Sheppard Air Force Base Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located five miles ( 8 km ) north of the central business district of Wichita Falls , in Wichita County , Texas , United States . It is the largest training base and most diversified in Air Education and Training Command . The base is named in honor of Texas Senator John Morris Sheppard , a supporter of military preparations before World War II . The host unit at Sheppard is the 82d Training Wing ( 82 TRW ) , which provides specialized technical training , medical , and field training for officers , Airmen , and civilians of all branches of the military , other DoD agencies , and foreign nationals . The 80th Flying Training Wing ( 80 FTW ) , also at Sheppard , conducts the Euro - NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training ( ENJJPT ) program , the world ' s only multi - nationally manned and managed flying training program chartered to produce combat pilots for both USAF and NATO . As of September 2013 , Brigadier General Scott Kindsvater is the commander of the 82d Training Wing , and he concurrently serves as the installation commander of Sheppard AFB . Colonel Kevin B . Schneider is the commander of the 80th Flying Training Wing . Sheppard AFB shares one runway with Wichita Falls Municipal Airport under a joint civil - military arrangement . Units . 82d Training Wing . The host unit on Sheppard Air Force Base is the 82nd Training Wing whose mission makes it the most diversified training base within the Air Education and Training Command . For more than 70 years , the men and women of Sheppard AFB have ensured that America ' s Airmen have the skills they need to succeed in combat . Today , Sheppard ' s training influence reaches around the globe . The 82 TRW is a non - flying wing that conducts all technical training at Sheppard . The 982d Training Group , under the 82 TRW , provides instruction in a wide range of specialties at Sheppard and also at more than 60 Air Force installations worldwide . The 82d Mission Support Group ( 82 MSG ) and the 82 Medical Group ( 82 MDG ) support these organizations . 80th Flying Training Wing . The 80th FTW mission is to provide combat airpower by producing top quality fighter pilots for the NATO alliance . It is home of the Euro - NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training ( ENJJPT ) Program . It is a uniquely manned multinational organization with a USAF wing commander and a German Air Force operations group commander in the top two leadership positions . Command and operations officers ' positions in the flying training squadrons rotate among the participating nations , while the commander of the 80th Operations Support Squadron is always from the USAF . Additionally , officers from all 13 participating nations fill subordinate leadership positions throughout the wing . Nine nations — Belgium , Denmark , Germany , Italy , The Netherlands , Norway , Turkey , Spain and the United States — provide instructor pilots based on their number of student pilots . Canada , Greece , Portugal , and the United Kingdom do not have student pilots in training , but do provide one instructor pilot . As an example of this totally integrated structure , an American student pilot may have a Belgian instructor pilot , a Dutch flight commander , a Turkish section commander , an Italian operations officer , and a German squadron commander . Operational training squadrons are : History . Sheppard Air Force Base is named in honor of Senator John Morris Sheppard of Texas ( 1875 – 1941 ) , chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee from 1933 until his death on 9 April 1941 . Senator Sheppard helped lead the fight for military preparedness before the attack on Pearl Harbor . World War II . Sheppard AFB began providing top - notch instruction in a diverse array of Air Force specialties during World War II . The base began as Sheppard Field on 300 acres ( 1 . 2 km² ) just south of Kell Field , named for the businessman Frank Kell . A Texas cattleman , oilman , and philanthropist , Joseph Sterling Bridwell , sold the land to the U . S . Army for one dollar . It was officially opened as an Army Air Corps training center on 17 October 1941 , following the arrival of the first military members on 14 June . As the Army Air Corps became the Army Air Forces , facilities were completed sufficiently to allow the first class of 22 aviation mechanics to enter training that October ; the class graduated 23 February 1942 . During World War II , then - Sheppard Field conducted basic training , and it also trained glider mechanics , technical and flying training instructors and B - 29 Superfortress flight engineers . In addition to the basic flying training , the base also provided advanced pilot training . Sheppard Field reached its peak strength of 46 , 340 people while serving as a separation center for troops being discharged following World War II from September through November 1945 . Sheppard Field was deactivated 31 August 1946 and declared surplus to the War Department ' s needs . It was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers 30 April 1947 . Over the next two years the National Guard used the base . USAF Training Center . Control and accountability for Sheppard Field was transferred