Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The base was named in honor of Col. George V. Holloman, a pioneer in guided missile research. It is the home of the 49th Wing (49 WG) of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). In addition to hosting several combat wings, Holloman supports the nearby White Sands Missile Range and currently hosts the Royal Air Force RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) Formal Training Unit (FTU) and the Italian Air Force RPA training courses. The base previously hosted the German Air Force Flying Training Center. History Planned for the British Overseas Training program which they did not pursue, construction for the USAAF base west of Alamogordo, New Mexico, began on 6 February 1942. After the nearby Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range was established by Executive Order No. 9029 (range designation on 14 May), the neighboring military installation was designated Alamogordo Field Training Station (27 May) and Alamogordo Army Air Base (operated by the 359th Base Headquarters beginning on 10 June 1942). Alamogordo Army Air Field Alamogordo Army Air Field (Alamogordo AAFld, Alamogordo AAF) was named on 21 November as a Second Air Force installation equipped with aprons, runways, taxiways and hangars. From 1942 to 1945 the AAF had more than 20 different groups for overseas training, initially flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses then Consolidated B-24 Liberators. Training began in 1943 and in addition to the range, a detached installation operated by the base was the Alamogordo Gasoline Storage and Pumping Station Annex. In 1944 the "base operating unit" changed to the 231st Army Air Force Base Unit (25 March) and 4145 AAFBU (24 August), and on 16 April 1945 Alamogordo AAF was relieved of its training mission and assigned to Continental Air Forces to become a permanent B-29 base. Instead, by 30 January 1946, the base was planned to "be manned by a skeleton crew merely as a plane refuelling station, [for] emergency landings, etc.", and it was temporarily inactivated on 28 February 1946. Post-war the AAF was used to support the Alamogordo Guided Missile Test Base which had its first Boeing Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft launch on 14 November 1947. With the September 1947 formation of the USAF, in late 1947 the