Hurlburt Field Hurlburt Field is a U . S . Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County , Florida , immediately west of the Town of Mary Esther . It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation , and is home to Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command ( AFSOC ) , the 1st Special Operations Wing ( 1 SOW ) , the USAF Special Operations School ( USAFSOS ) and the Air Combat Command ' s ( ACC ) 505th Command and Control Wing . It was named for First Lieutenant Donald Wilson Hurlburt , who died in a crash at Eglin . The installation is nearly , and employs nearly 8 , 000 military personnel . Although most U . S . airports use the same three - letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA , Hurlburt Field is assigned HRT by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA ( which assigned HRT to RAF Linton - on - Ouse in Yorkshire , England ) . History . Hurlburt began as a small training field for the much larger Eglin Field . It was initially designated Eglin Auxiliary Field No . 9 , and later as Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field 9 / Hurlburt Field when the U . S . Air Force became an independent service , before being administratively separated from the rest of the Eglin AFB complex in the 1950s . However , once separated , the facility retained its history and kept all building numbers the same ; i . e . , all start with a " 9 " . The installation was named by then - Eglin Field base commander Brigadier General Grandison Gardner for First Lieutenant Donald Wilson Hurlburt ( 1919 – 1943 ) , who was killed in an aircraft crash at the main base , then known as Eglin Field , in 1943 . The facility had previously been named the Eglin - Hurlburt Airdrome until 1943 ; Hurlburt Field , March 1944 ; Eglin Auxiliary Field No . 9 , October 1944 ; with the current name official on 13 January 1948 . The base commander of Eglin Main was also responsible for Hurlburt , 1942 – 1946 , but when the base reactivated on 1 February 1955 , it gained a separate commander . Donald Wilson Hurlburt . After flying combat missions from Great Britain in B - 17s and receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross ( DFC ) , Lieutenant Hurlburt was assigned in mid - 1943 to the First Proving Ground Electronics Test Unit at Eglin Field . He died on either 1 October 1943 , or 2 October 1943 when his Lockheed AT - 18 Hudson gunnery trainer , " 42 - 55591 " , crashed during take - off at Eglin . An official history of Eglin AFB ' s early years cites the 2 October 1943 date for this accident , and also notes that Capt . Barclay H . Dillon , test pilot of the Fighter Section of the 1st Proving Ground Group , died in another accident the same date . Auxiliary Field No . 10 was later named Eglin Dillon Airdrome , now known primarily as Outlying Field Choctaw , a Navy auxiliary field to NAS Pensacola and NAS Whiting Field . Hurlburt ' s nephew was Captain Craig D . Button , USAF , noted for his mysterious flight and crash of an A - 10 Thunderbolt on 2 April 1997 . Doolittle Raiders . Under the tutelage of Naval Aviator s from nearby NAS Pensacola in March 1942 , Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his Raiders practiced taking off with their B - 25 Mitchell bombers on a short runway , demarcated to represent an aircraft carrier deck , using the short cross - field runway near the southern end of Hurlburt Field ' s main runway . This complex is now named the Doolittle Runway . Other Eglin fields , including Wagner Field / Eglin Auxiliary Field No . 1 , and Duke Field / Eglin Auxiliary Field No . 3 , were also used during this training . For the 2008 gathering of Doolittle mission survivors , six crew were present for recognition in Fort Walton Beach , Florida , culminating in a reenactment of the training sessions by three civilian - owned B - 25 Mitchell s at Duke Field on 31 May . Navy personnel from NAS Pensacola , as flight deck " shirt " crew , represented that service ' s contribution to the Tokyo mission . Drones and missiles . Gulf - facing launch sites for drones beginning with Republic - Ford JB - 2 Loons , American copies of the V - 1 " buzz bombs " , were operated on Santa Rosa Island , from Site A - 15 , directly south of Field 9 from the fall of 1944 in anticipation of Operation Olympic against Japan from captured Pacific island bases . The atomic missions put paid to this operation . This launch site is now on the National Register of Historic Places . The 4751st Air Defense Wing ( Missile ) was organized at Hurlburt on 1 October 1957 . It was redesignated the 4751st Air Defense Missile Wing on 15 January 1958 and discontinued on 1 July 1962 when Tactical Air Command took over the field . Its subordinate 4751st Air Defense Missile Squadron continued operations as a tenant until 30 November 1979 . It operated IM - 99 / CIM - 10 Bomarc surface - to - air missile s and CGM - 13 / TGM - 13 Mace cruise missiles from this site . On 18 August 1960 , a Bomarc missile from the Santa Rosa launch facility made a direct hit on its target , a QB - 47 E drone of the 3205th Drone Group , marking the first shoot - down of a multi - jet medium bomber by a surface - to - air missile . On 5 January 1967 an international incident was narrowly avoided when a TGM - 13 Mace , launched from Santa Rosa Island , which was supposed to circle over the Gulf on a racetrack course for shoot - down by a pair of Eglin F - 4 Phantom s , instead , headed south for Cuba . A third F - 4 overtook the drone , firing two test AAM s with no effect , and damaged it with cannon fire , but the unarmed Mace actually overflew the western tip of Cuba before crashing in open water some further south . The final Mace launches from Hurlburt Site A - 15 took place in June 1974 . Other launches in the 1960s included six high - altitude releases of vaporized barium from 2 - stage Nike Iroquois sounding rockets in January 1967 to measure wind speeds and directions in the upper atmosphere , conducted under the auspices of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory ( AFCRL ) in conjunction with the Space Systems Branch of the Aircraft and Missile Test Division , Air Proving Ground Center , Eglin AFB . Tactical