Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. The 436th Airlift Wing is the host wing and runs the busiest and largest air freight terminal in the Department of Defense. History Construction of Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome began in March 1941 and the facility was opened on December 17, 1941. It was converted to a U.S. 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 (USAF) 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 during World War II when the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) 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 the 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, later part of Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, assumed the anti-submarine mission. On 8 April 1943, the name of the airfield was changed to Dover