Luke Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is located west of the central business district of Glendale, and west of Phoenix. Luke AFB is a major training base of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), training pilots in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. On 31 March 2011 it was announced that the F-35 Lightning II would replace the F-16 as the primary training aircraft at Luke, although the date of deployment of the new aircraft to Luke and reorganization plans were not announced. On 16 July 2013, the Air Force announced that Luke AFB will house a total of 144 F-35A Lightning IIs. It is a designated Superfund site due to a number of soil and groundwater contaminants. History Frank Luke Jr. Luke Air Force Base was named after Second Lieutenant Frank Luke (1897–1918). Lt Luke is a posthumous Medal of Honor recipient and the number two United States flying ace in World War I. Born in Phoenix in 1897, the "Arizona Balloon Buster" scored 18 aerial victories during World War I (14 of these German observation balloons) in the skies over France. Lieutenant Luke was shot down at Murvaux between Verdun and Stenay, France, on 29 September 1918, after he had destroyed three enemy balloons. Surviving the crash of his SPAD S.XIII, Lieutenant Luke drew two pistols and fired on German soldiers, killing several of them before he was killed. Luke Field, Oahu, Hawaii Territory (now the Naval Air Station Ford Island) was previously named in his honor. Origins In 1940, the U.S. Army sent a representative to Arizona to choose a site for a U.S. Army Air Corps training field for advanced training in conventional fighter aircraft. The city of Phoenix bought of land which they leased to the government at $1 a year effective 24 March 1941. On 29 March 1941, the Del. E. Webb Construction Co. began excavation for the first building at what was known then as Litchfield Park Air Base. Another base known as Luke Field, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, released its name so the Arizona base could be called Luke Field. Advanced flight training in the AT-6 Texan began at Luke in June that same year. The first class of 45 students, Class 41 F, arrived on 6 June 1941 to begin advanced flight training in the AT-6, although a few essential