lake AAF, Washington (state). Mountain Home airmen then transitioned to training crews for the
B-24 Liberator. The first group to do so was the
470th Bombardment Group (Heavy), which trained at Mountain Home from May 1943 until January 1944, when the unit moved to
Tonopah AAF Nevada. The
490th Bombardment Group (Heavy) replaced the 470th and trained B-24 crews until it deployed to
RAF Eye England in April 1944. The
494th Bombardment Group then replaced the 490th, once more training Liberator crews. The base was placed in inactive status in October 1945.
Postwar era The base remained inactive for over three years until December 1948, when the newly independent
U.S. Air Force (USAF) reopened the base. The 4205th Air Base Group was activated on 12 December to prepare the newly re-designated
Mountain Home Air Force Base for operational use. Three wings of the
Air Resupply and Communications Service used the base in the early 1950s. In 1953, the base was transferred to
Strategic Air Command (SAC), which assigned its
9th Bombardment Wing to Mountain Home. The 9th relocated to Mountain Home AFB in May 1953 and began flying
B-29 bombers and
KB-29H refueling aircraft. The 9th began converting to the new
B-47 Stratojet bomber and the
KC-97 tanker in September 1954, keeping alert bombers ready for war at a moment's notice and continuing its mission as a deterrent force throughout the
Cold War years of the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1959, construction of three
SM-68 Titan missile sites began in the local area, and missiles arrived in April 1962. The
569th Strategic Missile Squadron controlled these sites and was assigned to the 9th Bombardment Wing in August 1962. To prepare for the addition of missiles to its bomber forces, it was redesignated the
9th Strategic Aerospace Wing in April 1962. A few years later, SAC's mission at Mountain Home began to wind down, and in November 1964, the USAF announced that the missile sites would close by mid-1965, part of a major round of
base closures announced by
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Other closures in the region were also USAF facilities: the
Cottonwood radar station in
North Central Idaho and SAC's
Larson AFB, a
B-52E Stratofortress (and
KC-135A Stratotanker) installation in
Eastern Washington at
Moses Lake. On 10 October 2025,
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that a formal letter of acceptance had been signed with
Qatar to establish an
Qatar Emiri Air Force facility at Mountain Home AFB; it shall host a contingent of
F-15s. The announcement took place with Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense
Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani sitting at his side. Rep.
Mike Simpson hailed the agreement on
X: "This development is beneficial for training, enhances our partnership with America's allies, and strengthens national security."
366th Fighter Wing The 366th Fighter Wing (in various designations) has been the host unit at Mountain Home for over 50 years, following its return from the
Vietnam War in late 1972. Before the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing's arrival at Mountain Home, the 389th, 390th, and 391st Tactical Fighter Squadrons had returned from South Vietnam, joined the 347th, and began converting to
F-111A Aardvark aircraft. For the first time since it left for Vietnam, the wing once again had its three original flying units. During 1969, a tenant unit began operating at the south end of the base, using part of the original SAC alert area, and about half of the
Mole Hole alert facility, sharing the other half with an
NCO leadership school from the main base. Det. 1, 320 BW carried out an alert mission with two B-52 bombers and two KC-135 tankers. The unit disbanded in the spring of 1975 and returned to
Mather AFB. Operations continued unchanged for several years. The wing tested its readiness in August 1976 when a border incident in
Korea prompted the U.S. to augment its military contingent in
South Korea as a show of force. The 366th deployed a squadron of 20 F-111 fighters, which reached South Korea only 31 hours after receiving launch notification. Tensions eased shortly afterward and the detachment returned home. in 1987 and
EF-111 on display at the base In early 1991, the USAF announced that the 366th would become the Air Force's premier "air intervention" composite wing. The wing would grow with the addition of a squadron of
EF-111A Raven electronic warfare aircraft and a squadron of
B-1B Lancer bombers to become a dynamic, five squadron wing with the ability to deploy rapidly and deliver integrated combat airpower. The air intervention composite wing's rapid transition from concept to reality began in October 1991 when the USAF redesignated the wing as the
366th Wing. The wing's newly reactivated "fighter squadrons" became part of the composite wing in March 1992. The 389th Fighter Squadron began flying the dual-role
F-16C Fighting Falcon, while the 391st Fighter Squadron was equipped with the new
F-15E Strike Eagle. These two squadrons provide the Gunfighters round-the-clock precision strike capability. Following the
terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the resultant initiation of
Operation Enduring Freedom, the 366th Wing once again got the call. While the 34th Bomb Squadron deployed to
Diego Garcia as the B-1 component of the
28th Air Expeditionary Wing, the wing sent a Base Operations Support package to
Al Udeid Air Base,
Qatar, to transform the bare base into a fully functional airfield for large-scale combat operations. In October 2001, the 391st Fighter Squadron deployed to
Al Jaber Air Base,
Kuwait, while the 389th Fighter Squadron went to Al Udeid in November. Following the wing's return from
Southwest Asia, the USAF began consolidating its B-1 Lancer and KC-135 Stratotanker forces. This led to the reallocation of the wing's bombers and tankers. The 22 ARS' aircraft began transferring to
McConnell AFB, Kansas, in May 2002 and the squadron inactivated the following August. The 34 BS' B-1Bs began moving to
Ellsworth AFB,
South Dakota, in June and the squadron officially moved in September. Following the departure of these assets, the USAF re-designated the 366th as a Fighter Wing. With these changes, the wing's 10-year mission as the Air Force's only standing air expeditionary wing came to an end. A continued reconstruction of the 366 Fighter Wing was official with the 2005 base realignment, coinciding with the large scale integration of the 150+
F-22 Raptors. After the F-16 departure, Mountain Home AFB was chosen to become an F-15E installation because of its ideal training terrain range that is suited for air-to-ground, and air-to-air training missions.
