Patrick Air Force Base Patrick Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach , in Brevard County , Florida , United States . It was named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick . An Air Force Space Command ( AFSPC ) base , it is home to the 45th Space Wing ( 45 SW ) . In addition to its " host wing " responsibilities at Patrick AFB , the 45 SW controls and operates Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ( CCAFS ) and the Eastern Range . It was originally opened and operated from 1940 and 1947 as Naval Air Station Banana River , a U . S . Navy airfield . It was then deactivated as a naval installation in 1947 and placed in a caretaker status , until it was transferred to the Air Force in late 1948 and turned into Patrick AFB . Additional tenant activities at Patrick AFB include the 920th Rescue Wing , the Air Force Technical Applications Center and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute ( DEOMI ) . Total employment is 10 , 400 . There are 13 , 099 military , dependents , civilian employees and contractors on base . The base is a census - designated place ( CDP ) and had a resident population of 1 , 222 at the 2010 census . Current operations . The host wing for Patrick AFB is the 45th Space Wing ( 45 SW ) , whose officers and airmen manage all launches of unmanned rockets at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ( CCAFS ) 12 miles to the north . These rockets include satellites for the US military , the National Reconnaissance Office , and the National Security Agency , as well as scientific payload launches in support of NASA , weather satellite launches in support of NOAA , payloads in support of international customers such as the European Space Agency , and commercial payloads for various corporate communications entities . Units and individuals from the 45 SW have deployed abroad during wartime , most notably during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom The Air Force Technical Applications Center ( AFTAC ) is a tenant command headquartered at Patrick AFB . An activity of the Air Force Intelligence , Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency ( AFISRA ) , AFTAC is the sole Department of Defense agency operating and maintaining a global network of nuclear event detection sensors . The 920th Rescue Wing ( 920 RQW ) , part of Air Force Reserve Command ( AFRC ) , is another tenant command headquartered at Patrick AFB and is the installation ' s only military flying unit . An Air Combat Command ( ACC ) - gained combat search and rescue organization , the 920 RQW is the only rescue wing in the Air Force Reserve , operating the HC - 130P / N " King " variant of the C - 130 Hercules and HH - 60G Pave Hawk helicopter , ready for worldwide deployment . The wing participates in civilian rescue operations . Most notable is its role in manned spaceflight support to NASA , providing Eastern Range monitoring and having provided search and rescue support for space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center ( KSC ) . Additional operations have included searching the Caribbean for downed aircraft , as well as retrieving critically ill sailors and passengers from ships hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic , often at night and / or in bad weather . Because the USAF HH - 60 can refuel in flight from the USAF HC - 130 , MC - 130 , or USMC KC - 130 , it possesses a much greater range and mission radius versus similar military helicopters . The 920 RQW is a full participant in the Air Force ' s current Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force ( AETF ) operating concept . Under this concept , the bulk of the wing deployed to Iraq in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . Subsequent AETF deployments have included Djibouti in 2004 and 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . Adjacent to the 920 RQW ' s facilities is the NASA Flight Operations Facility , which provides support for NASA ' s permanently based UH - 1H helicopters supporting KSC and transient NASA fixed - wing aircraft such as the T - 38 Talon . The U . S . State Department ' s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Air Wing helps foreign countries combat drugs and narcotics criminals . The Bureau operates a fleet of aircraft , primarily former USAF and USMC OV - 10 and former USAF C - 27 aircraft at Patrick AFB to help detect and interdict the drug trade in Bolivia , Colombia , Peru and Afghanistan . History . Naval use in World War II . Authorized by the Naval Expansion Act of 1938 , Naval Air Station Banana River was commissioned on October 1 , 1940 as a subordinate base of the Naval Air Operational Training Command NAS Jacksonville , Florida . With the advent of war with Japan and Germany in December 1941 , the Navy began anti - submarine patrols along the Florida coast using PBY Catalina and PBM Mariner seaplanes based at this facility . PBMs returned to training duty in March 1942 when replaced on patrol by OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes . Landing strips were constructed in 1943 , thereby allowing for concurrent operation of shore based aircraft . Officers of the Free French Navy trained in PBMs at NAS Banana River at this time . Various military related