Gunter Annex Gunter Annex is a United States Air Force installation located in the North - northeast suburbs of Montgomery , Alabama . The base is named after former Montgomery mayor William Adams Gunter . Until 1992 it was known as Gunter Air Force Base or Gunter Air Force Station . It has been a military training base since its opening in 1940 . Gunter Annex now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base . Overview . Gunter Annex is the home of the Headquarters 754th Electronic Systems Group ( HQ 754th ELSG ) . The 754th Electronic Systems Group provides and supports secure combat information systems and networks for the United States Air Force ( USAF ) , the Department of Defense and other Federal Government Agencies . The 754 ELSG is a part of the 554th Electronic Systems Wing , which is headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base , Massachusetts . The host unit of Gunter Annex is the 42d Air Base Wing , headquartered at Maxwell . The former 42d Bombardment Wing took over host duties at the complex on 1 October 1994 when the wing was redesignated and reassigned from the closing of Loring Air Force Base , Maine . History . William Adams Gunter . The facility is named after William Adams Gunter ( 1871 – 1940 ) , a long - time mayor of Montgomery Alabama . Mayor Gunter was an aviation advocate who championed aviation and was a major force behind the construction of the original Montgomery Municipal Airport at this site in 1929 . There were several efforts to have the airport officially named in his honor while he was still living . Although he successfully resisted these efforts , the site is still commonly referred to by residents as ' Gunter Field ' . World War II . In 1940 , the ' Plan for the Expansion of the Air Corps Training Program ' was published and indicated a need for a preliminary flying school in the Montgomery area . The Commandant of the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Colonel Walter Weaver , picked the Montgomery Municipal Airport and the surrounding area as the location for the flying school . This included a newly built , but as yet unoccupied state hospital for tuberculosis patients . In June 1940 the War Department approved the recommendation to lease the land . In August 1940 the first military personnel arrived and construction began . The hospital was used as a headquarters building and Colonel Aubrey Hornsby was the project officer and later the first commanding officer . The Army leased the 187 acre municipal airport and purchased an additional 300 acres for the cantonment area . Complicated leasing agreements delayed construction and the Army facilities were not completed in time , so the first two classes , Class 41 - A with 107 students and Class 41 - B , trained at Maxwell AAF on the other side of town . The first class to train at Gunter was 41 - C which began instruction on November 28 , 1940 . In late 1940 , Mayor Gunter died and , on the recommendation of Colonel Hornsby , the flying field was officially named ' Gunter Field ' in early 1941 . By July 1941 , construction of the field was largely complete . In addition to the main airfield , the following known sub - bases and auxiliaries were used : In 1943 , 3 , 500 - ft . hard surfaced runways were added . Gunter was the first base established by the Southeastern Training Center exclusively for Basic Training . As such , it also trained instructors and other personnel for the other Basic Training bases opened in the Southeast that included Cochran AAF , Macon , GA ; Bainbridge AAF , GA . ; Greenville , MS . ; Shaw AAF , Sumter , SC . ; and at Augusta , GA civilian run Bush Field . Student would come to Basic Training after completing Primary Training . In 1941 , the Basic course was 10 weeks in length in which the student received 70 flying hours . After completion of the course , student would be chosen for advanced single or multi - engine training . During World War II , the field served as a flying school for not just Army pilots , but for British , French and Canadians as well . By 1944 , there were nearly four hundred aircraft assigned to Gunter Field . The primary aircraft used for Basic Training , by both the Army and the Navy , during most of the war was the fixed gear Vultee BT - 13 and BT - 15 Valiant . By later 1944 , the BT - 13s and 15s were worn out and they began to be replaced by the North American AT - 6 Texan . After World War II ended , flight training was transferred to Spence Army Air Field ( Georgia ) and , other than some contingents of French and Chinese flight students , training ended there . By February 1946 Gunter ' s remaining aircraft were transferred to Maxwell Army Air Base and the field went to ' stand by ' status . In January 1948 Gunter Field was redesignated Gunter Air Force Base . In May 1950 the Air University located the Extension Course Institute there . In October of that year a branch of the School of Aviation Medicine was established . Air Defense Command . In 1957 a Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) Data Center ( DC - 09 ) was established at Gunter AFB . The SAGE system was a network linking Air Force ( and later FAA ) General Surveillance Radar stations into a centralized center for Air Defense , intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack . It was initially under the Montgomery Air Defense Sector ( MoADS ) , established on on 8 September 1957 . On 16 December 1960 , the SAGE facility at Gunter controlled two BOMARC - B missiles launched from Eglin AFB , Florida , and directed their interception of a QB - 47E Stratojet drone flying at 500 mph at 30 , 000 feet . MoADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966 , and re designated as the 32d Air Division . DC - 09 with its AN / FSQ - 7 computer remained under the 32d AD until it , and the Air Division was inactivated on 31 December 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers . Gunter Annex . In 1971 , nearly of Gunter were returned to the city of Montgomery . In that year the Air Force Data Systems Design Center moved there and in 1972 the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy came to Gunter . In early 1973 , Gunter was redesignated an ' Air Force Station ' . Major construction was undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s , thanks to the advocacy of Congressman William Dickinson and in 1988 Gunter was redesignated an ' Air Force Base ' . The primary tenants being , still , the Extension Course Institute , the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy and the Air Force Data Systems Design Center . In March 1992 , Gunter was again redesignated , this time as Maxwell Air Force Base , Gunter Annex and now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base .