Thunderbirds crash at MHAFB in September 2003 The base was the site of a
Thunderbirds crash on 14 September 2003 in which no one was killed. Captain Chris Stricklin, flying Thunderbird 6 (opposing solo, serial #87-0327), attempted a "
Split S" maneuver (which he had performed over 200 times) immediately after takeoff based on an incorrect
mean-sea-level elevation. Similar in desert appearance, Mountain Home AFB is over higher than the Thunderbirds' home at
Nellis AFB near
Las Vegas, Nevada. Climbing to only
above ground level (AGL) instead of , Stricklin had insufficient altitude to complete the descending half-loop maneuver. He guided the F-16C aircraft down runway 30, away from the spectators and
ejected less than one second before impact. His parachute deployed when he was just above the ground and Stricklin survived with only minor injuries. No one on the ground was injured, but the $20 million aircraft was destroyed.
Humvee accident On 24 June 2022, nineteen Air Force
ROTC cadets were participating in a training exercise when there was an accident involving a
Humvee. One cadet, nineteen-year-old Mackenzie Wilson, was pronounced dead at the scene while two other cadets were taken to nearby St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise and treated for injuries. After an investigation by the Idaho State Police, with assistance from the
Air Force Office of Special Investigations, it was discovered that the Humvees were not authorized for use as transportation and did not meet Air Force standards for maintenance. The investigator of the case told the bomb range manager, who had let the cadets drive the Humvees unsupervised on their final day of training, that he was suspected for the crime of misusing government property. An ROTC officer who had been supervising the group during the week was also informed he was suspected of dereliction of duty under the military code.
Previous names • Army Air Base, Mountain Home, Nov 1942 • Mountain Home Army Air Field, 2 December 1943. • Mountain Home Air Force Base, 13 January 1948 – present
Major commands to which assigned •
Second Air Force, 29 August 1942 •
Fourth Air Force, 15 February 1945 •
Continental Air Forces, 16 April 1945 : Temporary inactive status, 5 October 1945. : Subbase of
Gowen Army Airfield (Boise), Idaho, 9 October 1945 : Subbase of
Walla Walla Army Airfield, Washington, 31 December 1945 – 30 September 1946 •
Strategic Air Command, 21 March 1946 : Activated on 1 December 1948 : Inactivated on 25 April 1950 : Subbase of
Fairfield-Suisun (later, Travis) AFB, California, c. 1 April 1950 – 24 January 1951 •
Military Air Transport Service, 24 January 1951 : Activated on 1 February 1951 •
Strategic Air Command, 1 May 1953 •
Tactical Air Command, 1 January 1966 •
Air Combat Command, 1 June 1992 – present
Major units assigned •
396th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 16 February–10 April 1943 •
470th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 1 May 1943 – 1 January 1944 •
467th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8 September–17 October 1943 •
490th Bombardment Group, Heavy, 4 December 1943 – 20 April 1944 •
494th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 15 April–1 June 1944 • 4205th Air Base Group, 12 December 1948 – 16 July 1949 •
5th Reconnaissance Group, Very Long Range, Photo, 29 May-16 July 1949 •
5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, 16 July–11 November 1949 • 1300th Air Base Wing, 1 November 1951 – 30 April 1953 •
580th Air Resupply and Communications Wing, 16 April 1951 – 17 September 1952 •
581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing, 23 July 1951 – 26 June 1952 •
582nd Air Resupply and Communications Wing, 24 September 1952 – 1 May 1953 •
9th Bombardment Wing, Medium (later 9th Strategic Aerospace Wing), 1 May 1953 – 25 June 1966 •
813th Air Division, 1 July 1959 – 1 July 1964 •
569th Strategic Missile Squadron, June 1961 – March 1965 •
67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 1 January 1966 – 15 July 1971 •
347th Tactical Fighter Wing, 15 May 1971 – 31 October 1972 • 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, 31 October 1972 – 1 October 1991 : Redesignated 366th Wing, 1 October 1991 – 27 September 2002 : Redesignated
366th Fighter Wing, 27 September 2002 – present
Intercontinental ballistic missile facilities The
569th Strategic Missile Squadron Operated three
HGM-25A Titan I ICBM sites: (1 Jun 1961 – 25 June 1965). The first missiles arrived in April 1962. ==Role and operations==