Arnold Air Force Base Arnold Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee and Franklin counties , Tennessee , adjacent to the city of Tullahoma . It is named for General Henry " Hap " Arnold , the father of the U . S . Air Force . There is no longer an active airfield or strip on the base ; and no Air Force aircraft fly into or out of Arnold Air Force Base . The airfield was decommissioned in 2009 . Army aviation assets ( helicopters ) continue to fly in and out of Arnold as part of missions supporting Fort Campbell , Kentucky or the Tennessee Army National Guard . The base is home to the Arnold Engineering and Development Complex ( AEDC ) , the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world . The center operates 58 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels , rocket and turbine engine test cells , space environmental chambers , arc heaters , ballistic ranges and other specialized units . AEDC is an Air Force Test Center organization . The commander of Arnold Engineering Development Center is Col . Raymond G . " Buzz " Toth . Dr . Douglas C . Blake is the Executive Director , and Dr . Edward M . " Ed " Kraft is the chief technologist . History . World War II . Camp Forrest , located in Tullahoma , Tennessee , was constructed as one of the Army ’ s largest training bases during the World War II period between 1941 and 1946 . The camp , named after American Civil War cavalryman General Nathan Bedford Forrest , was originally named Camp Peay . Camp Peay was named after 1920 ’ s Tennessee Governor Austin Peay and built east of Tullahoma , Tenn . as a National Guard Camp in 1926 . Camp Peay covered . Camp Forrest covered located just beyond the old Camp Peay . The camp was a training area for infantry , artillery , engineer , and signal organizations . It also served as a hospital center and temporary encampment area for troops during maneuvers . Major General George S . Patton brought his 2nd Armored Division , “ Hell on Wheels , ” from Fort Benning , Georgia for maneuvers . Incoming troops were provided with amenities such as service clubs , guest houses , library , post exchanges , post office , hospital , religious services , theaters , showers , Red Cross , and Army emergency relief . Recreation facilities included swimming , archery , tennis , a sports arena and a 9 - hole golf course . William Northern Field , an air training base , was an addition for war preparation . The field was used as a training site for crews of multi - engined B - 24 Liberator bombers of the Army Air Force . Camp Forrest officially became a Prisoner of War Camp on May 12 , 1942 . The camp received , housed , secured , and administrated Italian , Japanese and German POWs . Prisoners were processed as laborers at Camp Forrest , the hospitals and in the local community on farms . In 1945 the U . S . government implemented an Intellectual Diversion Program which would enlighten Germany on American way of life and increase their appreciation for the USA . This program used educational and recreational media to change views of POW ’ s . The program was successful with many prisoners . Tullahoma was greatly affected by the installation of Camp Forrest . Because of maneuvers and operations , civilians became accustomed to blocked roads , traffic jams , crowded stores , the absence of mail delivery , and driving at night without lights . Soldiers camped out on lawns and fields . Many crops and fences were destroyed . In 1940 the population in Tullahoma was 4 , 500 . By the end of the war the population had grown to 75 , 000 . Many military people who moved in for construction and operation of the camp remained after the war . Cold War . After the war , 1946 , Camp Forrest and Northern Field were declared surplus property . Buildings were sold at auction , torn down and carted away . Water and sewage systems and electrical systems were sold as salvage . All that remains are roads , brick chimneys and concrete foundations . Soon after the close of the camp , the area was selected for the site of an Air Engineering Development Center . In 1949 , Congress authorized $ 100 million for the construction of the Air Engineering Development Center . A site was selected for the new center at the Army ’ s old Camp Forrest near Tullahoma and Manchester , Tennessee . The site was chosen for its abundance of land , water and power . Land was needed to buffer surrounding communities from potential test hazards and noise . Water was needed to cool rapidly flowing air and hot exhaust gases . Abundant electricity was needed to power huge testing systems . Construction on the center started in 1950 . On June 25 , 1951 , a year after General Arnold ’ s death , President Harry S . Truman dedicated the Air Engineering Development Center in Arnold ’ s honor , naming it the Arnold Engineering Development Center . One of the government ’ s early decisions concerning the center was to employ a primarily contractor work force . The Arnold Research Organization known as ARO was formed by Sverdrup and Parcel to become that contractor work force . Part of the