Hill Air Force Base Hill Air Force Base is a major U . S . Air Force base located in northern Utah , just south of the city of Ogden , and near the towns of Clearfield , Riverdale , Roy , Sunset , and Layton . It is about north of Salt Lake City . The base was named in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill of the U . S . Army Air Corps , who died test - flying a prototype of the B - 17 Flying Fortress bomber . In this decade Hill AFB is still the sixth - largest employer in the state of Utah , and the third - largest one excluding the State Government and Higher Education employers . Hill AFB is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command ' s ( AFMC ) Ogden Air Logistics Complex which is the worldwide manager for a wide range of aircraft , engines , missiles , software , avionics , and accessories components . The commander of the Air Logistics Complex is currently Brigadier General H . Brent Baker Sr . The Ogden Air Logistics Complex is part of the Air Force Sustainment Center With its headquarters at Tinker Air Force Base , Okla . , The Air Force Sustainment Center is one of five specialized centers assigned to the Air Force Materiel Command . The host unit at Hill AFB is the Air Force Material Command ' s 75th Air Base Wing ( 75 ABW ) , which provides services and support for the Ogden Air Logistics Complex and its subordinate organizations . The Wing and Installation Commander of Hill Air Force Base is presently Colonel Kathryn Kolbe . Additional tenant units at Hill AFB include operational fighter wings of the Air Combat Command ( ACC ) and the Air Force Reserve Command ( AFRC ) . Utah Test and Training Range . The Utah Test and Training Range is one of the only live - fire U . S . Air Force training ranges within the United States . It is located in far western Utah , close to the Nevada border , and it extends both north and south of 80 , with several miles of separation on each side of the Interstate Highway . The portion of the bombing range that lies north of Interstate 80 is also west of the Great Salt Lake . The Utah Test and Training Range lies in Tooele County , and the land is owned by the state of Utah , but the use of the airspace and training exercises are scheduled by Hill AFB . On September 8 , 2004 , the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ' s Genesis space probe crash - landed on the nearby U . S . Army Dugway Proving Ground , as planned . History . Hill Air Force Base is named in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill ( 1894 – 1935 ) , the Chief of the Flying Branch of the U . S . Army Air Corps Material Division of Wright Field , Dayton , Ohio . Major Hill had died as a result of injuries he received from the crash of the Boeing Aircraft Company ' s experimental aircraft Boeing Model 299 at Wright Field , the prototype airplane for what became the famous B - 17 Flying Fortress . Hill Air Force Base traces its origins back to the ill - fated U . S . Army ' s Air Mail " experiment " of 1934 , when the idea originated for a permanent air depot in the Salt Lake City area . In the following years , the Army Air Corps surveyed the region for a suitable location for the permanent western terminus of the air mail . Several sites in Utah were considered , and the present site near Ogden emerged as the clear favorite . In July 1939 , Congress appropriated $ 8 . 0 million for the establishment and construction of the Ogden Air Depot . Hill Field officially opened on 7 November 1940 , and with the outbreak of war for the United States in December 1941 , it soon became a key maintenance and supply base of World War II , with a peak of 22 , 000 military and civilian workers in 1943 . During World War II , Hill Field was an important maintenance and supply base , with round - the - clock operations geared to supporting the war effort . Battle weary warplanes like the A - 26 , B - 17 , B - 24 , B - 29 , P - 40 , P - 47 , P - 61 , and others depended on the men and women of Hill Field for structural repairs , engine overhauls , and spare parts . The peak wartime employment at Hill Field was reached in 1943 with a total of just over 22 , 000 military and civilian personnel . These dedicated men and women rehabilitated and returned thousands of warplanes to combat . Starting in 1944 , Hill Field became responsible for the long - term storage of surplus aircraft and their support equipment , including outmoded P - 40 Tomahawk s and P - 40 Warhawk s which had been removed from combat service and replaced by newer and better warplanes . Also ending up at Hill Field over the approaching years were warplanes like the P - 47 Thunderbolt , the B - 24 Liberator , the B - 29 Superfortress , and many other types of airplanes were prepared for storage and stored at this air base over the course of the 1940s and 1950s . Hill Field became the Hill Air Force Base on 5 February 1948 , following the 1947 transition of the new U . S . Air Force away from the U . S . Army and the United States Army Air Forces , into an independent service , as called for by the National Security Act of 1947 . This transition actually took place in October 1947 , but it took many months to fully implement . During the Korean War , Hill AFB was assigned a major share of the Air Materiel Command ' s logistical effort to support the combat in Korea . Hill AFB personnel quickly removed needed warplanes from storage , renovated them , and added them to active - service USAF flying squadron s . Then during the 1960s , Hill AFB began to perform the maintenance support for various kinds of jet warplanes , mainly the F - 4 Phantom II during the Vietnam War , and then afterwards , the more modern F - 16 Fighting Falcon s , A - 10 Thunderbolt II s , and C - 130 Hercules , and also air combat missile systems and air - to - ground rockets . Hill AFB continues to carry out these tasks to the present day . Hill AFB has also housed the Hill Aerospace Museum since 1981 . This contains more than 80 retired USAF , USAAF , USN and former Warsaw Pact fixed - wing aircraft , helicopter s , and missiles . Connections to the Hi - Fi murders . Three enlisted United States Air Force airmen stationed at Hill AFB , named Dale Selby Pierre , William Andrews and Keith Roberts , were convicted in connection with the Hi - Fi murders , which took place at the Hi - Fi Shop in Ogden , Utah , on April 22 , 1974 . Pierre and Andrews were both sentenced to death for murder and aggravated robbery while Roberts , who had remained in a getaway vehicle , was convicted of robbery . Evidence gathered from a trashbin on base and from the perpetrators ' barracks was instrumental in their convictions . One of the survivors of the attack , Cortney Naisbitt , later trained in computers and worked at Hill Air Force Base . References . Note : Much of this text in an early version of this article was taken from pages on the Hill Air Force Base Website , which as a work of the U . S . Government is presumed to be a public domain resource . That information was supplemented by :