Bombardment . Hurlburt Field fell into disrepair following World War II , but was reactivated in 1955 . Reassigned to CONUS following assignments in the Korean War and then Japan , " the 17th Bomb Wing was reactivated on 1 April 1955 and assigned to the Tactical Air Command Ninth Air Force , with the 34th , 37th . . . " and 95th Bomb Squadrons assigned under the 17th Bomb Group . " Officers and airmen of the 17th crossed the Pacific in three echelons . Some flew their B - 26 ' s [ sic ] from Miho Air Base , Japan , to Florida . The main body made the trip on the troop ship " General Gaffney " , while another group , comprising airmen from other Fifth Air Force units , arrived in San Francisco in early April 1955 , aboard the pocket aircraft carrrier , the " Cape Esperance . " The 17th Bomb Wing was stationed at Eglin AFB , Florida , operating from Hurlburt Field , where it was programmed to receive the Martin B - 57 Canberra , the replacement for the B - 26 Invader . However , the B - 57 proved to be troublesome and unreliable and only three or four were ever delivered to Hurlburt . On 1 October 1955 , Hurlburt was redesignated the 17th Bombardment Wing , Tactical , and received B - 66 aircraft in early 1956 . The first jet aircraft to land at Hurlburt was a Lockheed T - 33 Shooting Star which arrived from Ninth Air Force Headquarters , Shaw AFB , South Carolina , on 28 July 1955 , piloted by Maj . J . H . Murrow and Maj . L . F . Collins . " Pilots of the 17th Bomb Wing will in the near future be flying T - 33 ' s [ sic ] for instrument and transitional training to prepare for the new B - 66 bomber which is slated for delivery to the wing . . . " The first B - 66 arrived at Hurlburt on 16 March 1956 , after a flight from Norton AFB , California , piloted by 17th Bomb Wing commander Col . Howard F . Bronson , with Col . Norton W . Sanders , commanding officer of the 17th Bomb Group , as observer . The 17th Bomb Wing was equipped with the Douglas B - 66B Destroyer , and operated the jet light bomber at Hurlburt from 1956 until 1958 , then the wing was moved to a base in England . The 17th was inactivated on 25 June 1958 due to budgetary cutbacks . With the reactivation of Hurlburt , housing was at a premium , and Lt . Col . Robert S . Kramer , Assistant Army District Engineer at Mobile , Alabama , announced on 5 April 1956 , that a contract had been awarded in the amount of $ 3 , 315 , 143 . 34 to the McDonough Construction Company of Georgia , Atlanta , Georgia , for the construction of 151 buildings of concrete block with brick facing . Residences will be single and duplex quarters with 2 , 3 , and 4 bedrooms . Construction began on the first 48 buildings ( 72 units ) in mid - April , with initial completion expected by February 1957 . Special Operations . On 14 April 1961 the Air Force Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) activated the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron at Hurlburt , to fly operations against guerrillas , either as an overt Air Force operation or in an undefined covert capacity . Known by its nickname " Jungle Jim " , the unit was commanded by Colonel Benjamin H . King . The squadron was authorised 16 C - 47 s , eight B - 26 s and eight T - 28 Trojan s , plus the same number of aircraft in temporary storage . The T - 28s were armed with . 50 calibre mg , 2 . 75 - in . rockets and a small quantity of bombs . These specialists flew missions in Africa , Southeast Asia , Central America and other places throughout the world . In early 1962 , plans for the never executed Operation Northwoods called for decoy aircraft to land at this base . From the 1960s into the early 1970s , the base hosted a wide variety of aircraft types , including A - 1E Skyraider s , AC - 119G Shadow and AC - 119K Stinger gunships , AC - 47 Spooky gunships , AC - 130 A Spectre gunships , B - 26K Counter - Invaders ( including those deployed to the Congo ) , U C - 123K s with underwing jet pods , OV - 10A Forward Air Control Broncos , Cessna O - 2A Skymaster FAC and O - 2B PSYOPS aircraft , QU - 22B recon drones , and other long - serving C - 47s in various support roles . Following the conclusion of the war in Southeast Asia , most reciprocating engine types were retired by the USAF . UH - 1 s and CH - 3 s were operated , the latter by the 20th Special Operations Squadron . In the early 1960s , Hurlburt was utilized as a Strategic Air Command dispersal base for B - 47 s of the 306th Bomb Wing at MacDill AFB , Florida . Most facilities were located west of the runway , including hangars , through the 1980s . With the growth and importance of special operation capabilities , Lockheed AC - 130 Spectre / Spooky gunship and MC - 130 Combat Talon / Combat Spear operations have remained on the western flight line , while additional hangars and ramps have been constructed northeast of the intersection of the main runway and the Doolittle runway . These newer facilities are home to CV - 22 Osprey operations of the 413th Flight Test Squadron of the 46th Test Wing , and the recently retired MH - 53J Pave Low III and MH - 53M Pave Low IV helicopter . The Air Force Special Operations Command continues to fly sensitive operations missions from Hurlburt Field worldwide . The USAF Special Operations School ( USAFSOS ) trains US Air Force , Army , Navy , Marine Corps , Coast Guard and US government civilian personnel in a variety of courses , including courses in Dynamics of International Terrorism , and the Middle East Orientation Course . The Joint Special Operations University ( JSOU ) was previously located at Hurlburt Field until its relocation to MacDill AFB in 2011 . JSOU ' s lecturers include specialists from all branches of the US military , the US Department of State , Central Intelligence Agency , civilian universities , and nongovernmental organizations . Facilities . Hurlburt Field has one concrete paved runway ( 18 / 36 ) measuring 9 , 600 x 150 ft ( 2 , 926 x 46 m ) . Although an Air Commando Air Park was established at the field in the 1970s to honor the history of the Air Commandos , security in the post 9 - 11 era means that it is off - limits to non - military personnel . Visitors must be sponsored onto the installation .