activities took place at NAS Banana River , including maritime patrol aviation operations against German U - Boats , air search and rescue operations , patrol bomber bombardier training , seaplane pilot training , and communications research . Other activities included a blimp squadron detachment , an Aviation Navigation Training School , and an experimental training unit termed Project Baker , a confidential program that developed and tested instrument landing equipment . NAS Banana River hosted and a major aircraft repair and maintenance facility . Later in the war , a small detachment of German POW s from Camp Blanding worked at NAS Banana River on cleanup details . At its peak , the base complement included 278 aircraft , 587 civilian employees , and over 2800 officers and enlisted personnel . Flight 19 probe . Three months after World War II , on December 5 , 1945 , NAS Banana River had an ancillary role in the disappearance of Flight 19 , a formation of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers , which had departed NAS Fort Lauderdale , Florida on a routine over - water training mission . When the flight failed to return to home station , a search and rescue operation was undertaken by multiple air and naval units . After sunset on December 5 , two PBM Mariner seaplanes from NAS Banana River , originally scheduled for their own training flights were diverted to perform square pattern searches in the area west of 29°N 79°W / 29 , - 79 . One of these aircraft , a PBM - 5 , Bureau Number ( BuNo ) 59225 , took off at 19 : 27 Eastern Time from NAS Banana River , called in a routine radio message at 19 : 30 Eastern Time , and was never heard from again . At 19 : 50 , the tanker SS " Gaines Mills " reported seeing a mid - air explosion , then flames leaping 100 feet ( 30 m ) high and burning on the sea for 10 minutes . The position was 28°35 ′ N 80°15 ′ W / 28 . 59 , - 80 . 25 . Captain Shonna Stanley of the SS " Gaines Mills " reported searching for survivors through a pool of oil , but found none . The escort carrier USS " Solomons " reported losing radar contact with an aircraft at the same position and time . No wreckage of PBM - 5 BuNo 59225 was ever found . During investigation by a board of inquiry regarding the entire Flight 19 incident , attention was given to the loss of the NAS Banana River - based PBM . Several witnesses from both NAS Banana River and other PBM Mariner operating locations were questioned concerning occurrences of aviation gasoline ( AvGas ) fumes in the bilges of PBM series aircraft and associated no smoking regulations , which were reportedly well posted and rigidly enforced aboard all PBMs . Although the board ' s report is not a verbatim record and no accusations were made , there seems to be enough inference present to cause one to suspect that the board was aware of the PBM ' s nickname , " the flying gas tank " . As such , it is possible that the PBM - 5 was destroyed by either ( a ) an aircrewman violating the no smoking regulations in the aircraft or ( b ) a stray electrical spark in the lower aircraft hull that may have ignited AvGas fumes Transition . NAS Banana River closed in September 1947 after a gradual deactivation and was placed in a caretaker status . In September 1948 the facility was transferred to the U . S . Air Force . Several of NAS Banana River ' s original structures , including runway segments , certain hangars , support buildings , seaplane parking areas and seaplane ramps into the Banana River remain part of modern - day Patrick Air Force Base . United States Air Force use . NAS Banana River was transferred to the United States Air Force on September 1 , 1948 and renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on June 10 , 1949 . The installation was renamed Patrick Air Force Base in August 1950 . In 1971 , the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute ( DEOMI ) was established at Patrick AFB . Five of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 were home stationed at Patrick AFB as part of the 71st Rescue Squadron ( 71 RQS ) . The 71 RQS subsequently relocated to Moody AFB , Georgia in 1997 . The 9 / 11 attacks prompted the Air Force to close the heavily used 4 - lane Florida State Road A1A , which ran immediately in front of the AFTAC Headquarters building . A1A was later reopened to two - lane traffic with car inspections , followed by two - lane traffic without inspections until a barrier was constructed in front of the building and the building reinforced with steel and concrete with the windows sealed . In February 2005 , the Patrick AFB Officers Club was destroyed by an accidental fire . In 2010 , the Air Force announced its intention to replace the existing AFTAC building front Florida State Road A1A with a new facility that would cost in the range from $ 100 to $ 200 million . At the time of this announcement , this constituted the largest single military construction ( MILCON ) project in the United States for the Air Force . When completed , the facility will be a multistory command and control building with a radiochemistry laboratory , central utility plant and a 600 space parking garage approximately a west of the existing structure . US Navy Boeing E - 6 Mercury aircraft , part of Operation Looking