Dover Air Force Base Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base located southeast of the city of Dover , Delaware . Units . Dover AFB is home to the 436th Airlift Wing ( 436 AW ) of the Air Mobility Command ( AMC ) , known as the " Eagle Wing " , and the AMC - gained 512th Airlift Wing ( 512 AW ) of the Air Force Reserve Command ( AFRC ) , referred to as the " Liberty Wing " . It was the only base to solely operate the massive C - 5 Galaxy , with two active flying squadrons ( the 3rd Airlift Squadron , which now operates the C - 17 Globemaster III , and 9th Airlift Squadron ) and two Air Force Reserve flying squadrons ( the 326th Airlift Squadron and the 709th Airlift Squadron ) . Dover AFB is also the home for the largest military mortuary in the Department of Defense , and has been used for processing military personnel killed in both war and peacetime ; the remains of those killed overseas are traditionally brought to Dover before being transferred to family . The Charles C . Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs has also been used to identify remains of civilians in certain exceptional circumstances : in 1978 for the victims of the Jonestown mass murder / suicide , in 1986 for identifying the remains of the crew of the Space Shuttle " Challenger " , and in 2003 for the crew of the Space Shuttle " Columbia " . It was also a major site for identifying the remains of military personnel killed in the 9 / 11 attacks . During the night of October 28 , 2009 , before making a decision on the committal of further troops to Afghanistan , President Barack Obama visited the base to receive the bodies of several American soldiers killed in Afghanistan . Two sections of the 436th Aerial Port Squadron warehouse collapsed on February 18 , 2003 , as a result of a record snow storm . No one was injured in the collapse that caused more than an estimated $ 1 million in damages . The damage covered two of the six cargo processing bays in the facility . It is also home to the Air Mobility Command Museum . History . Construction of Municipal Airport , Dover Airdrome began in March 1941 and the facility was opened on December 17 , 1941 . It was converted to an Army Air Corps airfield just weeks after the December 7 , 1941 , attack on Pearl Harbor . It was renamed Dover Army Airbase on April 8 , 1943 ; * Dover Subbase on June 6 , 1943 , and Dover Army Airfield on February 2 , 1944 . With the establishment of the United States Air Force on September 18 , 1947 , the facility was renamed Dover Air Force Base on January 13 , 1948 . World War II . The origins of Dover Air Force Base begin in March 1941 when the United States Army Air Corps indicated a need for the airfield as a training airfield and assumed jurisdiction over the municipal airport at Dover , Delaware . Once the airport came under military control an immediate construction program began to turn the civil airport into a military airfield . Construction involved runways and airplane hangars , with three concrete runways , several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower . Several large hangars were also constructed . Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled . Most base buildings , not meant for long - term use , were constructed of temporary or semi - permanent materials . Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen , most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper . Initially under USAAC , the name of the facility was Municipal Airport , Dover Airdrome and the airfield opened on 17 December 1941 . The airfield was assigned to First Air Force On 20 December the first military unit arrived at Dover ’ s new airfield : the 112th Observation Squadron of the Ohio National Guard which flew anti - submarine patrols off the Delaware Coast . In early 1942 , three B - 25 Mitchell bomber squadrons arrived with the 45th Bombardment Group from I Bomber Command and later Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command with a mission to patrol the Atlantic coast , locate and assumed the anti - submarine mission . On 8 April 1943 , the name of the airfield was changed to Dover Army Air Base . The antisubmarine mission ended on 6 June and construction crews moved back to the base for a major upgrading project that that lengthened the main runway to 7 , 000 feet . During the construction period and continuing into June 1944 , Dover AAB became a sub - base of Camp Springs Army Airfield , Maryland . Full operational capability was restored to Dover in September , and seven P - 47 Thunderbolt squadrons arrived for training in preparation for eventual involvement in the European Theater . The 83d Fighter Group was assigned to Dover as the Operational Training Unit . The 83d was redesignated the 125th Base Unit on 10 April 1944 with little change in its mission . It was further redesignated as the 125th Army Air Force base Unit on 15 September 1944 . In 1944 the Air Technical Service Command chose Dover as a site to engineer , develop , and conduct classified air - launched rocket tests . The information collected during these experiments resulted in the effective deployment of air - to - surface rockets in both the European and Pacific combat theaters . On 1 September 1946 as a result of the drawdown of United States forces after World War II , Dover Army Airfield , was placed on temporary inactive status . A small housekeeping unit , the 4404th Base Standby Squadron , remained on the airfield for care and maintenance of the facility . Cold War . Dover Airfield was reactivated on 1 August 1950 as a result of the Korean War and the expansion of the United States Air Force in response to the Soviet threat in the Cold War . On February 1 , 1951 , the 148th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard arrived with P - 51 Mustang s . During the 1950s problems developed with many of the facilities in Dover , which had been hastily constructed to support its World War II mission . As a result a massive Civil Engineering project was undertaken to modernize the base . On April 1 , 1952 , Dover was transferred to the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) and became home to 1607th Air Transport Wing . A full function hospital was completed in 1958 and base housing was expanded to handle 1 , 200 families in 1961 . On January 1 , 1966 , the Military Air Transport Service was redesignated the Military Airlift Command ( MAC ) . Along with the reorganization , the 1607 ATW was discontinued and the 436th Military Airlift Wing ( 436 MAW ) activated and assumed the mission at Dover . The 436 MAW started replacing C - 141 Starlifter s and C - 133 Cargomaster s with the new C - 5 Galaxy in 1971 . Two years later Dover became the first all C - 5 equipped wing in the Air Force , trading the last of its C - 141 to Charleston AFB , South Carolina . When war broke out between Israel and the combine forces of Egypt and Syria on October 13 , 1973 ( the Yom