to the Department of the Air Force 1 August 1948 and was reactivated 15 August 1948 to supplement Lackland AFB , Texas , as a basic training center renamed as Sheppard AFB . Basic training was discontinued in June 1949 , but was resumed from July 1950 to May 1952 . Over the next three decades three training schools were stationed at the base training students in aircraft maintenance , transportation , communication , civil engineering , Aircrew Life Support and field training . The aircraft mechanics school was transferred to Sheppard from Keesler AFB , Mississippi in April 1949 to make room for expansion of electronic training at that base . The school was renamed the Department of Aircraft Maintenance Training within the 3750th Technical School . During the Korean War ( 1950 – 1953 ) several airmen from such places as Greece and Turkey were trained as mechanics . Comptroller , transportation , and intelligence training moved to Sheppard from Lowry AFB , Colorado , in the fall of 1954 . Communications , refrigeration , air conditioning , and power production operator and repairman training were transferred here from F . E . Warren AFB , Wyoming in 1959 . Intelligence training returned to Lowry in February 1962 . Training in certain missile systems began at Sheppard in 1957 and was conducted there through September 1985 when Titan II training operations were terminated following that weapon system ' s retirement . The 3950th Technical Training Wing was designated the Sheppard Technical Training Center 1 January 1959 . It has had two subsequent name changes and is now the 82d Training Wing . Helicopter pilot training was transferred from Stead AFB , Nevada in October 1965 , with H - 19 , H - 43 , Bell TH - 1F , CH - 3C and HH - 3E helicopters used for training . Additional training in airborne firefighting was also conducted , given the role of the USAF HH - 43 aircraft as a local rescue and aircraft firefighting asset at selected air force bases in the United States and at air bases overseas . The 3630th Flying Training Wing was activated in 1965 , and it assumed the helicopter training program . It began providing undergraduate pilot training in the T - 37 and T - 38 for the then - West German Air Force ( Luftwaffe ) in August 1966 . Helicopter training was discontinued in 1971 when the U . S . Army assumed responsibility for training Air Force helicopter pilots at Fort Rucker , Alabama . The 3630th Flying Training Wing also provided undergraduate pilot training for pilots of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force from 1971 to 1975 . The Wing designation was changed to the 80th Flying Training Wing in 1973 . The 80th Flying Training Wing began conducting the Euro - NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program in 1981 . This one - of - a - kind program includes 13 - NATO countries . They are : Belgium , Canada , Denmark , Germany , Greece , Italy , the Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , Spain , Turkey , the United Kingdom and the United States . Approval to conduct the program was recently extended through the year 2005 . The Air Force School of Health Care Sciences offered training in dentistry , medicine , nursing ( to include flight nurse training ) , and health - services administration . The population of the base had declined to 3 , 825 in 1990 . In February 1992 , restructuring and downsizing of the Air Force caused a realignment and renumbering of units at Sheppard . Some of the training wings were redesignated as groups , and the technical training groups became squadrons . Strategic Air Command . Between 1960 and 1966 the Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) had training units stationed at the base that conducted aerospace rescue schools and weather instruction . In addition , The 494th Bombardment Wing , a Strategic Air Command operational wing of B - 52D Stratofortress bombers and KC - 135A Stratotanker aircraft , previously designated as the 4245th Strategic Wing , was based at Sheppard from 1963 to 1966 . In July 1969 , Detachment 1 , 2nd Bombardment Wing , with four B - 52 aircraft , became a tenant organization at Sheppard and remained until 1975 . These aircraft rotated as part of SAC ’ s dispersal concept and utilized the SAC Alert Facility on the northwest end of the airfield . BRAC 2005 . The Department of Defense ( DoD ) proposed a major realignment of the base , as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program announced on 13 May 2005 . DoD recommended to relocating to Eglin AFB , Florida , front - line and instructor - qualified maintenance technicians and logistics support personnel to stand up the Air Force ’ s portion of the F - 35 Lightning II ( Joint Strike Fighter ) Initial Joint Training Site there . This recommendation would establish Eglin Air Force Base as the Initial Joint Training Site that would teach entry - level aviators and maintenance technicians how to safely operate and maintain the new F - 35 Lightning II , also known as the Joint Strike Fighter ( JSF ) aircraft . Assuming no economic recovery , this recommendation could result in a maximum potential reduction of 487 jobs ( 295 direct jobs and 192 indirect jobs ) over 2006 – 2011 in the Wichita Falls , TX , Metropolitan Statistical Area ( 0 . 5 percent ) .