Great Falls AAB

  November 1942 to present

  United States of America

CITY: Great Falls, MT

IATA/ICAO CODES: GFA / KGFA

COORDINATES: 47°30'N / 111°11'W

OTHER NAMES: Great Falls AAB (1942-1947), East Base (informal), Great Falls AFB (1947-1955), Malmstrom AFB (1955-present)

Right: the first aerial survey photo of Great Falls AAB showing four runways on 10 July 1946
Photo credit: USGS

Great Falls AAB was built just a few miles east of Gore Field, MT as a bomber training base. However, in October 1943, all Air Transport Command activities transfered from Gore Field to Great Falls AAB. The base thus became a major base for the Air Transport Command's Alaskan Wing. It was used as one of two staging bases (along with Wold-Chamberlain Field in St Paul Minneapolis, MN) where materiel was gathered before being flown north to the Wing's hub at RCAF Edmonton, AB, Canada. Over 1.7 million pounds of war materiel and 8,000 aircraft were shipped through Great Falls AAB to the Soviet Union by the Air Transport Command, a small part of it being carried by Commandos.

1455^th AAF Base Unit (Great Falls AAB)

Air Transport Command Alaskan Wing