Glass , were sometimes seen at Patrick AFB during the 2010 - 11 time frame and were often mistaken by onlookers for the previously retired VC - 137 Presidential aircraft ( i . e . , Air Force One ) , which looks similar . Operational history . On May 17 , 1950 , the base was renamed the " Long Range Proving Ground Base " but three months later was renamed " Patrick Air Force Base " , in honor of Major General Mason Patrick . On May 3 , 1951 , the Long Range Proving Ground Division was assigned to the newly created Air Research and Development Command ( ARDC ) . The next month the division was redesignated the Air Force Missile Test Center ( AFMTC ) . Cost comparison studies done in the early 1950s pointed out the desirability of letting contractors operate the station . The first range contract was signed with Pan American World Services on December 31 , 1953 . The Air Force Missile Test Center began transferring property and equipment to Pan American World Services at the end of that year . Pan American operated under contract to the Air Force for the next 34 years ( until early October 1988 ) . In 1988 , the old range contract was divided into the Range Technical Services ( RTS ) and the Launch Base Services ( LBS ) contracts . The RTS contract was awarded to Computer Sciences Raytheon ( CSR ) in June 1988 , and the LBS contract was awarded to Pan American World Services ( later known as Johnson Controls ) in August 1988 . The Eastern Range supported a variety of missile and manned and unmanned space programs in the 1960s , making it a regular focus of media attention . In the 1960s , a test range office at Patrick AFB with a missile backdrop was used to film scenes for the TV sitcom , " I Dream of Jeannie " , which was set in nearby Cocoa Beach ( no cast was present ) . But by the mid - 1970s , the demise of the Apollo manned space program and the end of land - based ballistic missile development at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station signaled a downturn in fortunes , and on February 1 , 1977 , the " Air Force Eastern Test Range " organization was inactivated and its functions transferred to Detachment 1 of the Space and Missile Test Center ( SAMTEC ) until the activation of the Eastern Space and Missile Center in 1979 on October 1 , 1979 . In 1990 , ESMC was transferred from the inactivating Air Force Systems Command ( AFSC ) to the newly established Air Force Space Command ( AFSPC ) . On November 12 , 1991 ESMC was inactivated and the 45th Space Wing ( 45 SW ) assumed its remaining functions . Aerospace Defense Command use . In 1961 , Patrick AFB began hosting a joint Federal Aviation Administration / Air Defense Command joint - use radar site featuring an AN / FPS - 66 general surveillance radar set for air defense of the Patrick AFB / Cape Canaveral area . Designated site " Z - 211 " ( FAA J - 05 ) , the 645th Radar Squadron was reactivated on 28 June 1962 to operate the radar , feeding data to Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center DC - 09 at Gunter AFB , Alabama . Aerospace Defense Command ( ADC ) operated the radar until 25 April 1976 when it was replaced by a detachment of the 20th Air Defense Squadron ( OLA - A ) . The USAF radar was removed around 1988 . After its closure by the Air Force , the facility was turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) . The former ADC site was replaced by a new site near Melbourne , Florida , as part of the Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) , designated by NORAD as Southeast Air Defense Sector ( SEADS ) Ground Equipment Facility " J - 5 " , with a new ARSR - 4 radar . Buildings . The base has the Space Coast Inn for visiting personnel , dormitories for permanent party single enlisted personnel , quarters for families in three separate housing areas , recreational housing on the beach , beach access , combined officers and enlisted clubs , commissary , a large base exchange ( BX ) , library and numerous morale , welfare and recreation ( MWR ) facilities . There are several chapels including Chapel One , Chapel Two , South Chapel at the South Housing area , and Seaside Chapel ( Building 440 ) . There is a " 45th Space Wing Chapel " which travels with the Wing when it is deployed . The Catholic Group is called " St . George Parish " and meets in Chapel One or Two . While the buildings are owned by the Air Force , the Catholic Parish is under the spiritual direction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services , USA . In 2009 , base housing was privatized and became available for lease by members of the Reserve and Guard , military retirees , Department of Defense civil service employees and DOD contractors . In 2010 , the construction of a new medical clinic was started . It is expected to cost $ 18 . 5 million . Media . The " Missileer " was published by the base weekly until September 28 , 2012 . It was discontinued due to cutbacks . A local paper , " Florida Today , publishes " The Shark Pride " weekly , as a replacement for the former publication . Access . Patrick Air Force Base lies on a barrier island , and is primarily accessed from the mainland by the Pineda Causeway ( State Road 404 ) in Satellite Beach , or Florida State Road A1A which runs the entire length of Patrick AFB .