rationale was to maintain a stable work force that came to accumulate a volume of experience with the test facilities that were to be built . That idea would make the center a model for outsourcing for the Department of Defense by the 1990s . The 1950s saw the development of three major test facilities that remain active today — the Engine Test Facility , the von Karman Gas Dynamics Facility and the Propulsion Wind Tunnel Test Facility . The first jet engine test equipment installed at the center was acquired from the Bavarian Motor Works in Munich , Germany . It took 58 railroad cars and two barges with another 450 tons by truck to move the equipment . After refurbishment , this equipment became the cornerstone for the Engine Test Facility , which was completed in 1953 . By May 1954 , the facility was put to work , testing the General Electric J - 47 engine for the B - 47 Stratojet bomber . A flight dynamics facility for testing aerospace designs at high speeds was built and dedicated to Dr . Theodore von Karman in 1959 . Operations began with a prototype test cell called E - 1 , which was used to test the Falcon guided missile . Construction was completed on the Propulsion Wind Tunnel Test Facility at the end of the decade . PWT ’ s huge wind tunnels have become hallmarks of the center and are perhaps the most heavily used facilities on base . As the space race heated up , so did AEDC ’ s workload . PWT was used to investigate configurations for the Mercury space capsule , which sent Alan Shepard and John Glenn into space . The center was a key player in supporting Project Gemini , and the center played a multi - faceted role in supporting the Apollo Program , which put man on the moon . Apollo tests included aerodynamic assessments of the Apollo capsule and tests of Saturn V rocket upper stage engines . Some new test facilities came on line to help turn numerous aerospace system ideas into reality . The J - 4 Large Rocket Engine Test Facility was dedicated in 1964 . PWT got an addition in 1968 when the Transonic Tunnel came on line , which is used largely to test store separations . With several test facilities running at full bore , the pace of testing increased exponentially . Among the systems tested during the decade were the F - 105 Thunderchief , C - 141 Starlifter and C - 5 Galaxy cargo planes , the E - 3 Sentry , Airborne Warning and Control System ( AWACS ) , the TF - 39 engine for the C - 5 and the upper stage rocket motors for the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile . In the middle of the decade , the University of Tennessee and AEDC worked together in founding the University of Tennessee Space Institute . The institute became a place for AEDC engineers and scientists to further their education , and for students and professors to work on research projects to help AEDC . There came a natural turndown in the furious pace of aerospace after the moon landing and the end of the Vietnam War . But despite the turndown and a corresponding reduction by the government in funding for AEDC and the number of its employees , the pace of testing held steady as nearly 3 , 000 test projects were completed in the decade . The list of systems tested during the decade read like a who ’ s who of aerospace . Included on that list were the Space Transportation System , which would later be called the Space Shuttle , the F - 15 Eagle , F - 16 Fighting Falcon , B - 1 Lancer bomber , A - 10 Thunderbolt II , Pratt & Whitney F100 engine , MX missile , Sidewinder missile , Navy Tomahawk Cruise Missile , Air Force Air - Launched Cruise Missile and the Global Positioning Satellite . AEDC developed Laser - Illuminated Photography during the decade to better study projectiles in the center ’ s ballistic Range G that would be traveling up to . The technique provided a photographic exposure equivalent to 20 billionths of a second . A heritage for environmental stewardship and uniqueness was born in 1976 when the Department of Interior registered AEDC as a unique natural area . The honor recognized AEDC ’ s superior management of fish and wildlife resources , conservation practices and environmental achievement . And in a decade when the nation turned energy conscious , AEDC help explore alternative energy sources . A 750 - ton magnet was used as part of a magnetohydrodynamics research demonstration at the center , sponsored by the Department of Energy . The demonstration assessed the effectiveness of using a large MHD generator to boost coal ’ s efficiency in producing electricity . AEDC later transferred the project to the University of Tennessee Space Institute . The conflict in the Persian Gulf at the beginning of the 1990s became a defining event in late 20th Century America . It also showed the world what AEDC had been doing in the 1980s . As people around the world watched from their living rooms , people saw the United States score overwhelming victories in Desert Storm . And they saw the end product of what AEDC people had been working on throughout the decade . From the Patriot Air Defense Missile to the F - 117A Nighthawk