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Hunter Army Airfield (IATA: SVN, ICAO: KSVN, FAA LID: SVN), located in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is a military airfield and subordinate installation to Fort Stewart. Hunter features a runway that is 11,375 feet (3,468 m) long and an aircraft parking area that is more than 350 acres (1.4 km²). The runway and apron, combined with the 72,000 sq ft (6,689 m²) Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group (A/DACG) Facility and nearby railhead, allow the 3rd Infantry Division from nearby Fort Stewart to efficiently deploy soldiers and cargo worldwide. NASA identified Hunter as an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle orbiters. TenantsCurrently, Hunter Army Airfield has approximately 5,000 soldiers, airmen and coast guardsmen on station. It is home for the aviation units of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) headquartered at Fort Stewart. There are also a number of non-divisional units assigned to Hunter as well.
Coast Guard Air Station SavannahCoast Guard Air Station Savannah is also located on Hunter Army Airfield. It is the largest helicopter unit in the Coast Guard and provides Savannah and Coastal Georgia with round-the-clock search and rescue coverage of the area. Gulf WarThe Division’s rapid deployment capability was put to the supreme test in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Alerted on 7 August, the first soldiers of the division deployed from Hunter Army Airfield in just six days. HistoryIn 1929, the General Aviation Committee of the Savannah City Council recommended that the 730 acre (3 km²) Belmont Tract, belonging to J. C. Lewis, be accepted by the Council as the future site of the Savannah Municipal Airport. The cost of the land was $35,000. By September 1929, the runway and several buildings were ready and the city officially opened the new facility, known as Savannah Municipal Airport. The airport became a part of Eastern Air Transport Incorporated air route on 2 December 1931, when Ida Hoynes, daughter of the Mayor, Thomas M. Hoynes, broke a bottle of Savannah River water on a propeller blade of an 18-passenger Curtiss Condor II during the christening ceremony. The airport was named Hunter Municipal Airfield in May 1940 during Savannah Aviation Week in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Frank O’Driscoll Hunter, a Savannahian and World War I flying ace. Lt Col Hunter, who would later climb to the rank of Major General, was not scheduled to appear in Savannah that week. However, he paid a surprise visit to the field on the first day of Aviation Week while enroute to France to serve as a United States Military Air Attaché. There is a boy named Hunter Williams who was born in the airbase in 1996. He is now thirteen and lives in Dunellen, NJ. He goes to school at Lincoln Middle. Military useOn 30 August 1940, the United States Army Air Corps received approval to build a base at Hunter. Official dedication of the airfield as Hunter Army Air Base, took place 19 February 1941. The Army Air Corps assigned Hunter initially to the Southeast Air District (later Third Air Force), III Air Support Command. The 27th Bombardment Group (Light), equipped with Douglas B-18 Bolo Light bomber aircraft was the first assigned unit to the new airfield. The 27th was reassigned to the field from Barksdale Field, Louisiana. The group consisted of the 15th, 16th and 17th Bombardment Squadrons. In 1941, the group was reequipped with Douglas A-24 Dauntless Dive Bombers, and on 21 October 1941 the group was ordered to the Philippine Islands in response to the growing crisis in the Pacific. The 27th returned to Hunter, without personnel or equipment on 4 May 1942 after being severely depleted in strength during the Battle of the Philippines (1942), and subsequent combat in the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea Campaigns (1942). The unit was reequipped with A-20 Havocs, remanned and retrained at Hunter. It was then deployed for combat with Twelfth Air Force in North Africa in July 1942. During early 1942 after the Pearl Harbor Attack, Hunter became a base for several Antisubmarine groups and squadrons of I Bomber Command and later Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command with a mission to patrol the Atlantic coast, locate and attack German U-Boats. Throughout 1942, light bomber and dive bomber groups received combat training at Hunter before being deployed to the combat zones overseas. Units assigned were:
With the U-Boat mission taken over by the Navy after mid-1943, Hunter became a training base for B-26 Marauder medium bomber crews. Marauder groups which received final combat training were:
At the end of the war, Hunter AAB was used as a Separation Center for the discharge and furlough of servicemembers returning from Europe. In June 1946, the airfield was returned to the City of Savannah. From 1946 to 1949, many of its buildings were leased to industrial plants. Some of the buildings were used as apartment houses, and an orphanage was located in the former commanding officer’s quarters. The University of Georgia established an extension campus on part of the old base, as well. On 1 March 1949, Chatham Air Force Base located eight miles (13 km) northwest of Savannah reopened by the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command, and the 2d Bombardment Group was reassigned from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona to Chatam, with B-50s. The limited facilities at Chatam made the base unfit for permanent use. Plans were made to close the base and move the B-50s to more suitable facilities. Rather than see the Air Force move elsewhere, Savannah offered to exchange airfields with the federal government along with 3,500 acres (14 km²) of additional land around Hunter for future base expansions. This arrangement was agreed to and on 29 September 1950, the 2d Bomb Group moved to the reopened Hunter Air Force Base and Chatam was turned over to the City of Savannah. At the time, Hunter AFB became the only U.S. Military installation named for a living American, MGen (Ret.) Frank O'D. Hunter. Hunter AFB was assigned to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Second Air Force Two major SAC medium bombardment wings were assigned to Hunter during the 1950s. Both came under the 38th Air Division which was also headquartered at Hunter.
