Eglin AFB, Florida is the former home of the 39th Bomb Wing and 4135th Strategic Wing. The Eglin range, managed by the 46th Test Wing, is the largest Air Force base in the free world. Located east of Pensacola, its 724 square miles of land range occupies much of the Northwest Florida panhandle. Its 101,000 square miles of air space extends over the eastern third of the Gulf of Mexico, an area extending from the panhandle to the Florida Keys. Seventeen miles of shoreline allow T&E in both a littoral environment and over a land-water interface.
By the end of World War II, the installation covered 510,251 acres; 429,758 acres were owned by the United States military, 78,296 were in the condemnation process, 917 acres were leased, and 1,280 acres were acquired by permit from the US Department of the Interior (USDI). Mission requirements were greatly reduced after the conclusion of World War II. Budget cutbacks and reductions in personnel affected all branches of the Armed Forces, forcing the virtual abandonment of many facilities. The advent of the Korean War and Cold War concerns resulted in the reactivation of many of these facilities. During these years, Eglin AFB continued the research, development, and testing of new weapons systems, ordnance, and aircraft.
