Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Niagara Falls International Airport Air Reserve Station ( Niagara Falls Air Force Base - 1971 ) is an Air Mobility Command military installation adjacent to Niagara Falls International Airport , New York , east - northeast of Niagara Falls , New York . The station is the last USAF installation in the state , the host unit is the 914th Airlift Wing of Air Force Reserve Command , and the station ' s Lockheed C - 130 Hercules aircraft are shared by the wing ' s 328th Airlift Squadron and the NYANG 107th Airlift Wing . A Military Entrance Processing Station for all five branches of the U . S . is located at the station . Both the 914 AW and 107 AW number in excess of 1 , 100 military personnel each . History . The Army ' s Air Service had begun operations in western New York by 1917 when a school for photofinishers opened in Rochester . Niagara Falls Airport opened at Niagara Falls , New York , in 1928 as a city - owned municipal airport with four crushed - stone runways . Bell Aircraft Corporation completed a manufacturing plant in Wheatfield adjacent to the airport for WWII military pursuit planes in 1941 and the 3522d Army Air Force Base Unit managed the airport and coordinated use of the airfield . Bell Modification Center . The Bell Modification Center at the Niagara Falls Airport was 1 of 21 built by Materiel Command in 1942 " to fit the mass production aircraft models to the needs of the specific theaters of operations " . Bell was contracted to operate the center , and the airfield leased by the USAAF was improved with macadam runways ( three at 4000x150 feet and the E / W runway at 4200x300 ) , taxiways , etc . Military units at Niagara Falls included a Modification Center Headquarters and a training school , " Niagara Falls East Tr Sch " ( a different modification center , " Buffalo Mun - Mod Ctr B " , was located at the 1925 Buffalo Municipal Airport ) . In 1944 , the Manhattan Engineer District used the military Niagara Falls Storage Site on the 1941 Lake Ontario Ordnance Works Site for radioactive residues and wastes from uranium ore processing . Naval air station . The Naval Air Station at Niagara Falls was established in 1946 and the installation was expanded . Jurisdiction of the airport returned to a civilian agency later in 1946 ( a USAF joint - use agreement was made for Air Force Reserve / NYANG use of the airport . ) ConAC ' s First Air Force assigned the reserve 90th Reconnaissance Wing to the military installation on 26 December 1946 , followed by the 26th Reconnaissance Group ( 23 October 1947 ) and the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron . The reconnaissance units were inactivated on 27 June 1949 , and the NYANG 107th Fighter Group was federalized on 8 December 1948 ( initially equipped with TAC P - 47 Thunderbolt s ) . 107th personnel deployed in March 1951 to the Far East Air Forces for the Korean War . Air Defense Command ( ADC ) assumed jurisdiction of the Niagara Falls military installation and the federalized 136th Fighter - Interceptor Squadron . USAF base . Niagara Falls Air Force Base ( NFAFB ) was established by 1955 after the 76th Air Base Squadron was activated in February 1952 as the host unit . Following Korea operations , the 107th converted to F - 51 Mustang s and was reassigned to Air Defense Command . The 136th FIS was returned to state control when ADC activated the 47th Fighter - Interceptor Squadron on 1 December 1952 as a replacement . The 47th FIS initially used the F - 47s of the 135th Fighter - Interceptor Squadron . NFAFB activated the 518th Air Defense Group on 16 February 1953 ( designated 15th Fighter Group on 18 August 1955 under Project Arrow ) and upgraded to F - 86F Sabre s in February 1953 ( F - 86D in September ) . In January 1954 , the 107th received its first jet aircraft ( F - 94 Starfire , followed by F - 86 Sabre s in October 1957 & F - 100C Super Sabre in August 1960 ) . The reserve 445th Fighter - Bomber Group with F - 84 Thunderjet s moved to Niagara Falls from Buffalo Airport on 15 June 1955 and moved to Memphis on 16 November 1957 . Two 15th FG aircraft - - T - 33 & F - 86 at Niagara Falls Air Force Base — collided in 1956 , the AFB ' s medical unit treated injuries from a 1958 railcar explosion . In 1959 a NFAFB helicopter crashed in Letchworth State Park searching for an 83 year old professor emeritus , and in 1961 an F - 100 from the base crashed into the Niagara Gorge . Air reserve station . In 1971 the 914th assumed command of the installation from active duty units and switched from C - 119 to C - 130A Hercules aircraft . At the same time , the 107th converted to McDonnell F - 101 Voodoo interceptors . The 1985 Niagara Falls A - 4 collision of Blue Angels at the Western New York Air Show ' 85 was " in front of a reviewing stand " ( 1 pilot killed . ) The 914th received C - 130E aircraft in 1986 , and was the first to convert to the Air Force ' s more advanced C - 130 , the H - 3 , in late 1992 . The 107th received F - 4C Phantoms , then F - 4Ds and in 1990 , ADF - 16 Fighting Falcons . In October 1990 , > 300 members of the 914th Airlift Group spent seven months in the United Arab Emirates for Operation Desert Shield ( 107th members were also activated . ) In 1994 , the 107th Wing switched to aerial refueling , and the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended closing the " United States Army Reserve Center and Army Maintenance Support Activity , Niagara Falls " . The Wing changed to aerial transport in 2008 and now shares C - 130s with the 914th , and the USGS added the military station to the Geographic Names Information System on November 17 , 2008 . Since 2011 the Army Reserve ' s 277th Quartermaster Company has provided support for fixed - wing and rotary - wing aircraft operations .