On 11 March 1958 at 15:58 EST, a B-47E departed Hunter on a simulated combat mission that originated at Homestead AFB, Florida. While near Savannah, the B-47 had a mid-air collision with a F-86 Sabre. Following the collision, the B-47 made three attempts to land at Hunter with a nuclear weapon aboard. Because of the condition of the aircraft, its airspeed could not be reduced enough to insure a safe landing. Therefore, the decision was made to jettison the weapon rather than expose Hunter AFB and the Savannah area to the possibility of a high explosive detonation. A nuclear detonation was not possible since the nuclear explosion triggering capsule was not aboard the aircraft. The weapon was jettisoned into the water several miles from the mouth of the Savannah River (Georgia) in Wassaw Sound off Tybee Island. The precise weapon impact point is unknown. The weapon was dropped from an altitude of approximately 7,200 feet at an aircraft speed of 180-190 knots. No detonation occurred. After jettison the B-47 landed safely. A three square mile area was searched using a ship with divers and underwater demolition team technicians using Galvanic drag and handheld sonar devices. The weapon was not found. The search was terminated 16 April 1958. The weapon was considered to be irretrievably lost. The phaseout of SAC Medium Bomber (B-47 Wings) in the early 1960s resulted in SAC leaving Hunter in 1963. The base was reassigned to the Military Air Transport Service (MATS). The MATS Eastern Transport Air Force 63d Troop Carrier Wing, Heavy was assigned to Hunter from Donaldson AFB, South Carolina which was closing. From Hunter, the 63d flew the C-124 Globemaster II intercontinental cargo aircraft to points around the world. Vietnam WarIn 1964, the Department of Defense announced that the base would be closed, along with 94 other military installations. The Air Force was given a period of three years to phase out operations. Then, in December 1966, at the height of the Vietnam conflict, the Department of the Army announced that the Secretary of Defense had approved an increase in the number of Army helicopter pilots to be trained. At the time, the United States Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker, Alabama was operating at capacity and additional facilities were needed. Hunter Air Force Base was turned over to the Army and operated in conjunction with Fort Stewart, located 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Hunter. Brigadier General Frank Meszar, Commanding General of Fort Stewart, formally accepted the base from Colonel James A. Evans Jr., Commander of Hunter AFB, in a formal change of command and service ceremony on 1 April 1967. The headquarters of the Army Aviation School Element moved to Hunter from Fort Stewart, where it had been established during the summer of 1966. The element's mission was to coordinate the training of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aviators as an extension of the Army’s training programs at Fort Rucker and Fort Wolters, Texas. On 28 July 1967, the combined facilities of Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield were re-designated the United States Army Flight Training Center. Included was the Attack Helicopter Training Department ("Cobra Hall"), the Army's first attack helicopter school whose purpose was to train pilots in the AH-1G Cobra, the world's first purpose-built attack helicopter. The first class of Republic of Vietnam Air Force students began Advanced helicopter training at Hunter on 13 March 1970. As the number of Vietnamese flight students increased, flight training for U.S. Army officers and warrant officers at Hunter was gradually phased out, ending on 16 June 1970. In 1973, Hunter was deactivated. It reopened in 1975, serving as a support facility for the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), at Fort Stewart. The 24th Infantry Division, or Victory Division, became part of the nation’s Rapid Deployment Force on 1 October 1980. The Victory Division’s ability to deploy on short notice was enhanced by its large runway (the Army’s longest runway east of the Mississippi River), Savannah’s deep-water port facility and excellent rail and road networks. The above content comes from Wikipedia and is published under free licenses – click here to read more.
Runway InformationRunway 10/28
Radio Navigation Aids
Remarks
Hunter Aaf Airport Address: Chatham County, GA Tel: Images
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