Kippur War ) the 436 MAW responded with a 32 - day airlift that delivered 22 , 305 tons of munitions and military equipment to Israel . The 436 MAW also assisted in the evacuation of Americans from Iran on December 9 , 1978 , following the Islamic Revolution . That year , Dover Air Force Base was also used to store hundreds of bodies from the mass murder and suicide of the Jonestown community in Guyana . Some of the more memorable flights during the post - war period included the airdrop and test firing of a Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile and the delivery of a 40 - ton superconducting magnet to Moscow during the Cold War , for which the crew received the Mackay Trophy . After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster , the remains of the seven astronauts were transferred to Dover AFB . It is one of only seven airports in the country that serve as launch abort facilities for the Space Shuttle . In March 1989 , C - 5s from Dover delivered special equipment used to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound . On June 7 , 1989 , while attending the Airlift Rodeo , a 436 MAW C - 5 set a world record when it airdropped 190 , 346 pounds and 73 paratroopers . In October 1983 , the wing flew 24 missions in support of Operation Urgent Fury , the Grenada rescue operation and later flew 16 missions to support Operation Just Cause , the invasion of Panama , in August 1989 . During Desert Shield , the wing flew approximately 17 , 000 flying hours and airlifted a total of 131 , 275 tons of cargo in support of combat operations to free the Kingdom of Kuwait . Modern era . In 1992 , with the disestablishment of Military Air Command , Dover AFB was transferred to the newly established Air Mobility Command ( AMC ) and the 436 MAW and 512 MAW ( Associate ) were redesignated as the 436th Airlift Wing ( 436 AW ) and the 512th Airlift Wing ( 512 AW ) , respectively . Dover also served as a major port of entry and exit for the conflicts in the Balkans and Somalia during the latter half of the 1990s . Following the attacks of September 11 , 2001 , the 436 AW and 512 AW became major participants in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom . An aircrew from Dover ' s 3rd Airlift Squadron landed the first C - 5 in Iraq in late 2003 when they landed at Baghdad International Airport and the two wings continue to support operations in the region . Also following September 11 , 2001 , Army mortuary specialists organized support for Pentagon recovery efforts out of the Base . This effort evolved into the Joint Personal Effects Depot , which supports recovery and redistribution of the personal effects of wounded and killed personnel from all arms of the military . In 2003 , the Depot was transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland . Dover AFB is also where service members , from all five branches of service , killed in combat are repatriated . Their remains are processed , inspected for unexploded ordnance , cleaned , and prepared for burial before being escorted to the point of interment decided by the family . The Depot returned to Dover in 2011 , when in April a new $ 14 million USD custom - built facility officially opened . By 2008 , the air traffic tower serving the airfield , built in 1955 , was the oldest such tower in use in the United States Air Force . In 2009 the base received a new 128 - foot tall tower , overlapping the original 103 - foot one which was donated to the AMC museum on the base for visitors to enter . Geography . According to the United States Census Bureau , the base has a total area of 0 . 7 square miles ( 1 . 7 km² ) , all of it land . It is part of the Dover , Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area . Part of the base was a census - designated place ( CDP ) , which had a population of 3 , 394 at the 2000 census . As of the census of 2000 , there were 3 , 394 people , 1 , 032 households , and 1 , 017 families residing in the base . The population density was 5 , 061 . 6 people per square mile ( 1 , 955 . 9 / km² ) . There were 1 , 245 housing units at an average density of 1 , 856 . 7 per square mile ( 717 . 5 / km² ) . The racial makeup of the base was 72 . 57 % White , 16 . 59 % African American , 0 . 77 % Native American , 1 . 86 % Asian , 0 . 12 % Pacific Islander , 2 . 80 % from other races , and 5 . 30 % from two or more races . Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7 . 75 % of the population . There were 6 , 032 households out of which 76 . 1 % had children under the age of 18 living with them , 90 . 2 % were married couples living together , 5 . 4 % had a female householder with no husband present , and 1 . 4 % were non - families . 1 . 2 % of all households were made up of individuals and 0 . 2 % had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older . The average household size was 3 . 29 and the average family size was 3 . 30 . In the base the population was spread out with 40 . 2 % under the age of 18 , 16 . 5 % from 18 to 24 , 41 . 5 % from 25 to 44 , 1 . 7 % from 45 to 64 , and 0 . 1 % who were 65 years of age or older . The median age was 23 years . For every 100 females there were 103 . 0 males . For every 100 females age 18 and over , there were 97 . 5 males . The median income for a household in the base was $ 34 , 318 , and the median income for a family was $ 34 , 659 . Males had a median income of $ 26 , 322 versus $ 20 , 444 for females . The per capita income for the base was $ 12 , 119 . About 5 . 2 % of families and 4 . 2 % of the population were below the poverty line , including 3 . 5 % of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over . The base is treated as a census - designated place named " Dover Base Housing . " Since 1997 , the base has been served by three highway exits with Delaware Route 1 , allowing quick access to Dover and to southern Delaware from the complex . Dover AFB provides almost $ 470 million a year in revenue to the city of Dover , making it the third largest industry in Delaware . Air Mobility Command Museum . Hangar 1301 at Dover Air Force Base is home to the Air Mobility Command Museum . The museum is dedicated to military airlift and air refueling aircraft and the people who maintain them . It has a large collection of fully restored cargo and tanker aircraft . Tours are conducted during the day by volunteers , many of whom are retired pilots , navigators , flight engineers and loadmasters who provide first - person narratives of actual events . The hangar encloses over of aircraft display gallery plus of exhibit rooms . An attached building houses a theater , museum store , exhibit workshop , and various offices . A aircraft parking area allows close - up inspection of the outside aircraft . The museum also maintains archives related to the history of the Air Mobility Command and Dover AFB . Building 1301 , Dover Air Force Base was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 .