Luke Air Force Base Arizona
Luke is located in Maricopa County, Arizona around 30 miles west-northwest from central Phoenix. Luke was annexed by the city of Glendale as part of their municipality. The Luke AFB is physically located around 10 to 12 miles from Glendale and Peoria. Luke served as an airfield for more than 50 years and considered as the largest fighting training base in the western world. Established 1941, the base boasted more than 200 aircraft and 7,000 military and reserve and 1,500 civilian employees. It also produced approximately 50,000 pilots for America’s most advance fighters. It was named after Lt. Frank Luke Jr. for being the first aviator to receive the “Medal of Honor.” He was born in Phoenix in 1897 and as an aviator became known as “Arizona Balloon Buster” for scoring 18 aerial victories in France during World War I. He was killed at age 21 in the year 1918.
Luke Field was deactivated in 1946 after World War II. It was reactivated in 1951 soon after combat in Korea developed. It was reactivated as Luke Air Force Base becoming a part of the Air Training Command under the reorganized U.S. Air Force.