stealth fighter , AEDC people worked on every aerospace system deployed to the Persian Gulf . It was the first time technology showed up so dramatically in a real - world conflict , and it was a testament to the test and development work Arnold , von Karman and Wattendorf envisioned would be performed at AEDC . The 1980s also marked the addition of the world ’ s largest jet engine testing facility — the Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility — to the center ’ s collection of aerospace flight simulation test facilities . And for the first time in the center ’ s history , more than one major contractor performed work on base . The center ’ s workload split into three contracts — support , propulsion testing and aerodynamics testing . In 1981 , Pam Am World Services became the support contractor , Sverdrup Technology Inc . took over propulsion testing and Calspan Corp . began aerodynamics testing . In 1985 , Schneider Services International replaced Pan Am as support contractor . Post Cold - War . The 1990s were a decade of change at AEDC . From opening its doors to commercial customers to “ reengineering , ” the center ’ s people explored better ways of doing business . Early in the decade , the center signed formal , long - term working alliances with a number of commercial aerospace organizations ( Boeing , General Electric , Lockheed , McDonnell Douglas , Pratt & Whitney ) in hopes of steadying workload and to offset dwindling defense budgets . That led to companies like Pratt & Whitney and Boeing bringing projects that were strictly commercial to AEDC . AEDC leaders began to emphasize strategic management , meeting in focus groups to consider the long - term health of the center and to formulate ways to make the future brighter . An outgrowth was reengineering the center , an ongoing process that seeks to streamline operations and standardize maintenance processes . It was also a decade that saw the center break new ground on the computational front . Computational Fluid Dynamics , using computers to simulate flight , saw an ever - increasing role in the scope of many major test programs . Using CFD and traditional ground testing together , helped hold down costs and provide more reliable data to test customers . In 1998 , the center was designated as one of the Department of Defense ’ s High - Performance Computing Centers , making funding available to augment the center ’ s supercomputing capability making AEDC the 9th largest computer center in DoD . The Navy docked at AEDC when its engine test facilities at Trenton , N . J . , were transferred to AEDC as part of DoD consolidations under the Base Realignment and Closure Act . The move added four engine test facilities ( SL - 2 , SL - 3 , T - 11 , T - 12 ) and about 10 Navy people . The Air Force and Navy quickly integrated , making the center ’ s vice commander and other slots Navy positions . Later in the decade , on Oct . 1 , 1997 , AEDC assumed management for the former Navy Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak , Md . Other facilities that came on line during the decade included J - 6 — the world ’ s largest solid rocket motor test facility — and DECADE , a nuclear weapons effects facility . Among facilities that saw significant modernization were the J - 4 Liquid Rocket Engine Test Facility , the Aeropropulsion Test Unit and the Engine Test Facility . PWT also saw a major sustainment and modernization program begin . A number of major aerospace programs came to AEDC for testing , including the F - 22 Raptor , the Joint Strike Fighter , the F / A - 18E / F Super Hornet , the B - 2 Spirit stealth bomber , the Pratt & Whitney 4000 series engines for the Boeing 777 and F - 119 engines for the F - 22 and Joint Strike Fighter , the Boeing 747 and 767 and the RL - 10 rocket engine . The center ’ s workload consolidated to two divisions — test and support — in the mid - 1990s , with Sverdrup as test support contractor and ACS as center support contractor . ACS is a joint venture of Computer Sciences Corp . , DynCorp and General Physics . In Sept 2002 a $ 10 . 4 million test facility upgrade was announced , and when completed the upgrade would make Arnold Engineering Development Center a " one - stop " shopping center for aerodynamic and propulsion test customers by providing Mach 8 capability . The Mach 8 milestone , which equates to objects traveling about , comes as workers install a new high - temperature and high - pressure burner in the center ' s Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit . This nearly doubles the center ' s current test capabilities of Mach 4 . 1 or nearly . AEDC test experts can run at Mach 8 for three to six minutes which allows them to test an object across the full - duration mission profile . The project also calls for adding an improved air ejector system to allow the APTU to simulate higher altitude conditions while minimizing air usage . Installing the high - pressure air storage tanks and new liquid oxygen and isobutane systems are also included in the upgrade . Spring 2004 is the targeted completion date .